Should you close unused apps?

[The_Chief]

According to this article, NO:

https://www.slashgear.com/910451/why-you-need-to-stop-closing-apps-on-your-android-phone/

And I understand the premise. Modern smartphones have a good bit of RAM with which to run the operating system, apps and actively work with data. Older phones, or low-budget models, may be more limited in their capacity - as a rule, though, phones are built with plenty of RAM to manage day-to-day tasks.

The idea behind closing apps we no longer need is to "free up RAM" as if that will make our phones run better, or faster. That's simply not true and, as the article implies, closing frequently used apps can actually slow it down.

RAM is the amount of temporary, operating memory your device has. Storage is where user data is saved long-term... much like a hard drive on a computer. If you have room to spare on a 256 GB hard drive, getting a 4 TB drive will only give you a lot of empty space that may never be used.

Likewise, if you only use about 4 GB RAM to do everything you need to do on your phone, getting a phone with 12 GB RAM will simply leave you with a lot of extra memory you don't need. Closing apps to free up even more memory becomes counterintuitive.

Old habits are hard to break: I'm one of those "old guard" Android users who remember the days of 256 MB RAM on the original Motorola Droid. Back then, judicious use of memory was a way of life. Now that modern smartphones have 8, 12 or more GB, this old dog needs to learn new tricks and stop closing out apps.

 

[muhra]

Honestly, I always do it. Not because of RAM usage or something like that it's just a habit

 

[Milo Williamson]

According to this article, NO:

https://www.slashgear.com/910451/why-you-need-to-stop-closing-apps-on-your-android-phone/

And I understand the premise. Modern smartphones have a good bit of RAM with which to run the operating system, apps and actively work with data. Older phones, or low-budget models, may be more limited in their capacity - as a rule, though, phones are built with plenty of RAM to manage day-to-day tasks.

The idea behind closing apps we no longer need is to "free up RAM" as if that will make our phones run better, or faster. That's simply not true and, as the article implies, closing frequently used apps can actually slow it down.

RAM is the amount of temporary, operating memory your device has. Storage is where user data is saved long-term... much like a hard drive on a computer. If you have room to spare on a 256 GB hard drive, getting a 4 TB drive will only give you a lot of empty space that may never be used.

Likewise, if you only use about 4 GB RAM to do everything you need to do on your phone, getting a phone with 12 GB RAM will simply leave you with a lot of extra memory you don't need. Closing apps to free up even more memory becomes counterintuitive.

Old habits are hard to break: I'm one of those "old guard" Android users who remember the days of 256 MB RAM on the original Motorola Droid. Back then, judicious use of memory was a way of life. Now that modern smartphones have 8, 12 or more GB, this old dog needs to learn new tricks and stop closing out apps.

Same here man, I am also one of those "old guard" android users too. I am glad for the article Chief Thanks man.

 

[Clementine_3]

Old habits are hard to break: I'm one of those "old guard" Android users who remember the days of 256 MB RAM on the original Motorola Droid. Back then, judicious use of memory was a way of life

Yup. Loved that phone! I'm a serial app backer-outer, clear-all-er and cache wiper, I know it's not necessary but I just have to do it!! Old habits die hard.

 

[Dannydet]

I also close everything once done with it. Also multiple chrome tabs!!!
Force of habit

 

[The_Chief]

I understand old habits! How many decades have we been buying homogenized milk... yet every time I pull the milk jug out of the fridge, I give it a shake before opening it. As a child, the milkman would deliver the milk... nothing was homogenized, so the skim floated above the cream. We had to shake the bottle to mix it before pouring it. And to this day, out of unconscious habit, I shake that thing...

 

[svim]

Android's memory and power management is much more advanced than you're giving credit for. Manually closing apps is an old WinXP tactic, it's something to do to compensate for the crappy back end that's inherent to Windows. It's a legacy practice that no longer applies. Now with your Android phones, doing this is just making the installed Android OS on your phone work that much harder to compensate for your 'old school' habits. It doesn't hurt but it doesn't help in any way either. Most current phones now have enough system resources that you don't see that you're not helping your phone perform any better or less. I'd recommend you stop fixating on an out-of-date practice,and just use your phones to do stuff.Stop micromanaging what doesn't need to be over-managed.

