• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Turn off multitasking?

i love how the paranoid people seem to think that the people who arent paranoid are somehow stupid or ignorant lol. We arent. We just arent paranoid #AlexJones :p
Remember your sms and email are just a tap away too. if i let someone use my phone and caught them reading my txts id give them a hard slap across the head lol. People just dont do that! Cant imagine them doing it with my recents. When someone needs to use my phone i open the dialer for them to save them looking for it and when they finish, they hand it back :)
As someone said. The recents thumbnails still show when in airplane mode. They arent being spyed on. The State dont care about you unless youre a serious criminal/terrorist. Thats an overblown sense of a persons own importance causing paranoia imo :)
 
We're getting off topic, it's not about if you believe in conspiracies or not.

The multitask window allows someone to see everything instantly. Thankfully, at least one other poster seems to understand why someone may want to turn this off.

It's the fact that's intentionally been made in a way so no matter what you do - you cannot turn off multitasking.

Any good reason why it isn't as easy as turning on/off wifi? I'm sure it was discussed by certain committees at one point. The fact you cannot disable it did not happen by itself.

Even with the developer options "Don't keep activities" box checked, nothing happens. The screens are still saved.

If I want to check my bank statement, I don't like that the phone has to keep a record of that personal information, even after I close the app.

I understand some of you think it's ridiculous, but everyone has their reasons for either trusting, or not trusting others and everyone's experience is different.

Also, this can matter more depending on how old you are.

If you're still in your 20s and live with roommates who have constantly have other people over it's going to be more of a concern than if you're a married person or live on your own.

If you're in a cubicle work environment and person in cubicle next to you asks to borrow your phone quickly (since Tmobile doesn't always have reception in my workplace), what are you gonna do...actually get out of your cubicle and stand behind them while they make the call to make sure they don't look at anything else? Tell them to wait a second so you can swipe every process off (then you'll look real strange)? The fact remains, certain people cannot be trusted.

Anyone who knows of this knows they have instant access to the majority of the personal information on the phone. I don't mind the feature itself, it's that you cannot disable it under absolutely no circumstances that is annoying.
 
modernaire said:
We're getting off topic, it's not about if you believe in conspiracies or not.
Click to expand...

Actually I think it was something you posted that we even got onto the conspiracy theories.
"It's probably hosted on some server as well so they can watch your every move. We really are going the way of the matrix." :p

modernaire said:
The multitask window allows someone to see everything instantly. Thankfully, at least one other poster seems to why someone may want to turn this off.

It's the fact that's intentionally been made in a way so no matter what you do - you cannot turn off multitasking.

Any good reason why it isn't as easy as turning on/off wifi? I'm sure it was discussed by certain committees at one point. The fact you cannot disable it did not happen by itself.

Even with the developer options "Don't keep activities" box checked, nothing happens. The screens are still saved.

If I want to check my bank statement, I don't like that the phone has to keep a record of that personal information, even after I close the app.

I understand some of you think it's ridiculous, but everyone has their reasons for either trusting, or not trusting others and everyone's experience is different.

Also, this can matter more depending on how old you are.

If you're still in your 20s and live with roommates who have constantly have other people over it's going to be more of a concern than if you're a married person or live on your own.

If you're in a cubicle work environment and person in cubicle next to you asks to borrow your phone quickly (since Tmobile doesn't always have reception in my workplace), what are you gonna do...actually get out of your cubicle and stand behind them while they make the call to make sure they don't look at anything else? Tell them to wait a second so you can swipe every process off (then you'll look real strange)? The fact remains, certain people cannot be trusted.

Anyone who knows of this knows they have instant access to the majority of the personal information on the phone. I don't mind the feature itself, it's that you cannot disable it under absolutely no circumstances that is annoying.
Click to expand...

In that case if you're effectively losing control of your phone and roommates and colleagues are getting hold of it. No multitasking won't help you stay private. They can open and look at whatever they like, e.g. Skype, email, SMSs, contacts, call logs, and see everything. You'll just have to keep it locked. Modern smart-phones are not much different to PCs or laptops really.
 
