Turn off multitasking?

[funkylogik]

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.

Think you missed my point mate.
If a decent proportion of people wanted the option to disable that, it would be in one of the MANY custom firmwares built (profit free) by people who listen to what their users want, even if say 20people requested it in some cases. But it isnt so you have to accept that youre a very very rare case.
In custom roms you can choose things as trivial as where the statusbar clock or even a button in the notification drawer sits but you cant disable them pesky recents thumbnails.
All im saying is that you must be in a VAST minority so theres no way google or a major phone manufacturer will or should add that option if you think about it :thumbup:

We have told you ways around it though, thats whats cool about android, its community :beer:

 

[modernaire]

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.

It's intentionally been made that way, and there's no rational explanation for it . You can have the app closed, but the snapshot is still there and it will still take you back to the app. Doesn't make sense.

It's like the bartender keeping your tab open after you asked to have it closed.

 

[mplevy]

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

But you're still running a ROM that could have little things added. Also, it sounds like maybe Samsung has added that feature to TouchWiz.

FTR, this is what that screen looks like on a Moto X, A VERY stock Android implementation if one was ever seen outside the Nexus line.

 

[funkylogik]

But you're still running a ROM that could have little things added. Also, it sounds like maybe Samsung has added that feature to TouchWiz.

FTR, this is what that screen looks like on a Moto X, A VERY stock Android implementation if one was ever seen outside the Nexus line.

Ah right. Thanks mate. Tbh ive never used a pure android device so i just assumed that what CM are doing on their 4.4 builds just now was very close to stock.
Ok i definately think a "clear all" type button should be in aosp android. Im actually shocked that it isnt!

P.s, on the phones/roms ive used, the clear/bin icon has only cleared the list, it hasnt removed the cached apps from RAM as far as i know.
Actually i read something by that dianne lady from Android one time and her explanation wasnt very clear about what happens to recents that are swiped away lol

 

[mikedt]

It's intentionally been made that way, and there's no rational explanation for it . You can have the app closed, but the snapshot is still there and it will still take you back to the app. Doesn't make sense.

It's like the bartender keeping your tab open after you asked to have it closed.

It's not really any different to having recent documents on the Start menu in Windows. Word or Excel are not actually running, but they'll soon start if you click on a recent document. If you go lending your laptop to someone else and you have something that you don't want them to see, you might want to clear it.

 

[mplevy]

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?

I believe the multiple users option is still a tablets-only thing, and only on JB and newer versions (my Acer A500 on ICS doesn't have it for example).

 

[funkylogik]

Nah i think its a general 4.3+ feature tbh. I know ive seen it on my phone but never used it. I dont know how quickly it changes or anything.
I think the best non-root work-around we've had so far was right near the start, putting a dialer shortcut on a custom lockscreen. Im not convinced that the OP wants a solution though lol

 

[n_s_simpson]

Perhaps there's a custom ROM for phones that have this option. I've not seen it but would be interesting to know how it deals with recent apps when you switch accounts.

 

[n_s_simpson]

Hi peeps, okay let's all breathe for a moment... in... and out... in... and out.


Do we even know if installing a custom phone ROM to give different user accounts will resolve the issue? Is anyone able to test it?

 

[funkylogik]

Lol bro *breathing*
I could test it but if the guy was rooted, he wouldnt even need a custom rom or multi user to cure his issue, he could just make long-tap of whatever button that brings up the recent apps do something else or do nothing

 

[dibblebill]

It's intentionally been made that way, and there's no rational explanation for it . You can have the app closed, but the snapshot is still there and it will still take you back to the app. Doesn't make sense.

It's like the bartender keeping your tab open after you asked to have it closed.

I can think of plenty of rational reasons for it. It saves battery. It saves time. It saves aggravation if you recently used the app. If you want to change it, create or find a ROM that removes that feature, or swipe-away the apps like others said. Personally, when I loan out my phone, unless I expressly trust them, I dial for them.

 

[Slug]

Don't all 4.x firmwares allow swiping away of unwanted recent apps from the list? That's the easiest solution to the problem of strangers seeing unwanted info in the absence of a global disable option.

And while I'm here..... please keep posts constructive and on-topic. Lively debate is encouraged, but only when it's (a) on-topic and (b) pertinent to the OP's situation. Disagreement is perfectly acceptable, but sarcasm and/or rudeness most definitely isn't. See the Site Rules for further details if in any doubt.

 

[Hadron]

It's intentionally been made that way, and there's no rational explanation for it . You can have the app closed, but the snapshot is still there and it will still take you back to the app. Doesn't make sense.

