Help [Q] What happens when swiping recent apps

[paroots]

At the bottom of my Galaxy Nexus (gsm) I have from left to right: back, home, and recent. When I touch recent I can swipe the apps away. What is actually happening? I read somewhere that this flushes the app from memory, but when I go to Settings/Apps/Running the number hasn't been reduced by a corresponding number.
Pete

 

[txrose72]

All I can see it does is remove them from the Recent list which you couldn't do in 2.x. Apps removed from the Recent list do not change their running status.

 

[SweatyPits]

as far as i can tell, absolutely nothing. although it's supposed to allegedly close the app.

 

[Skyroket]

I think it moves some of them to cache and some completely out of ram. It depends on application code.

 

[paroots]

I think it moves some of them to cache and some completely out of ram. It depends on application code.

Interesting. Is there an app that lists all apps in memory and gives their status? How does one start fresh? I suppose a reboot would do it. I see apps in my Running list that haven't been used for days?
Pete

 

[Tim K]

Go to settings > apps and select running. That's everything Active. You can also see cached apps by clicking at the top right.

There are loads of apps that will run whether you ever touch them or not. In particular Google apps, but certainly not limited to those. Anything that syncs or updates itself regularly will self start.

 

[paroots]

Go to settings > apps and select running. That's everything Active. You can also see cached apps by clicking at the top right.

There are loads of apps that will run whether you ever touch them or not. In particular Google apps, but certainly not limited to those. Anything that syncs or updates itself regularly will self start.

Thanks. As mentioned in my original post, I have checked the running apps and that's why I'm asking the question. Do you know what happens in the background, if anything, when you swipe away the apps from the Recent list? Yes, there seem to be many apps running that we have not accessed recently. I understand this is not a big problem because Android will flush them out if RAM is needed. The apps that conern me are the ones that consume battery power. I'm presently evaluating what can be done to conserve my battery which gave rise to my original question. I'm using Watchdog to hopefully find any misbehaving apps.
Pete

 

[Zeinzu]

It removes them from recent apps "and" the application cache.

 

[paroots]

It removes them from recent apps "and" the application cache.

Thanks. What is the effect of removing them from the application cache? Does that mean they are no longer using any RAM? That can't be true since often they are often still listed under Running programs. It probably just means the last state of the program has been flushed? For example, if I enter Juice Defender by touching it in the Recent list it brings me back to where I last was, whereas if I enter it by touching the app in home screen, it starts up at top of Status tab.
Pete

 

[Tim K]

Well, the easiest way to tell is to test it. See what the status is of apps that are running and cached..... then swipe each app out of the recent list and go back and check its status and see if it remains running or cached. I've done it and with many apps, nothing changes under running and cached. If an app is in cache and you swipe it it no longer remains in cache. However, if it is actively running in the background I've found a couple of things can happen. It can be bumped to cache and out of active, or it can appear to restart itself. I've also seen nothing at all happen to running apps.

I think it really depends on how the app was coded to operate in the background.

As for clearing apps out of cache, it really does nothing for you. Its not using up anything, and android will close anything it needs to if the system needs the resources. In reality, by clearing apps from cache all you are doing is slowing down the process when you go to reopen them and they have to start over instead of just resuming.

The only advantage for swiping apps out of 'recent' is to make it easier to get back to apps you were using if there are too many listed and you don't want to scroll. I do that sometimes when there are apps I'm done with just sitting there making me scroll.

 

[paroots]

Well, the easiest way to tell is to test it. See what the status is of apps that are running and cached..... then swipe each app out of the recent list and go back and check its status and see if it remains running or cached. I've done it and with many apps, nothing changes under running and cached. If an app is in cache and you swipe it it no longer remains in cache. However, if it is actively running in the background I've found a couple of things can happen. It can be bumped to cache and out of active, or it can appear to restart itself. I've also seen nothing at all happen to running apps.

I think it really depends on how the app was coded to operate in the background.

As for clearing apps out of cache, it really does nothing for you. Its not using up anything, and android will close anything it needs to if the system needs the resources. In reality, by clearing apps from cache all you are doing is slowing down the process when you go to reopen them and they have to start over instead of just resuming.

The only advantage for swiping apps out of 'recent' is to make it easier to get back to apps you were using if there are too many listed and you don't want to scroll. I do that sometimes when there are apps I'm done with just sitting there making me scroll.

Thanks for the great response. Yes, I guess in summary Android does a good job of managing memory and doing things like clearing cache or the Recent list does not improve performance or battery life. As you say, the only point would be clearing out apps you don't want to scroll through.
Pete

 

[Zeinzu]

Clearing them from the cache "does" free resources like RAM. Also, there is a big difference between a running service and a cached app. A cached app has info stored on the memory to either hold where you left off in the app, or info the app is designed to store in memory for future use which aids in the apps performance. A running service is just that, a running service. It actively performs processes in the background and either continuously runs, or runs periodically under/at certain conditions based on how its functionality is designed.