greenify app issue

[corvairbob]

ok i have had greenify for quite a few years and i had it on a lg k20 and then i had to get a galaxy a21 and a few weeks ago i got an updated phone the galaxy a51. and on the a51 it seems i have to either uninstall the app and put it back or turn off the service and then turn it back on about every day. on the a51 and now on the a21 it is starting to act up. so is this the app or is it that the app does not like the galaxy phones now? the a21 is 11 and the a51 12 and it seems to be a bit worse since i had 12 installed

also is there any app that does the same thing besides greenify? maybe i could try another app. i find the battery lasts longer when greenify works and shuts down the programs after the screen turns off, or if i just tap the shortcut and turn it off myself.

but if greenify keeps doing this i may have to uninstall it and find another app that works better. thanks

 

[ocnbrze]

so greenify looks like its last update was in 2019. so i think that as Android keeps updating and Greenify does not, more and more issues with the app will arise.

i found this article very informative:
https://www.makeuseof.com/greenify-android-battery-management/

it basically says that greenify is not as needed as it once was.....but YRMV without it.

is your phone rooted?

i never had the need for an app like this, even when i rooted phones. on rooted phones, i found that custom kernels were the best to control battery life. but for years now, i do not see a need to root a phone any more.

 

[corvairbob]

thanks noo my phone is not rooted. but i find my battery last longer if i have greenify running. when i first got the a51 to see how long the battery lasted i did not install it. in fact, when the a21 paired to the a51 all my apps transferred but the greenify did not. so i used the phone without greenity for a week and had to charge the phone at night when i was playing a few card games. then after a week of testing it i installed greenity and found i had just about every app running in the background. when i went to show other apps i had 30 aps running. i had greenify shut then down and then my battery had 40 or more % battery at bedtime. so for me it works

however for some reason every now and then like every day now i tap the shut down now icon and greeiify pops up and tell me to turn it in but it is on i have to turn it off and then go back and turn it on and then go thru the finish again.
thanks

 

[svim]

@ocnbrze brings up a good point, the last time Greenify developers updated it was back in Nov. 2019. Keep in mind it's not just an app like a game, this is a utility that attempts to countermand the existing battery management. That' s something that is a core function of the operating system itself.
The Android power management improves with each version release so outdated, third-party utilities trying to interfere with existing services will become increasingly problematic. Instead of using a third-party app, I'd focus on setting up and using the existing battery management that's already in your Settings menu.

But if you're convinced that Greenify is still a necessary item, try to remove it completely and start again. When Uninstalling the app, use Force stop, then find and use Clear data, then tap on Uninstall. Reinstall the app and it will back to its original, first time used state so you need to go through the app's Settings menu to reconfigure it from scratch. Be sure to pay attention to any options that relate to base functionality conflicts and notifications. See if that makes any improvement.
Using Clear data will manually remove the app's configuration and settings data, which isn't always automatically done by using just Uninstall.

 

[corvairbob]

thanks. i looked for the system battery management but it does not seem to do the job like greenity does. i uninstalled greenity and i did not see it in the apps section so i figured it was gone. and then the battery did not seem to last long at all. i would have to charge it halfway thru the day. but with greenity i did nothave to charge it sometimes for a day or 2 so if android is so good it seems not be doing very well on the galaxy a21 or 51 phones.thanks

 

[puppykickr]

ok i have had greenify for quite a few years and i had it on a lg k20 and then i had to get a galaxy a21 and a few weeks ago i got an updated phone the galaxy a51. and on the a51 it seems i have to either uninstall the app and put it back or turn off the service and then turn it back on about every day. on the a51 and now on the a21 it is starting to act up. so is this the app or is it that the app does not like the galaxy phones now? the a21 is 11 and the a51 12 and it seems to be a bit worse since i had 12 installed

also is there any app that does the same thing besides greenify? maybe i could try another app. i find the battery lasts longer when greenify works and shuts down the programs after the screen turns off, or if i just tap the shortcut and turn it off myself.

but if greenify keeps doing this i may have to uninstall it and find another app that works better. thanks

Your system is shutting it down.
On my modern device, if I pin the app in recents it will operate smoothly, and disappear from the recents screen after about a day (but continue to work just fine).

Also, if it gets closed from recents, its Accessibility permission will be revoked by the system (because the system force closed the app. At least on my device, if an app with Accessibility permission is force closed, the Accessibility permission will be turned off.)

