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How do you close an app properly?
- Thread starter spman
- Start date
Crashdamage
Android Expert
What you're doing is just fine. Android handles things from there.
What you are doing is fine. Just leave the app and move on. The app will stop running but remain cached in memory, which means if you come back to it you don't waste time and power reloading it. If the phone needs the memory for something else it will clear the app completely.
There are very few cases where you need to explicitly close the app, and in general the phone will work less efficiently if you go around killing every app when you stop using it.
There are very few cases where you need to explicitly close the app, and in general the phone will work less efficiently if you go around killing every app when you stop using it.
boyo1991
Android Enthusiast
What these guys said. But I'm a bit ocd. I know its not great but I am... On my galaxy s3 the task manager is to press and hold the home key.. Others have the pages looking button. Tiles pop up that you can swipe away. I swipe all mine away. Like I said I know its not the best but I'm a tad ocd with it.
As others have said you don't really need to close them, but if you want to it depends on the app. Many have an Exit option, and for some tapping the back button will close it.
Do not use task killers:
http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-sup...task-killers-must-read-new-android-users.html
funkylogik
share the love peeps ;)
Excellent replies ^^ just put your trust in the android system :thumbup:
1. If I am watching a video halfway (video has loaded halfway in youtube) in the internet browser, then I press home key or back key on the phone to close the app. Is the browser app still running or consuming data?
2. I press and hold the home key, and a tile list of recent apps pop up. Are those apps still running? Do I need to swipe it left/right to make the app disappear so that it is closed? Or is that list just a list of history of apps I have opened before?
2. I press and hold the home key, and a tile list of recent apps pop up. Are those apps still running? Do I need to swipe it left/right to make the app disappear so that it is closed? Or is that list just a list of history of apps I have opened before?
Crashdamage
Android Expert
1. The browser is not running or consuming data.
2. It's basically just a list of recently used apps. They are not running, but may be either actually closed or cached in memory for quick retrieval. No need to swipe then away.
2. It's basically just a list of recently used apps. They are not running, but may be either actually closed or cached in memory for quick retrieval. No need to swipe then away.
boyo1991
Android Enthusiast
"Trust the system" lol just thought I'd throw that one your way there funky. U actually said to trust the system.
zuben el genub
Extreme Android User
The Oppo Find 7 has "end all" built into Color OS. I use that. Maybe the home button works differently on these phones. Haven't had time to root it yet, so using Color 4.3
dynomot
Android Expert
"Trust the system" lol just thought I'd throw that one your way there funky. U actually said to trust the system.
To be fair to funky, he said "... trust the Android system.
Back to topic. Don't even bother to close them from task manager (on Samsung's a long press if the home key), I used to religiously, but it actually slows the phone, noticeably slows it on reopening an app. Let the phone work it out and free RAM itself. Indeed I have no idea why a task manager is included.
If you go to menu>settings>apps you can go to the "running" tab and toggle between cached and running processes. If you look at the cached vs. those actually running, it might make a little more sense to you. Those cached are just sitting there doing nothing as far as data or power are concerned. Those running are most likely running for a reason.
boyo1991
Android Enthusiast
To be fair to funky, he said "... trust the Android system.
Back to topic. Don't even bother to close them from task manager (on Samsung's a long press if the home key), I used to religiously, but it actually slows the phone, noticeably slows it on reopening an app. Let the phone work it out and free RAM itself. Indeed I have no idea why a task manager is included.
I agree it gets slower but some.. By some I mean a very few, do need to be closed.. As an example Pandora sometimes gets fiddley and won't stop from the notifications swipe. But I stick to closing them out of force of habit.. Haven't had *too* much troubles with doing it but if your the type to get annoyed with app loads... Don't even bother lol
If I long press Samsung home key, select an app there and swipe left/right to make it disappear, does that mean that the app is fully closed after it disappeared, just like when you just powered on the phone and never opened the app before?
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
depending on the amount of RAM available, most of the time an app is still running foreground stuff if you exit with the HOME button, but closes that portion of it if you hit back. sometimes when you look at recents you'll notice the app would normally not have a screenshot but instead a blank window of black--that's an app that is no longer running and might have been closed by Android if left going long enough.
Worrying about apps running when they shouldn't wouldn't be a big issue if 75% of Google Play Store apps weren't horribly written. many mainstream apps like Facebook and so on are very horrible with wake locks and so on, while their iOS counterparts are excellent. i also notice a few stock included apps such as LG QuickRemote make the phone run very hot and eat battery (but doesn't cause lag) if i leave it going by hitting home, but is fine if i swipe it away from recents. as usual your mileage may vary.
With my Samsung products, i leave a widget known as Active Apps on my main home screen to monitor which apps are badly written and use more than they should vs. apps that perform properly and shut down when needed. it seems a few stock Samsung apps stay in memory and have a leak that causes lock screen freeze and lag if left alone too long, and one of those offenders is Browser, the other Galaxy Apps, and for some unforeseen reason, Google Apps all chew through both CPU and memory on a Samsung product, yet remain reliable and don't do that on my G3. could be a TouchWiz thing but unsure.
