When using a task killer how do you know which apps to close?

APP killers are controversial among android people.
i used to "kill" everything.
i now only "kill" apps that are not acting right.
my phone is faster because programs aren't restarting they are already running.

My new mantra is "kill it" if it's acting like my toddler.

 

I kill apps I do not use, am not using, nor ever started using that are running. that is my criteria. period.

anything that is "needed" by the system that you accidentally kill will restart if needed.

in case of Missed Call, you do not want to kill that as that MUST run all the time to catch the calls, so add it to your "ignore list". since it is an "optional" app, and not "needed" by the system, it will not start to do its thing.

I have a pretty big ignore list of apps that MUST run at ALL times to process some function for me:

handcent
VVM
screebl
weather
calendar pad
missed call
no signal alert
batterytime
rimmeriffic
quietsync

 

I have killed Handcent and it works the same, messages are coming normally...actually I have put it on Auto-Kill...

 

Also, anything that you set to sync and any widget apps will restart automatically as well. When you are not using an app, it goes into stand by (idle mode) and uses up no processing power (CPU%). When you kill an app and it needs to restart itself, it uses more processing resources than if you had let it wake up from idle and continue with its job.

OP, you might want to read this to understand why you don't need a task killer for Android OS: http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/

 

i kill everything not in use. i leave the email and gmail open though so i can get notifications

 

Here's a primer on Android apps and their states. Task killers should only be used for apps that misbehave, otherwise letting the OS handle things is the best.

Application Fundamentals | Android Developers

So some of the apps I noticed that start automatically on my phone go into the 'empty' state, which means they're cached and ready to startup faster when needed, using only 'unused' memory. Services are usually doing stuff in the background, draining battery or cpu cycles, so those are the more likely problem makers, and regular apps just idle when not in foreground.

 

Thanks a lot to those who posted the "App killer" links. I come from a line of BlackBerries, and memory is at a premium on BB's, so I was in the habit of constantly killing everything I wasn't using- my first question when I got my HTC android was "How do i kill open apps?"

I'm still very new to the android system and still learning as I go.

Thanks again for posting the links.

 

What about Auto Memory Manager? My understanding is that it doesn't actually run, and in fact I never see it in a list of running apps. From what I've read it merely sets the parameters which determine when a certain type of app will be killed, and allows you to increase or decrease the priority of individual apps. I've not done much A/B testing, but I like it in theory. Any thoughts?

 

Maybe I'm missing something but most of the apps I have don't have any means of quitting them so I have to use an app killer to stop them.

 

Yeah you missed something, read the links in this topic. As soon as you "exit" an app (eg. by using the back key or home key) it goes dorment. As long as it is an app that is not updating in the background in any way it uses NO power at all. If you close it and it has to reopen it uses more power!