Maybe this is something that could be configurable by app developers? I know it isn't now, but it's something that could be added to the SDK if Google wanted to. Have an option to disable last-window preview in the app-switcher. I suppose it could be added in the apps as a configurable option, I guess the developer could choose how to implement it.

Maybe Google could add the one-swipe dismiss that funkylogik displayed on the ROM he/she is using as an alternative.
 
mikedt said:
Actually I think it was something you posted that we even got onto the conspiracy theories.
"It's probably hosted on some server as well so they can watch your every move. We really are going the way of the matrix." :p


In that case if you're effectively losing control of your phone and roommates and colleagues are getting hold of it. No multitasking won't help you stay private. They can open and look at whatever they like, e.g. Skype, email, SMSs, contacts, call logs, and see everything. You'll just have to keep it locked. Modern smart-phones are not much different to PCs or laptops really.
Click to expand...

That comment was not meant to be taken seriously. It was a joke.

Of course anyone can go through your phone if they have it long enough. It's not the same as seeing exactly what you've done with your phone the past day with just pushing one button. Before,tThey'd have to goto those apps and open them, some also require sign-in. Also, they'd have to guess which app you most recently used. I don't use the email app for instance (always keep you logged in), but do check it from within a browser occasionally.

Now, even if you've signed out of something - the screen still shows everything in the multitask from when you were signed in and it's instantly viewable. Just by pushing one button unless you've cleared it out (there's no way to turn it off or have it cleared out at a set time everyday). It's a waste of RAM as well.

The two are not the same, there is no reason to pretend they are.
 
mplevy said:
Maybe Google could add the one-swipe dismiss that funkylogik displayed on the ROM he/she is using as an alternative.
Click to expand...

He :D
Im using a very stock rom so i thought that button was part of open source android(?)

Yeah op im sorry but to be fair it was something you said that set of my "conspiracy theorist" alarm bells lol.
Let me ask you. Are you using an "app locker" type app to put a pin lock on your sensetive apps? If not then i cant understand why this one feature offends you so much. As i said before though, the only way to make your phone the way you want it is to root it then you could make it harder or impossible to get into the recents app if you wanted.
I think your worry is too rare for it to be removed from aosp android or even made optional tbh but, when rooted, android is very adaptable to very unique needs/wants.
What you could maybe try doing is get into a habit of backing out of your sensitive apps (with the back button) then i think(?) The thumbnail will only show the app's home screen.. not the actual page/conversation you were on :thumbup:
P.s. it isnt a "waste of RAM" mate. Youre thinking in the wrong direction there. Ram is there to be used, not to be empty. If android needs more ram than is free it will simply remove a low priority cached process :beer:
 
It doesn't show everything that you did in the app. It shows the screen that was displayed the last time you left the app.

Adding an item to the Wish List (referenced earlier) to add an option to its long press menu of "Remove ALL from list" that would delete all entries if it was selected might be useful. (This would be the same as swiping each of them individually to delete them.)

From the previous screen shot by mikedt ... does Kit Kat already have the option?

... Thom
 
While it doesn't show everything, you're right, it's still something not everyone wants.

When multitask shows your text screen with a particular person, it shows up to 7-8 texts depending on your font size. So, it shows your last series of texts to that person, or shows the last text you either sent or received for up to 5 people in the main text screen before going to the individual text screen.

The fact that it's not able to be turned off in any way is intentional, yet there's no good reason for it, besides "that's how it is".
 
it seems to me you are confusing multi-tasking with recent documents. The recent documents feature of the phone probably should have a way to turn it off but most don't "its a neat feature" I never use it and never think about it.

Now Multitasking is done so that the OS can work. To help you understand this imagine the difference between DOS and Windows. DOS was not a multitasking OS its a 1 command line at a time where as Windows is Multitasking so that several things can be done at one time (email and web browsing) Your smart phone would simply be a dumb phone with out multitasking.

Recent Documents is something that is what you seemed to be really concerned with. Not all phones or Roms deal with this the same. Some allow you to easily remove all of the "Cache" at one time while others make you remove them one at a time. I have a Motorola Droid Razr M and it has to be done one at a time.