It will take you back to the app, but only in the way that going into the app drawer, icon on screen/in the dock will do it.

What it doesn't do, if you use that option, is take you back into the document/message/website you were viewing. The app has closed. So the user can see a thumbnail of what you were last doing, but that's not what they get if they press that thumbnail.

The downside of turning that option on is that if you are say writing a post on here, and a message comes in and you read that, it will kill what you were doing in your browser or forum app. If you are composing an email and a call comes in I expect it will kill the email. And it will burn more battery, because whenever you open one of your frequently used apps it will have to be reloaded from scratch. There are real downsides to using that option, which is probably why it's hidden away in developer options.

Now I'm not defending the thumbnail still showing, but I can see how it happens. If somebody turns on the option to kill apps when you leave them, that doesn't necessarily mean they don't want a recent apps list (which, if you selected that option and deleted apps from the list when they closed, would be the effect). You don't, but others, even others who choose to stop apps when they switch focus, might. And since the user doesn't have to use this list, deciding to leave them in the list would work for those who want the list, and those who don't care just won't use it. So I can see how the designers made that choice. It doesn't include your use case, but it would cover most users better.

But I don't think that the thumbnails showing, rather than say just an icon or a blank tile, is a deliberate choice. Rather, I reckon it's the lack of a deliberate choice: if you close the app after moving on, but don't delete the list (see above), then unless you put in some special code it will show the last screen as the thumbnail. And that's what I would guess you are seeing here.

 

[modernaire]

I understand I'm in the minority here, but I don't see why there isn't any option to make it like gingerbread where only the most recent app is show, minus the snapshot.

Some here are acting like the phone is incapable of working efficiently unless the snapshots are there. Android smartphones worked for a long time on technologically inferior phones without it.

 

[funkylogik]

Think of what you just said but in opposite bro

 

[davoid]

It wouldn't be a bad idea to suggest to rom developers to have options to display either thumbnail, app label, or both.

It might not be a popular request but upon consideration seems useful. Any dev would understand immediately that people don't always want images of their recent activities readily seen. It seems very reasonable to have the name (or icon) of the app instead of an image.

Once one dev began implementing it, it would seem like an obvious option to provide and other devs might well follow suit.

Just because nobody has asked for the feature before doesn't mean that people haven't wanted it before.

But as people have suggested, you would likely need to be rooted.

 

[funkylogik]

True bro. Im even gona ask the devs of the build im running just how easy it would be to either remove the thumbnails or replace them with say a pic of a lil android bot or something. They would never impliment it but if its quite a simple bit of coding then maybe its something the OP could/should look into moving forward. I chat to peeps who were android noobs 6months ago and are now porting and modding roms because... noone else was doing what they needed so i think thats the way to approach this kind of thing :beer:

 

[Thom]

... and ...

You could add your desired enhancement to ... http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/1892-official-android-feature-wishlist-thread.html ... that has a vey high probability of being reviewed by system developers.

... Thom

 

[breadnatty08]

I've never used the app, but does Widget Locker give you the option of using the dialer but still having a pattern lock? As in, you can make a phone call without unlocking the phone?

 

[funkylogik]

Think so Dan. Someone really early on in the thread suggested having a dialer shortcut on the lockscreen but the OP doesnt seem to like work-arounds provided by the peeps

 

[Hadron]

I just tried the WidgetLocker "bezel app" solution. With my PIN set to activate immediately it asked for the PIN before it would open the dialer. Once I'd done that, of course, I could enter the OS too...

 

[funkylogik]

D'oh that isnt a workaround then.
Im determined that we find one though lol :beer:

Can we talk you into rooting op?

 

[mplevy]

BTW, the iOS 7 multi-tasking does the same thing, though some apps (mail and notes) seem to show "blanks" where actual data may display. Google Hangouts, Facebook, Contacts and others DO show actual data in the preview of the app.

 

[Slug]

Disagreement is perfectly acceptable, but sarcasm and/or rudeness most definitely isn't. See the Site Rules for further details if in any doubt.

That was the friendly version, which apparently went over some peoples' heads.

I'll make it a bit easier.... no more sarcasm or otherwise-unconstructive replies! If you've nothing helpful or enlightening to add to the discussion then move on to another topic.

 

[funkylogik]

Cant remember what ive written now. Sorry OP and Slug if i wrote anything sarcastic. Im not a very serious person so dont take anything i write to heart :beer:
I really want a solution to this but as far as i can see, for a solution, youll have to root.
For the quesion of whether the thumbnails should be optional, im actually on the fence now so my opinion has changed slightly (which is always a sign of a healthy debate)