 

[Milo Williamson]

Android's memory and power management is much more advanced than you're giving credit for. Manually closing apps is an old WinXP tactic, it's something to do to compensate for the crappy back end that's inherent to Windows. It's a legacy practice that no longer applies. Now with your Android phones, doing this is just making the installed Android OS on your phone work that much harder to compensate for your 'old school' habits. It doesn't hurt but it doesn't help in any way either. Most current phones now have enough system resources that you don't see that you're not helping your phone perform any better or less. I'd recommend you stop fixating on an out-of-date practice,and just use your phones to do stuff.Stop micromanaging what doesn't need to be over-managed.

:: eye roll ::: And we would love for technology of Iron man's hologram for everything...

 

[Fox Mulder]

This is an old thread but the message still applies, forget killing/closing things manually or automatically and leave Android alone to do what it does-
https://androidforums.com/threads/p...k-killers-ram-optimizers-and-the-like.896663/
Android is NOT Windows!
(P.S. RIP crashdamage)

 

[Hadron]

I never bother closing apps unless they are misbehaving. And moreover I never did so even when my phone was running Android 2.3 in 512 MB of RAM. It's not a matter of dropping old habits, as someone who knew linux memory management before Android existed I simply never got into them in the first place.

 

[puppykickr]

I close apps when I am done with them.
There is no point in having them running (or 'ready' to run in cache) when they could be doing whoknowswhat in the background, or even using battery for nothing.

I do use small capability devices, but I do seem to see a marked improvement in battery life if I properly close my apps.

I usually let Greenify take care of it for me, although it closes apps by force stopping them.

 

[nickdalzell]

I stopped believing in task killers, battery savers and Cheetah Mobile ages ago (Does anyone remember the huge fights I used to get in over that?)

Heck I don't even know the specs of my Samsung Galaxy SII (don't laugh!) but I don't close apps out or force close a thing. It just works. I don't even use the back button to back out of apps since many would use that as a close function. I reboot it every few weeks or so, or if the battery drain gets a bit crazy, but other than that Android manages itself quite well.

Took me years to get there though. I was so into being in control of my device to the point I thought I knew what should or should not run, and even defended Cheetah Mobile for a while!

If you just use and enjoy your device, it eventually learns and prioritizes stuff for you and you don't ever lose performance (especially if you never update stuff. I don't believe in updates anymore). For example, even without apps like Tasker or features such as Bixby Routines, my SII still knows to auto-play the last playlist when connecting to my car BlueTooth, or a headset, and since the SMS app is the most commonly used app, it's always fast to get into, and never redraws. It even knows which conversation to show when I tap 'Messages' from the home screen.

I know that discussing Apple is bad juju here, but treat it like an old iPhone (iOS 3, before they had an app switcher). Tap an app, do what you want, tap home. Rinse, repeat.

 

[Milo Williamson]

I stopped believing in task killers, battery savers and Cheetah Mobile ages ago (Does anyone remember the huge fights I used to get in over that?)

Heck I don't even know the specs of my Samsung Galaxy SII (don't laugh!) but I don't close apps out or force close a thing. It just works. I don't even use the back button to back out of apps since many would use that as a close function. I reboot it every few weeks or so, or if the battery drain gets a bit crazy, but other than that Android manages itself quite well.

Took me years to get there though. I was so into being in control of my device to the point I thought I knew what should or should not run, and even defended Cheetah Mobile for a while!

If you just use and enjoy your device, it eventually learns and prioritizes stuff for you and you don't ever lose performance (especially if you never update stuff. I don't believe in updates anymore). For example, even without apps like Tasker or features such as Bixby Routines, my SII still knows to auto-play the last playlist when connecting to my car BlueTooth, or a headset, and since the SMS app is the most commonly used app, it's always fast to get into, and never redraws. It even knows which conversation to show when I tap 'Messages' from the home screen.

I know that discussing Apple is bad juju here, but treat it like an old iPhone (iOS 3, before they had an app switcher). Tap an app, do what you want, tap home. Rinse, repeat.

I had a Samsung Galaxy S3 (going back ten years ago), kept really crashing on me, I remember that full few weeks without a cellphone, it was just a messy heck for me..

 

[Milo Williamson]

I close apps when I am done with them.
There is no point in having them running (or 'ready' to run in cache) when they could be doing whoknowswhat in the background, or even using battery for nothing.

I do use small capability devices, but I do seem to see a marked improvement in battery life if I properly close my apps.

I usually let Greenify take care of it for me, although it closes apps by force stopping them.

I had Greenify forever ago.

 

[michelle73j]

I don't think that it affects your phone anyhow

 

[nickdalzell]

I had a Samsung Galaxy S3 (going back ten years ago), kept really crashing on me, I remember that full few weeks without a cellphone, it was just a messy heck for me..

the first flagship phone I owned was an S3. I got two as backups in the 'drawer o' phones'.