Solution 1 is to keep the Recent Documents history clear at all times. Probably not practical when your busy with the device.

Solution 2 is don't loan out the phone. I rarely loan out my phone and really there is no need to. Yeah on an occasion someone has a real problem and needs the phone access but they are not concerned with going through my history at the time.

Solution 3 get a dumb phone.
 
modernaire said:
While it doesn't show everything, you're right, it's still something not everyone wants.

When multitask shows your text screen with a particular person, it shows up to 7-8 texts depending on your font size. So, it shows your last series of texts to that person, or shows the last text you either sent or received for up to 5 people in the main text screen before going to the individual text screen.

The fact that it's not able to be turned off in any way is intentional, yet there's no good reason for it, besides "that's how it is".
Click to expand...

But tapping your text icon shows every conversation lol. As i said, have you locked your sms app?
And although i dont use the recents app/page, there is a good reason for it. As someone said, a phone is a personal thing and it reminds you at a glance what other things you were doing say before you got distracted by a call etc.
Have you tried backing out of apps as i suggested?
 
P.s. can i just add OP that i have nothing against you and i can totally see things from your viewpoint. Im just enjoying the debate and hoping we can meet somewhere in the middle at some point :D:beer:
 
funkylogik said:
P.s. can i just add OP that i have nothing against you and i can totally see things from your viewpoint. Im just enjoying the debate and hoping we can meet somewhere in the middle at some point :D:beer:
Click to expand...

I'm the same really. :) We all use our phones differently and have different opinions. I like to be private with my phone and is personal to me. Things like email and IM are always signed in and running, so I just lock it and never leaves my sight. Others might want to be more "social" with their phones and share them around, in which case they might have to be careful.

I've often leant my phone to friends when we're in restaurants and the like, maybe because the their battery has gone flat. In our office there's plenty of land line telephones, so nobody should ever need to borrow a cellphone
 
Someone is less likely to click the text icon. I know this can't be scientifically quantified, but most rational people would probably find that to be invading. Multitask will show text and way more in the process.

In my office, there's plenty of landlines too, but they are for work use only and they'll know if you use it for a personal call. I have seen a few people do it, but it is against company policy. A lot of these iphone people are in a constant state of low battery (but they'll still tell you the iphone is better).

I don't like having to type in a PIN just to access text. I do have one for the lock screen that I change the times on depending where I'm at. Sometimes it's 15 minutes, sometimes I have it so you have to type the PIN everytime you're at the lock screen. Can be kind of annoying though.

I still don't see why there isn't an option to just show the app you used, but not actually take a snapshot of how you last used the app. There should be a way to turn that off, but there is not.

I understand the majority don't care, but again, it would be nice if this was addressed.

In ios7 it's the same now as well. There's no way to turn it off either, maybe they're not as different as everyone thinks.
 
I found on Android there's no standard way to get to the multitask screen with the app thumbnails. Some you hold down the home button, some have a dedicated tasks button, and others it's an icon on the screen. Depending on the phone, it might not be immediately obvious to someone who's not familiar with that particular phone. There's one thing I'd be more concerned about, especially if it was someone I didn't trust or know, they could be ringing premium-rate numbers. I bet that's happened many times, even on landlines, where people have asked to "borrow" the phone. If one is in a house-share with other people, it only takes one chat-line or dating-service addict to spoil the fun for everyone else. I know people who've been bitten by that one, quite expensively.

BTW in my office, government school, local phone calls are free so they don't mind as long as it's not abused...LOL. Long distance is blocked, and if anyone wishes to make a long distance call to Shanghai or whatever on my phone, they can pay me for it....which is the way phones work here.
 
modernaire said:
While it doesn't show everything, you're right, it's still something not everyone wants.

When multitask shows your text screen with a particular person, it shows up to 7-8 texts depending on your font size. So, it shows your last series of texts to that person, or shows the last text you either sent or received for up to 5 people in the main text screen before going to the individual text screen.

