Switching between applications

[Asterdroid]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, and I don't know if this is one of those "duh" functions that everyone but me knew about, but here's a (hopefully) helpful tidbit.

If you hold down the home button, a folder pops up containing all active applications. You can very easily switch back and forth between open apps this way.

I have been using this function to switch between my calorie counter and weight watchers diary since neither have all the functionality I need at the moment.

Hope that helps some folks.

 

[Steven58]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, and I don't know if this is one of those "duh" functions that everyone but me knew about, but here's a (hopefully) helpful tidbit.

If you hold down the home button, a folder pops up containing all active applications. You can very easily switch back and forth between open apps this way.

I have been using this function to switch between my calorie counter and weight watchers diary since neither have all the functionality I need at the moment.

Hope that helps some folks.

Duh.

 

[Mischka7]

Is that popup a list of all active applications, or most recently used applications? I ask because I exited out of Navigation, but it still showed up on that applications list. When I clicked on the application, it opened up as if it had been closed.

 

[coolbone]

Most recently used

 

[cp1]

Yeah it seems to be the 6 last apps you used.

 

[zenman]

Awesome tip, thanks.

 

[Lars]

Hold down the back button in the browser for history.

 

[opes]

WOW I am a moron. I was always wondering how to do that.

 

[Asterdroid]

Another helpful tip related to this. It's not just most recently used. If you are trying to work in two applications at once, you can do this from within the application to bring up another application instead of exiting out of it, and when you switch back it will be exactly where you left off. Great for copying and pasting between applications.

 

[Echo17121]

Oh man total duh moment for me! Lol I knew there was a way to do do this on the droid but I thought maybe that was a Motorola thing! Thanks so much!

 

[pcayabyab]

Is this only relevant to the last 6 most recently used/open applications, or is there a way to switch back and forth from 7+ open applications without having to go back to the home screen?

 

[confluence]

that thing opens a pop up of the last 6 applications the user has opened. it will not show apps that were open by another app.

it is not a list of active applications that are running in the background or the are cached in the RAM.

 

[Mahalo]

If you install "Advanced Task Killer" you can go to settings and change the "Default Click Action" to "Switch between applications." This is what I have been doing since I rarely kill apps.

 

[punkrocker27ka]

that was a very helpful tip. it saves me so much time! thank you.

 

[winterwar]

Very helpful tips. Thanks!

 

[AndroidQT]

Thanks for the tip! I love my Android!!!

 

[mikeflht]

Have only had my dinc two days and loving it! This tip is great, it was one of those things that was frustrating me a bit - not knowing if there was a way to switch back and forth between two opened apps. But it brings up another question. How can you ensure that you've closed an application? For instance on facebook, I leave the application, but when I return, it appears to have remained open - it's in exactly the same place as when I left.

My only concern about this is that I'm assuming I'm burning battery time if I leave several apps hanging open.

 

[drdoom]

Have only had my dinc two days and loving it! This tip is great, it was one of those things that was frustrating me a bit - not knowing if there was a way to switch back and forth between two opened apps. But it brings up another question. How can you ensure that you've closed an application? For instance on facebook, I leave the application, but when I return, it appears to have remained open - it's in exactly the same place as when I left.

My only concern about this is that I'm assuming I'm burning battery time if I leave several apps hanging open.

Leave them running; Android is designed to keep apps in memory as long as it can or until it needs the resources for the app that is in the foreground (directly being used). In fact, completely killing apps that you use often will drain more battery; keeping the RAM full doesn't impact battery, but reloading an app completely does.

 

[Mr. Boom]

I use this for quickly switching between apps.

AppBrain Android market | Dock4Droid

 

[euph_22]

Have only had my dinc two days and loving it! This tip is great, it was one of those things that was frustrating me a bit - not knowing if there was a way to switch back and forth between two opened apps. But it brings up another question. How can you ensure that you've closed an application? For instance on facebook, I leave the application, but when I return, it appears to have remained open - it's in exactly the same place as when I left.

My only concern about this is that I'm assuming I'm burning battery time if I leave several apps hanging open.

Bad assumption. Almost any app "running" in the background isn't using CPU or Network. It's just sitting in the RAM, which as drdoom said doesn't use any battery (well, full RAM doesn't use any more battery than empty).