The generalLinux Android fare is "Unused RAM is Wasted RAM" and for the most part it is accurate. yet there is another mantra i know of and that is "badly written apps that use RAM when they should not should be swiped away or uninstalled"
Worrying about apps running when they shouldn't wouldn't be a big issue if 75% of Google Play Store apps weren't horribly written. many mainstream apps like Facebook and so on are very horrible with wake locks and so on, while their iOS counterparts are excellent. i also notice a few stock included apps such as LG QuickRemote make the phone run very hot and eat battery (but doesn't cause lag) if i leave it going by hitting home, but is fine if i swipe it away from recents. as usual your mileage may vary.
With my Samsung products, i leave a widget known as Active Apps on my main home screen to monitor which apps are badly written and use more than they should vs. apps that perform properly and shut down when needed. it seems a few stock Samsung apps stay in memory and have a leak that causes lock screen freeze and lag if left alone too long, and one of those offenders is Browser, the other Galaxy Apps, and for some unforeseen reason, Google Apps all chew through both CPU and memory on a Samsung product, yet remain reliable and don't do that on my G3. could be a TouchWiz thing but unsure.
The general
itsallgood
Android Expert
Everyone has given really good advice. I for one, use the stock apps manager on my S4 to close apps that don't have an exit button. (Holding down home button.) What I have notice is that my battery drains faster when those apps are left cached in the background. Its true it takes longer, not much, to reload them. I'd rather reload them when I need them, then the cost of using up battery, when I'm not even using my phone.
I notice that the Directv app still runs in the background most of the time, even after I close it. I actually have to go to the battery monitor and force close it from there. Dolphin browser and Google maps, are other app. that uses battery if not closed.
I notice that the Directv app still runs in the background most of the time, even after I close it. I actually have to go to the battery monitor and force close it from there. Dolphin browser and Google maps, are other app. that uses battery if not closed.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
Keep in mind that swiping away in recents will only close down foreground services (the part you see) while background services (those that send push notifications for example) remain running. You never want to force quit background services or use an app that does, as this will force the app to quit everything and those background services will restart over and over again, chewing through resources doing so. Many apps don't gracefully quit their foreground services though and cause issues which are incorrectly blamed on Android or running out of RAM.
You can, however reduce demand from certain background services by either disabling push notifications in settings for each app you don't need them from, or by the app's own settings which may offer options to turn them off (Weather Channel does offer the option to disable notification of weather in the notification bar, as well as disabling use of GPS )
You can, however reduce demand from certain background services by either disabling push notifications in settings for each app you don't need them from, or by the app's own settings which may offer options to turn them off (Weather Channel does offer the option to disable notification of weather in the notification bar, as well as disabling use of GPS )
If you start app like [Internet] or [Chrome], you see that after closing it by pressing the back key or pressing the home key, you will still see the app in the Active Apps widget.
Does that mean that every time still need to go into the Active Apps widget and press the [End] button to end the app [Internet]/[Chrome] so that they will no longer be running in the background?
Does those apps that appear in Active Apps means they are still working in the background or does it mean they are already not working?
Does that mean that every time still need to go into the Active Apps widget and press the [End] button to end the app [Internet]/[Chrome] so that they will no longer be running in the background?
Does those apps that appear in Active Apps means they are still working in the background or does it mean they are already not working?
If you go to menu>settings>apps and on the running tab it says "Show running processes" then all the apps listed there are simply cached, and not really running. It's a bit confusing. (see attached)
You'll see that the apps actually say "cached process" and not active or running. As Android needs more memory for other apps to run, it will drop these in order of most efficient use of resources. Sure you can stop them, but leaving them there has no impact on the performance of your phone and if it's something you use frequently, they'll be started again, taking longer to launch and using more power and CPU cycles than if you'd just left them cached in the first place.
You'll see that the apps actually say "cached process" and not active or running. As Android needs more memory for other apps to run, it will drop these in order of most efficient use of resources. Sure you can stop them, but leaving them there has no impact on the performance of your phone and if it's something you use frequently, they'll be started again, taking longer to launch and using more power and CPU cycles than if you'd just left them cached in the first place.
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nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
Active Apps will usually not list apps unless they fail to close properly for some reason. Chrome always exited properly so long as i closed all tabs and hit back instead of home. the stock Samsung browser kept going though chewing through RAM until lag produced itself (it started inexplicably using more than ~250MB even though the foreground part was closed out)
Active Apps is a great way to tell which apps close as they should and which are not. if one is sticking around for some reason, it's not working properly for some reason. when you 'back' out, there is a delay, but the app should clear itself from the widget after some time. nothing that is displayed in the Active Apps manager is a background service. any apps listed as 'running' are often foreground apps not the important stuff--notice how core Android apps are not listed (such as System UI, Play Services, etc). Cached services are also ignored by the Samsung Active Apps manager.
Active Apps is a great way to tell which apps close as they should and which are not. if one is sticking around for some reason, it's not working properly for some reason. when you 'back' out, there is a delay, but the app should clear itself from the widget after some time. nothing that is displayed in the Active Apps manager is a background service. any apps listed as 'running' are often foreground apps not the important stuff--notice how core Android apps are not listed (such as System UI, Play Services, etc). Cached services are also ignored by the Samsung Active Apps manager.