It, too, had that issue. But.....I was always hitting 'update' on the Play Store like it were a bad drug. Updates tend to add more resource demands on hardware and eventually your phone 'shows its age'. Also, in my experience at least, updates change things and make certain elements undesireable to me (flat design). I just said 'screw that' and when I got the SII used from Amazon in 2021, I treated it like a brand new out of box phone. I just decided to use and enjoy what it already had installed, even though I did add in my favorite games, a nice calculator app, weather radar and file browser.

I don't even have a Google account logged in to it, and since it pre-dates Google Play Services that means zero lag, zero battery problems. Once you just start enjoying your device and stop trying to micromange it and update willy nilly you're much better off...and, stress free.

 

[olbriar]

I've never been one to close an app. I do have one app that requires closing. It is a BT temp meter for grilling and smoking. It sends an alert to the phone when your preset temp is reached but the app is written to send an alert if the connection is dropped. Turning off the meter does not eliminate the alerts. Closing the app is required.

 

[nickdalzell]

I notice people swiping every app away from recents all the time. If I am not too mistaken, doesn't Android notice that pattern? If so that means it will want to close each app once you're done with it and you'd face redraws and reloads all too often.

Since my SII runs Android 2.3, I don't even have an app switcher that allows me to close apps. I'd have to go to settings and the app list, and force close them, or use an exit function (many Gingerbread apps had an exit option) or hit the back button until I arrive at the home screen (apps after 2012 use back button as close command). I just don't do any of that. In fact, I believe Google should have never allowed anyone to close apps from the app switcher in the first place.

In fact, I am quite well off just following the old Android Home Screen Tips widget's advice. Since I just started to enjoy my phone and don't muck with everything I am far better off. Following Bugdroid's advice was a good choice, after all!

 

[PitCarver]

IDK.
I guess it's just habit, at this point, but I always close my open apps and swipe away all open pages in Chrome.
I know it's unnecessary but old habits die hard.

 

[nickdalzell]

I don't even do tabbed browsing so all the websites I have open are in their own browser (a carry over from when Chrome was far less stable, and went 'aw snap!' for no reason, forcing me to reload all 12+ tabs). That too is an old habit but it makes sense for me. Today, I'm very unlikely to have more than two or three websites in view so don't think I got 12 different web browsers installed! I tend to develop a certain usage pattern and that means I become quite stubborn and resistant to change. I can't adjust to app redesigns or them rearranging stuff and I still prefer Android 2.3 since it was the last real open less Google-infused version made. As such it's immune to getting any more updates and apps will remain the way I'm used to. It's a recipe that has worked well. I've tried using newer stuff and it just raises my blood pressure and stress level. So I don't have many things newer than the year 2014 in my home today. 2015+ was when things started getting more flat UI and homogenized.

I noticed the ones who swipe their apps away often have the latest iPhone though, hehe.

 

[Hadron]

Which is ironic as true multitasking has never been a strength of iDevices, so there's arguably never been a real reason for iPhone users to do that. Maybe they just do it out of habit rather than any actual need? Again, it's something I've never done when using iPads and have never found any need for it.

I'm more restrained with browser tabs on phones than on computers, but my main browser does often have 10-20 tabs open (simpler than bookmarking stuff that I won't need long-term but find useful to return to). Maybe I'd not try that on a decade old device, but it worked fine even with the 4GB RAM of my Pixel 2 (I still believe that the really large RAM capacities of some high-end devices are more about marketing rather than any actual need). Can't comment on Chrome though since I don't use that at all (not even as a webview element).

 

[nickdalzell]

I can easily have 20+ tabs in the old Chrome that runs on this 2012 Toshiba laptop. I just never got 'into' tabbed browsing.

I think the reason they swipe apps out of iPhones is more like a 'it feels good' thing. Sorta like a fidget spinner. Kinda the last 'skeuomorphic' animation you even get on a modern one. I'm sure those during WebOS's heyday had similar views of swiping away those cards, or those during Google Now's heyday doing much the same.

The modern version of smashing the condensor fins on an air conditioner. It doesn't serve any purpose and can actually damage the unit but people think it feels good.

 

[puppykickr]

I don't trust open tabs in a browser, since sites that you visit can scan your bookmarks (if your bookmarks have an icon denoting the site, then yes) and possibly even see browsing history and more.

The browsers I use all have a setting that allows the closing of all tabs and then the browser with a single long press of the back button on the navigation button.

Cookies, history, and web storage can all be set to be deleted at this time as well.