Help browser auto refresh wasting my data!

haggisofdeath · Jan 8, 2014

Hi guys, when I re-open any of my browser after using other apps it always refresh the pages.

This is wasting my data and if I am in a area with no coverage I cannot view the page at all.

This is really frustrating as I often go to remote areas and my data plan is limited.

Is there any way to turn off this auto refresh feature on any of the browsers?

I use opera, stock browser and firefox.

Thanks in advance!

bonerp · Jan 8, 2014

just opened chrome and it didnt refresh unless i click on it...no idea on the ones you listed i'm afraid.

dan330 · Jan 8, 2014

so.. let me get this right...

you are in an area with very bad coverage.. but you browser refreshes.
you are loosing some info on the browser?
internet browsing is useless in that area....

solution: take a screen shot of the page.
hold down the "Power and Home" button at the same time

BlueBiker · Jan 8, 2014

What the OP is saying is that if they're browsing and switch to a different app and then switch back to the browser, it forces a refresh -- which may fail in poor reception areas.

I've seen that behavior too, and it's patently ridiculous that an app on a phone with 3GB of RAM wouldn't be able to preserve its state across app switches.

I don't know what triggers that behavior or how to prevent it, but maybe you could try the Note 3's multi-window support. Then you can have both the browser and some other app open simultaneously and you can switch between them without any resetting of context.

dan330 · Jan 8, 2014

ok.. i tried it...

on my Note3...
using Chrome browser... on yahoo.. reading some news...
i jumped out.. hit home button
got into email.. maps.. tapatalk forums.. refreshed each one.

jumped back to chrome browser.. same news article was there..
and it did not refresh on its own.

so.. i don't know.. sorry

jwither · Jan 8, 2014

More web sites than you might realize are written to auto-refresh via javascript commands every x number of minutes, especially news sites.

Try turning off javascript in the browser's settings, or Dan's suggestion - chrome.

samsungrockz · Jan 9, 2014

if your phone is rooted, you may try different values in MinFree manager in Rom Toolbox app, keeping a large value for background apps may help. refer to xda-developers.com for more info:trytofly:

haggisofdeath · Jan 10, 2014

Some great replys guys thanks alot.

I tried with chrome although I dont like using google products and got the same issue.

It must be on a java timer as someone mentioned on a previous post.

Also if I close the browser app all the browsers auto refresh the pages.

I can see why it would have this behaviour on closing apps but with 32gb memory and 3gb ram it would be nice to have the option to keep pages I leave open cached. Not a great feat of programming to do this either.

I guess the isps are probably requesting samsung and android dont add this feature as they will make more money when people breach their data quota...

dontpanicbobby · Jan 10, 2014

I use Boat Browser and it dosn't do that. I use the long press on the Home key to toggle between apps. Are you tlking about when you open a brand new app that wasn't already running? I'll have to test for that if you were haggisofdeath.

dontpanicbobby · Jan 10, 2014

I just absent mindedly test that opening a new app scenario by opening the Play Store. Boat Browser didn't refresh and I had 2 tabs open.

Note3owner · Jan 11, 2014

Use opera mini or boat. Simple.

jwither · Jan 11, 2014

haggisofdeath said:
It must be on a java timer as someone mentioned on a previous post.

Javascript, not Java.

haggisofdeath said:
it would be nice to have the option to keep pages I leave open cached.

Browsers cache. They also check for new versions of the pages you want. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You want to leave them running, but you don't want them to run. Turn off Javascript. You'll miss some content, and functionality, but that's how this stuff works.

haggisofdeath said:
I guess the isps are probably requesting samsung and android dont add this feature as they will make more money when people breach their data quota...

Conspiratorial thinking will only lead to frustration. Let it go.

AliPM · Mar 4, 2015

[Browsers cache. They also check for new versions of the pages you want. You can't have your cake and eat it too.[/QUOTE]

That's just such an unhelpful thing to say. It's not 'having your cake and eating it' to expect the web browser on your Android device to behave similarly to the browser on your laptop. My tablet has a similar spec to my last laptop in terms of RAM and processor. You wouldn't expect Firefox for Windows to check every page every time you switch between tabs or minimise FF, there's a reload button for that exact purpose.

I was hoping to use my Nexus 7 for work (which involves having email, one or two shared docs and as many browser pages as possible open at one time) but this reloading is making the process unworkable and expensive when I'm not on wifi. With all these applications running I still have at least 400mb RAM free apparently, I can't see why that shouldn't be enough for some web pages without any videos or flash loading.

Is this really just a feature of Android in general? I tried Opera and Boat, which even has an option to 'cache to SD card' but this didn't stop pages reloading. I'd really be grateful if anyone knows a fix for this.

EarlyMon · Mar 4, 2015

If your pages are reloading then they've been swapped out of memory.

Are you running any automatic task killers or ram cleaners?

