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Applications starting by themselves

F

Farsided

Lurker
Hello. I have a Motorola Bionic. The task manager included with my bionic comes with an auto-end function, which, I have added a ton of applications to that continually start on their own without my having to do a thing. I could forcibly end these applications, and they will start again all by themselves.

Some examples of applications that are starting on their own:

TV Guide Mobile
Amazon MP3 (i dont use this)
VZW Apps (i dont use this)
Bluetooth (security flaw?)
CarDock (even if my phone has not been put in my car dock)
City ID (i dont even pay for this application)
Desk Home (i dont even plug my phone into my computer)
Gmail (uses very little, always ends task when done, starts again)
IM (never uses this)
Maps (never uses this, although is assuming this one keeps starting because i use Google's location based services and not VZW's)
Music (i dont even have any music on my phone)
VZ Navigator (even though I use Google's location based services, this one keeps running too)
V Cast Media Manager (again, no music, no media, no ringtones)
Voice Commands (never use)

All of these apps are added to an auto-end list, which after my phone's display goes blank for two minutes these apps should be killed. They are not killed, and continually run unless I manually kill them myself. Afterwards, they will start themselves back up again even if I don't even touch my phone.

I'm assuming my battery can't last more than 8 hours because all this junk is running, and it's very annoying that I have to check my task manager every thirty minutes or so killing crap that I'm not even using. A lot of this stuff I can't even uninstall (actually, ALL of it, with the exception of the TV Guide app).

How do I get this crap to auto-end? The function does not seem to be working at all. Better yet, how can I get rid of all this unnecessary junk in my phone that I never asked for -- or wanted?

I'm seriously considering selling this phone and buying another cheap $30 phone that only does pictures, text messages, and phone calls. At least with a phone like that my battery can last me days without a recharge, and then I'm also not subject to Google's new privacy invading policy changes. But--I'm getting off track here...I do like the phone but all these applications that won't quit running are destroying the battery life.

Another concern of mine is a lot of these applications track me via GPS, have access to my personal and private information such as my contact lists, my text messages, and things application developers have no business snooping into.

Any help or suggestions at all to be rid of the garbage is greatly appreciated, and have my thanks. :)
 
iowabowtech said:
Start with this, hopefully it may provide some answers you seek:

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/529547-applications-start-themselves.html
Click to expand...

I had found and read that thread, and I maybe I should have posted there, but I didn't see a solution to my issues in the thread other than rooting my phone. I have done a little looking into rooting my phone but I've been hesitant to do it since I don't know anything about it--or what it's really going to do to my phone.

Another thing I think I read somewhere was each time the andriod OS is updated the phone needs to be rooted all over again---is that fact or fiction?

In the thread you've linked me to there is a debate about whether or not the apps should be killed and whether killing the apps is draining the battery or not. If I don't kill the apps my battery dies much faster than if I do, and I've never had advanced task killer installed which seems to be more the focus of that thread.

But, thank you anyways for trying to help out. :) And for the very speedy reply.
 
alpha0990 said:
i wud root the fone then use an app called root uninstaller on the junk
Click to expand...

Is rooting really the only way to uninstall factory installed applications? I don't really understand why andriod manufacturers would do that. It seems almost a step backwards for technology when the phone developers would put a bunch of stuff in your phone that they are aware is going to drain the battery without an easy way to uninstall the stuff you don't want.

Like, for example, I'm not a football guy but there's an NFL app on my phone that I never use just sitting there taking up unnecessary space. Again sorry getting a little off topic.

If rooting is the only way to go about doing it I guess I'll have to look into that more, I'm just worried I'm going to break something inside the phone if I start trying to get too technical with it.
 
Farsided said:
Another thing I think I read somewhere was each time the andriod OS is updated the phone needs to be rooted all over again---is that fact or fiction?
Click to expand...

Both. :D

If rooted, you don't have to accept an official update and even if you do, if you are running a custom recovery at the time, it should not go through anyway. Many rooters just flash their way forward since roms based on the newest version of stock are usually made in the matter of a few days, especially on the more mainstream phones.

By and large, unless the offending app is bloatware, I don't like to mess with the inner workings of the Android OS so I never force apps off unless I am beyond confident they are on the "safe list" to do so. How do you know what the safe list is? Short answer is Android Forums. :D

Either other users taking the plunge and reporting results, or if you have root with Titanium Backup, you can freeze apps first to test for negative consequence, then remove if all systems are go after a few days of problem free use.

I believe there are non root apps that manage the ebb and flow of apps management but I don't have much experience with them and haven't heard a whole lot of positive comments on any I can recall. But, perhaps others with more exposure to such apps will chime in and convince you/us otherwise.

Welcome to Android Forums by the way. :)
 
Thanks again for the quick info, and for the welcome to the forums :)

Looks like I'm off to read the rooting section of the forums to learn how to do this....

Heh...hopes I don't blow my phone up.
 
OP, all rooting does (if accomplished successfully), is give you "admin privileges" which would allow you to do things that you can't currently do. For example, you could then delete TV Guide, as it currently resides in the /system folder (which typical users aren't allowed to access). Bear in mind though, that there's a risk in deleting things (you mentioned Google Maps before) as that's really part of the system, and you might be surprised at how many apps that you want depend on it. The stock SMS app is the same way, where a lot of alternatives depend in that one in order to function as you'd expect. In short, if you feel the need to root, know what you're getting in to. If you feel the need to remove the bloat, know what you're getting in to. All that being said, go for it, and good luck!
 
Oh, you could also try Watchdog Task Manager, which will kill apps that are running amok. You can also whitelist stuff you want ignored, and blacklist stuff you don't want running. It watches your CPU instead of your RAN, as the CPU is where the battery drain lies.
 
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