So I wouls suggest looking at how your device can pin an app in recents.

On mine, if you allow pinning a unlocked padlock will be in an upper corner of each app in recents.
If I tap the padlock, it will then become locked and the system will not kill it.
I also had to do this for NoRoot Firewall, because it was also constantly being killed by the system whenever it was removed from recents.

As with Greenify, after a day or so it will disappear from recents on its own but continue to run in the background.

 

[puppykickr]

Also, the other posts are technically correct about Greenify and what it does.

However, great use can still be made of it.

It can be used as a simple way to close apps and then lock the screen with one touch.
You dont even need to have it close any apps to use it for the screen like that.

You can use it to close system apps that run endlessly that only gobble battery and give info to whomever.

You can also use it to great effect if you use multiple profiles on one device.
In this way, it can control even more system apps and even connect directly with Island, an app that makes a nice 'work profile' that is separate from the rest of the device.

As it is, I have an old paid version that I use to close apps and lock the screen.
It has been on each of my devices, and is one of the first apps that I install.

On caveot that I despise is that it has at least one Google tentacle in that it has analytics or something that causes me to block internet access for it with my firewall.

I have looked for alternatives to Greenify, but have found nothing that even remotely comes close.

Island has a FOSS version (Insular) on F-Droid, but the FOSS version of Greenify (SuperFreeZe) is problematic at best. It wont work automatically on my device.

 

[corvairbob]

my phone will take away permissions on apps after i have not used them for some time. but my recent apps do not go away after a day or so not the recents screen they seem to hang inther forever or until i just tap clear all.

i do ot want to go thru the trouble of rooting my phone. i did that back when rooting seemed to be the thing to do and the phone ran worse after that so i sold it.

the greenity app seems to work then best for me, like i said android is said to remove apps that have been turned off but like i said i tried that for a few weeks and the battery life was so bad that at night when i'm sitting on the couch watching tv and playing card games i have to put it back on the charge. after i restart greenify i can do that same stuff and the battery will run all day and have hafl a charge at bedtime. but when the battery does drop i check greenify and sure enough i have tons of app running and i have to check ignore background use and then they shut off i hear them clicking as they shut down. then i go back and check and yep they are gone.
thanks

 

[puppykickr]

You should be able to set each app individually as to whether or not the permissions are revoked after a time.

Also, the system will not revoke permissions on an app that has been used recently.
So if you are using Greenify, the permissions will not be revoked.

However, when you clear the recents, if an app is not pinned, then it will be stoped and that will revoke the Accessibility permission.

You need to find out how to pin apps into your recents, and that should prevent Greenify from being stopped if it is pinned.

 

[corvairbob]

ok i will look into that but what is going on is greenity is telling me i need to go into accessibility and turn it on but it is one the next time it does this i will top in and tell you what it is telling me and the steps i go thru to get that warning to turn off. if i do not do that then greenify will not continue. thanks

 

[puppykickr]

Yes, I understand.
If the app is not pinned, the system will turn it off.
If the system turns the app off, then the Accessibility for it will be turned off.
Then you will have the issue that you have now.

You need to pin the Greenify app in recents.

 

[corvairbob]

this must have something to do with android 11 and 12. on one of my phones 11 greenit=fy turns off now ant them on the 13 it turns off almost every day so i will uninstall it and see how the battery holds up without greenify running on the phone again. greenify does not have any help anymore so like your saying it has not been updated in so long they most likely gave up on the app and it just hangs out on google just because of older phones that may still need it. thanks

 

[puppykickr]

Like I keep saying, the system on newer devices will keep turning Greenify off.

You must pin the app if you want it to work on such devices.

 

[corvairbob]

the only pin i see is in the biometrics device admin apps and it is turned there. i do not see anything for actual pinning any place else. and in android central they say the only other ting on pinning is to pin an app to the home screen and i have it pinned there. i get this notice about every other day now. so fat only on the Samsung phones. i have not seen this warning show up on my nokia x100 yet. thanks

1. Open your phone's Settings menu.
2. Tap on Password and security.
3. Scroll down to find App pinning and tap it.Source: Namerah Saud Fatmi / Android

 

[puppykickr]

check the recents, the square navigation button.

find greenify, and look in the corners for a padlock.

tap the padlock to lock it.

now the app will not stop.