AliPM · Mar 5, 2015

EarlyMon said:
If your pages are reloading then they've been swapped out of memory.

Are you running any automatic task killers or ram cleaners?

Nope, unless any are automatically enabled in Lollipop. I haven't installed any

dynomot · Mar 6, 2015

I have found that some pages do indeed try and refresh automatically, even in Chrome. Usually, as stated, they are breaking news sites or the like. Unless you do turn off Javascript in any browser this is impossible to stop. Most Web sites though just show the cached state of the page as it was the last time I viewed it unless I physically "kill" the browser and reopen it.

I think you'll find even desk top browsers behave like this without turning Javascript off. It is more to do with the web site than the browser.

On my Note 3 with standard Chrome I have five tabs open, one is a breaking news site, one this forum, one another breaking news site, one mobile FB and one my bank (all for experimental purposes only). The breaking news site as a tab does not refresh when viewed with the other tabs, only if I click on it to view it properly. My bank refreshes to a "timed out" page for security reasons and the others just stay the same unless I physically refresh them myself.

AliPM · Mar 7, 2015

The pages I need for work do contain Javascript, but I know from using browsers in Windows and Linux that they don't auto-update like news sites or Facebook do.

I'm not sure whether minimizing apps in Android effectively kills them, or whether they stay running.

On my Nexus 7 tablet (running Lollipop) whenever I minimize any browser or even switch between tabs, any tabs I had open will reload. But on my phone (GSmart Roma 2 running Jellybean) I can minimize a browser or switch tabs and the pages will load back to the state they were in. I've tested this by turning wifi off and switching tabs/browsers.

So what's going on? Is this just a Lollipop issue? My tablet has twice the RAM of my phone, it seems counter-intuitive that the phone would save pages and the tablet not.

dynomot · Mar 7, 2015

I really don't get why it is "an issue", it is just the way it is. What about the behaviour of the web browser is causing you problems? Sites that automatically refresh will refresh, sites that don't won't.

AliPM · Mar 7, 2015

It's an issue because the browser refreshing pages every time takes time, and I also lose my place on the page. Also if I am on a slow or shaky internet connection (for example when tethered to my phone) it's really unhelpful for it to forget a page as soon as I look away.

It's not really 'just the way it is' if it works one way on one Android device and another way on another, and it's definitely not a feature of individual sites, because the same sites behave differently on the two devices.

dynomot · Mar 7, 2015

I see

I do the vast majority of browsing using my Note 3, Chrome and mobile data. At home, of course, I use Wi-Fi. If I tap the home key from Chrome it saves the tabs while I do something else - permanently. As I said only pages that refresh automatically try and refresh upon opening Chrome and viewing their tab. I belive Lollipop now treats individual tabs as independent openings of the same app (Chrome). Although I have altered this behaviour for personal preference, I wonder if ART and dalvik are different always and just changing the setting to the "old" wsy doesn't alter that, just the implementation in Chrome?

This Could explain the difference between two devices, is one running Lollipop and one running KitKat or earlier? Just a thought.

Adamx · Mar 26, 2015

wow the responses here are so pathetic. All browsers on all versions of android do this. You open enough apps and it will swap out that page's memory and have to refresh. I came here looking for a solution, as this is very annoying behavior.

dynomot · Mar 26, 2015

Adamx said:
wow the responses here are so pathetic. All browsers on all versions of android do this. You open enough apps and it will swap out that page's memory and have to refresh. I came here looking for a solution, as this is very annoying behavior.

How is it "pathetic"? You got some answers, obviously not the ones you were looking for.

I have absolutely no idea if WP, iOS, or Blackberry behave in the same way. I know the now long gone Symbian and Maemo 5 phone OSs did. If it bothers you so much you call our answers "pathetic", may I suggest not using Android? Just a thought.

AliPM · Mar 27, 2015

Adamx said:
wow the responses here are so pathetic. All browsers on all versions of android do this. You open enough apps and it will swap out that page's memory and have to refresh. I came here looking for a solution, as this is very annoying behavior.

A solution to what? It sounds like you already know that 'all browsers on all versions of android do this', so what's your question?

In case anyone is interested, I uninstalled Flash player on my Nexus 7 and the page reloading issue is much improved. Not solved completely, but pages refresh a lot less often, and browsers have stopped crashing at random, which was happening a lot.

mikhapop · Apr 6, 2015

I think this issue is related to kk and lollipop trying to have a low memory footprint to run on low ram hardware, but there is an option in Chrome in chrome://flags to let it use more ram. I have tried it and helped a lot on my xperia z2 with 3gb ram

mikhapop · Apr 6, 2015

I think this issue is related to kk and lollipop trying to have a low memory footprint to run on low ram hardware, but there is an option in Chrome in chrome://flags to let it use more ram. I have tried it and helped a lot on my xperia z2 with 3gb ram

Help browser auto refresh wasting my data!

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