The fact that it's not able to be turned off in any way is intentional, yet there's no good reason for it, besides "that's how it is".
Click to expand...

You should call it "Recent Apps" because that's what it's called. Multitasking is good thing. You'd cry and bash your head against the wall if you didn't have it.

Android is open source. If you don't like something, you're encouraged to change it. That's the great thing about open source software. So pick software that does what you want or alter it to do what you need.

On that note, I don't think there's anything you can do about that screen. Maybe if you had root you could find where the thumbnails are stored and stop it somehow. If there's a certain app that you think could benefit from the privacy, then you could ask the developer to add the android:excludeFromRecents tag to the manifest.
 
I think we should forget the word "multitasking" in this thread lol.
I think even the OP would agree that its great to be able to go from the browser to the dialer, make a call, return to the browser exactly how it was? Thats multitasking.
The issue is the stock android way of multitasking where you get the thumbnails of what you were doing in each cached app?
Maybe google should introduce a way of changing that but the fact that none of the custom roms ive used have the option to hide the thumbnails (it would be easily done) kinda makes me know that it isnt a common complaint amongst users so google certainly wont change it.
So the only real option you have is remapping that button which requires root access which leaves your phone open to other threats. Catch 22 kinda thing.
How does Windows Phone handle it?
 
SulkyAndroid17 said:
You should call it "Recent Apps" because that's what it's called. Multitasking is good thing. You'd cry and bash your head against the wall if you didn't have it.
Click to expand...
To be fair though, I've often seen the recent apps button referred to as a "multitasking button", so though not technically accurate I can see where it comes from.

(Yes, a phone which didn't multitask would be useless. Even the original iPhone multitasked, it just limited what apps and processes did so).

Since the OP doesn't want the function, remapping the button to something (s)he could use would seem the best solution. But I doubt that can be done without rooting.
 
Again, there's no reason why you can't disable that function, especially when there's a million settings in the phone for things you'll never even use.

Some here seem to think because that's the way it is, it shouldn't even be up for debate, and if there is a debate, it's only meant to spin this topic as ridiculous.

In the developer options, checking "don't keep activities" does nothing. You think it would.
 
funkylogik said:
I think we should forget the word "multitasking" in this thread lol.
I think even the OP would agree that its great to be able to go from the browser to the dialer, make a call, return to the browser exactly how it was? Thats multitasking.
The issue is the stock android way of multitasking where you get the thumbnails of what you were doing in each cached app?
Maybe google should introduce a way of changing that but the fact that none of the custom roms ive used have the option to hide the thumbnails (it would be easily done) kinda makes me know that it isnt a common complaint amongst users so google certainly wont change it.
So the only real option you have is remapping that button which requires root access which leaves your phone open to other threats. Catch 22 kinda thing.
How does Windows Phone handle it?
Click to expand...

I don't know. I've never actually seen a real Windows Phone..LOL..apart from the dummies in a store.
 
mikedt said:
I don't know. I've never actually seen a real Windows Phone..LOL..apart from the dummies in a store.
Click to expand...

My wife actually got one for free a few weeks ago lol. I havent really bothered to play with it but it has an AMOLED display and seems really well built (Nokia) just doesnt run android :banghead::banghead::D
 
Just another thought, I've not tried it but I thought there was now the ability to have multiple users? Can't you just lock your user and have a guest user for your colleagues to use? Does each user have their own discrete rent apps?
 
modernaire said:
Again, there's no reason why you can't disable that function, especially when there's a million settings in the phone for things you'll never even use.

Some here seem to think because that's the way it is, it shouldn't even be up for debate, and if there is a debate, it's only meant to spin this topic as ridiculous.

In the developer options, checking "don't keep activities" does nothing. You think it would.
Click to expand...
The only problem I have with a debate is that it's a debate amongst people who have no power to change it. But from my observations you are in for a long wait for Google to respond to any feature request :(.

On my phone "don't keep activities" does something all right, just not what you want. It kills the apps when you leave them, but it doesn't delete the thumbnail. If you return to the app after leaving it reloads from scratch, rather than picking up where it was, but you see the last page in the thumbnail screen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom