Related
I understand the rationale behind not killing tasks, but i checked out the bbc news app earlier, and it runs a service (i could see it via a task manager). I couldn't then kill the service by using the bbc app. Should I be not killing services, and if so, aren't I going to end up potentially running several services unneccessarily?
I don't think there's any harm in killing services if you really want to, but the OS is supposed to do a good job of killing services if another application is in need of the resources being taken up by something you haven't actually used for a while.
Some seem desperate to kill every task possible to save an extra few minutes of battery life though.
moshbeard said:
I don't think there's any harm in killing services if you really want to, but the OS is supposed to do a good job of killing services if another application is in need of the resources being taken up by something you haven't actually used for a while.
Some seem desperate to kill every task possible to save an extra few minutes of battery life though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm happy with the OS doing that sort of thing, but I want control over services which use battery and consume data.
task managers actually end up costing you more battery, having that constantly killing tasks causes them to restart using the CPU which drains the battery. much better to just back out of an app and leave in "idle"
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
hager420 said:
task managers actually end up costing you more battery, having that constantly killing tasks causes them to restart using the CPU which drains the battery. much better to just back out of an app and leave in "idle"
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't really address my question specifically about services, and the data/battery they consume. If I load the BBC news widget/app and it fires off a service to keep the news up to date, then I quit, but I can still see the service running (not sleeping or whatever) then it's using my battery and potentially still get data and I want it to stop. Have you used the BBC news app? Can you see the service running after you've quit the front end? How would you stop it? How about malicious apps?
Since reading that task killers are 'bad' I've got rid of all mine, but I dedided to keep jkAppSwitch on my long press of the search button. Mainly I use it for switching between apps easily but it can be used to manually kill things so that's cool, I rarely kill apps now since what I read here but in special needs circumstances I have that power.
Two birds with one stone and all that.
oursoul said:
Since reading that task killers are 'bad' I've got rid of all mine, but I dedided to keep jkAppSwitch on my long press of the search button. Mainly I use it for switching between apps easily but it can be used to manually kill things so that's cool, I rarely kill apps now since what I read here but in special needs circumstances I have that power.
Two birds with one stone and all that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since my post, I've been playing with Fring, and I've stopped now and logged out. I look at the running services and I can see:
Process: com.fring
CallService
Started by application: touch to stop
Well, I don't want to have to fiddle with settings and kill stuff. I've logged out, then quit (pressed back - there's no 'quit' other than 'log out'). This isn't the only app that does this. I understand entirely the deal with Android managing apps, but it seems that this "service killer":
menu/settings/applications/running services
is required if you want to save cpu time, battery and possibly bandwidth. Should I have to do this? Or is this app badly behaved?
as title really.
some apps i only use every other day auto start. there's no need for it and i have to kill em off.
is there a way yet of preventing them from starting automatically?
tommo123 said:
as title really.
some apps i only use every other day auto start. there's no need for it and i have to kill em off.
is there a way yet of preventing them from starting automatically?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Autorun Killer, it's in the market
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Market -> Startup Manager
;-)
be careful though, stopping the wrong things from starting up can bork your phone
tommo123 said:
some apps i only use every other day auto start. there's no need for it and i have to kill em off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Q. Why do you have to kill them off?
Regards,
Dave
they use memory and use the cpu from time to time. for things i only use on occasion it doesn't make sense for them to run all the time.
same with windows, programs add themselves to the startup list. it's pointless if you use those programs only once a week or so
anyhoo, tis working now.
ta all
tommo123 said:
they use memory and use the cpu from time to time. for things i only use on occasion it doesn't make sense for them to run all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO, not enough to make any serious difference.
If the apps are not being used, they will consume little to no CPU cycles, and if memory becomes tight the system will automatically kill them off.
same with windows, programs add themselves to the startup list. it's pointless if you use those programs only once a week or so
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but the task management on Windows is vastly different to Android, so I don't think you can draw direct any accurate conclusions from the comparison.
My experience with Android stretches back to the US release of the G1 (~ October'08), and so I've been through all of these "performance enhancements" before (autostarts, task killers etc etc) on the G1, and then later the Hero.
In the long term, I've found leaving the system alone to do its own thing improves the experience and I regularly get 30+ hours usage from a single charge (heavy user) and absolutely zero issues with lag - your mileage may vary of course!
Regards,
Dave
i get that, i also (as a bit of a e-control freak) can't stand things running when they have no need to. i have the paypal app, and even though it's something i would probably use every few weeks, runs all the time. it would be more efficient to have power user disallow these from running except when needed. it's annoying really since i want control of what happens on my phone
i did say i was a control freak
my concern is if the app is killing my battery ? I notice even with the task killer , I kill all apps (running ) but it appears again later on the list.
Will Autorun Killer stop the apps completely when not in use ?
Is there an app or something that actually tells me what is running I. The background? I'm currently using automatic task killer but I feel that it only kills somethings and not all.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
try system panel. or taskiller
Why do you want to kill the apps? Android will stop them for you if it needs the memory. Hitting the back button at the bottom of your phone should exit you out of the app you're currently in.
What do you have running in the background that's killing your phone so bad?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Autostarts is a good paid app. Prevents certain apps from ever starting automatically.
Sent from my FROYO'D EVO using xda app
Love autostart.. cheap and on cm6 with stock root I hit 1903 on quad. Also I removed alot of stuff. Almost barebones then installed my 28 apps. Still get average 1800s. +1 for autostart.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
atypical1 said:
Why do you want to kill the apps? Android will stop them for you if it needs the memory. Hitting the back button at the bottom of your phone should exit you out of the app you're currently in.
What do you have running in the background that's killing your phone so bad?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can back out to exit but doesn't shut down the app when you are done with it. Stays in the background. Developers need to start putting close or exit on apps to close and shut down the app instead of leaving it in background. There is 3 parts.. background..foreground.. and cached..
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
atypical1 said:
Why do you want to kill the apps? Android will stop them for you if it needs the memory. Hitting the back button at the bottom of your phone should exit you out of the app you're currently in.
What do you have running in the background that's killing your phone so bad?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The back button closing apps is a large myth for most apps. Some are coded that way but not all. As for the other post about AutoStarts, it is a great app for root users. Just be careful. However, 2.2 is great by itself about managing apps and resources on its own without a 3rd party task killer. I use AutoKiller to tweak Android's own task manager to kill off items sooner. Just because you see an app running does not mean it is using battery or hogging resources. Android is not a Windows device.
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
Well the reason I'm asking is because, I am rooted with 2.2 But I still get horrible battery consumption. I thought it might have been all the background apps still running or on standby. I used taskkiller myself but i really don't see a difference.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Good info on the back button. I always thought that worked for some applications. I don't see how force closing an application can be good for your phone though anymore than force closing a program is great for your computer. But I'm not totally familar with the OS on our phones.
But my understanding about the OS is that it will shut down apps on it's own in case it needs the memory right? And, to your points just having apps open won't necessarily drain the battery.
OP, how's your reception. It's also my understanding that having poor reception will drain your battery worse too. Are you running GPS, wireless, or services that use those resources?
Not at all, I don't even have Bluetooth on. And using system tools I can see that before killing any background apps the phone is using 63% memory when killing the apps its reduced to 42%
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
autostarts + system panel + juice defender
Take a little time to learn how they work, one you get them set up you'll be a happy camper.
nebenezer said:
autostarts + system panel + juice defender
Take a little time to learn how they work, one you get them set up you'll be a happy camper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for system panel. This will tell you not only what processes are running, but will also tell you how much battery and CPU they use (and have used over the past X hours). It's invaluable when trying to find the rogue process that's sapping up your battery.
Sent from my blah blah blah blah
I don't know why there should be any problem with killing an app or service through the app manager. I do it frequently. At first I did encounter unexpected results but these are less now as I become more familiar.
I wondered, though, is there a preferred order of stopping and clearing data/cache through the app manager (in 2.2)?
I didn't know there was background/forground/cache difference: in froyo, it appears to me that app manager shows all of those under "running"--is that correct? Also, you can look at services. If a service (calendar, talk, etc.) is running, for example, it could be an obvious thing to stop if you aren't using it. You will see if you log out of the service first, and then check the service list, that it might remain running.
I think when you re-start the device very little starts with it. You can use that as a baseline.
Playing games online realtime is probably the biggest power hog I've found. I sometimes cannot play for even 15 min.
Other days, the device holds juice for more than 24 hrs.
The signal strength seems to be the main variable in my experience. The phone signal strength makes a difference, so does 3G, and 4G even more. It's like there's a threshhold or a revolving time--sorry, I don't know the right term here--but the device goes round and round searching if it thinks some signal is out there or if you trigger an app that calls for it. OTOH, once the device really finds nothing at all it drops everything. It shuts down entirely and you get really great battery life
can automatically stop certain programs from auto-starting? I downloaded the wonderful Elixir 2 program and it showed me (and yes, I know that the OS would have showed as well), that apps like Stocks, First Aid, and Trillian were loaded/running even though I had not started these apps since the last reboot.
Is there a way to stop rogue apps from autostarting?
Why do you need to stop them? What makes you think that they shouldn't start?
???
Well, I am not sure WHY they need to start, but I am sure that they take up memory. "First Aid" is certainly an app that can start up when needed, no need to run in the background. Same for the others.
That said, the original question remains. Anyone know of an app that can adjust the autostart of apps that have no business starting automatically?
Haven't tried it but may be worth a look:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/autorun-manager/com.rs.autorun
Interesting
First - Thank you for responding to the question! I have downloaded and run the app. It certainly professes to do what I was asking. Stopped some apps from loading, but others seem to be more persistent (does Titanium Backup need to run on boot? MyBackupPro? Don't think so). Thank you!
Read the hundreds of posts on task killers. Unless you are having a problem with a particular app, it is best left alone. If the memory being used for the app in question is "needed", android will kill it on its own.
Deleted because I realized I do not need to stoop to respond to nonhelpful posts (but really, people. when is "read random amorphous posts which are not on topic" a response).
only came across 2 apps that run constantly in background vs cached like their supposed to. Fbook and okcupid. autostart managers sorta work but they break functions
In a perfect world, every app on your device would start at boot and reside in RAM. I've never understood this idea that killing apps somehow conserves resources or saves power, because it does neither. In fact, it does the OPPOSITE. For instance, Trillian: Do you REALLY want to kill it whenever you're not using it, only to reopen it the next time you want to use it? That eats about 4 times more power than just leaving it running. NOTHING your cpu does eats more power than reading and writing to NAND. RAM should be as full as possible all of the time with as many apps as are recently or likely to be used. RAM operations consume FAR less power than NAND operations. Unless the app is simply an abusive piece of crap, like Amazon's market and music apps, there's usually a reason for them to run. Titanium Backup never starts unless it's got a reason to, in my experience, such as scheduled auto-backup operations. The better question to ask is why apps are starting at boot, not "Where can I get one more resource-hogging app to whip bad behavior into shape?"
loonatik78 said:
In a perfect world, every app on your device would start at boot and reside in RAM. I've never understood this idea that killing apps somehow conserves resources or saves power, because it does neither. In fact, it does the OPPOSITE. For instance, Trillian: Do you REALLY want to kill it whenever you're not using it, only to reopen it the next time you want to use it? That eats about 4 times more power than just leaving it running. NOTHING your cpu does eats more power than reading and writing to NAND. RAM should be as full as possible all of the time with as many apps as are recently or likely to be used. RAM operations consume FAR less power than NAND operations. Unless the app is simply an abusive piece of crap, like Amazon's market and music apps, there's usually a reason for them to run. Titanium Backup never starts unless it's got a reason to, in my experience, such as scheduled auto-backup operations. The better question to ask is why apps are starting at boot, not "Where can I get one more resource-hogging app to whip bad behavior into shape?"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this 100%.
Yes But
Yes - I get all that, but it bugs the heck out of me that some of these apps feel the need to auto run and worse still, are classified as "self restarter" by the recommended app.
On a cold power-up (I charge with the power off), and without running any apps (in response to the Titanium reference above), the following apps not only started, but restarted when stopped: Appstore, Ebay, Elixir, Mortplayer Audio Book, MyBackup Pro, ROM Manager, Stocks, Titanium Backup, Trillian, Wordsmith, and XDA. Mind you, I am not including apps that SHOULD start up (swype, timeriffic, lookout, etc).
Why any of those apps start on power-on is beyond me, and why almost all of them are set by their respective authors to restart if they are shut down, is even more perplexing. Hence my desire to try to reign them in, especially since they are taking 20MB each of RAM. That's the story
jdmba said:
Yes - I get all that, but it bugs the heck out of me that some of these apps feel the need to auto run and worse still, are classified as "self restarter" by the recommended app.
On a cold power-up (I charge with the power off), and without running any apps (in response to the Titanium reference above), the following apps not only started, but restarted when stopped: Appstore, Ebay, Elixir, Mortplayer Audio Book, MyBackup Pro, ROM Manager, Stocks, Titanium Backup, Trillian, Wordsmith, and XDA. Mind you, I am not including apps that SHOULD start up (swype, timeriffic, lookout, etc).
Why any of those apps start on power-on is beyond me, and why almost all of them are set by their respective authors to restart if they are shut down, is even more perplexing. Hence my desire to try to reign them in, especially since they are taking 20MB each of RAM. That's the story
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got me on a few of those, but other ones make all kinds of sense. Any app store sort of app is going to start to authenticate with the service. Amazon is known to do this abusively. The same would probably apply with audio books. MyBackup Pro is probably assuming there's a scheduled function to perform. Stocks is just part of Sense and it doesn't go away. TiBU has never started on any device I've had it on unless 1 of 2 things was the case; I ran the widget or had something scheduled. Trillian SHOULD start up because it's a chat client. If it's not running, it's not much good as a chat client. Not sure what Wordsmith is. XDA will start because it's set by default to sync on a regular basis if you're signed into it.
I don't know what to tell you. You're probably never going to find a way of permanently killing an app connected to a market, and if you do, whatever you use from that market probably won't work right. The best I can say is figure out why those apps you listed do what they do. There's probably a reason that can be fixed or better understood. Some, like Trillian, will self-start no matter what because failure to do so is a MUCH more aggravating issue than the app starting with nothing to do.
only 2 I have that aggravate me is Fbook and okcupid. understandable if both run and autostart for push capabilities but I've disabled sync and push and still runs in background vs cached in background like it's supposed to
dyetheskin said:
only 2 I have that aggravate me is Fbook and okcupid. understandable if both run and autostart for push capabilities but I've disabled sync and push and still runs in background vs cached in background like it's supposed to
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think Facebook is worried about their app being accused of greatness or winning development awards!
loonatik78 said:
In a perfect world, every app on your device would start at boot and reside in RAM. I've never understood this idea that killing apps somehow conserves resources or saves power, because it does neither. In fact, it does the OPPOSITE. For instance, Trillian: Do you REALLY want to kill it whenever you're not using it, only to reopen it the next time you want to use it? That eats about 4 times more power than just leaving it running. NOTHING your cpu does eats more power than reading and writing to NAND. RAM should be as full as possible all of the time with as many apps as are recently or likely to be used. RAM operations consume FAR less power than NAND operations. Unless the app is simply an abusive piece of crap, like Amazon's market and music apps, there's usually a reason for them to run. Titanium Backup never starts unless it's got a reason to, in my experience, such as scheduled auto-backup operations. The better question to ask is why apps are starting at boot, not "Where can I get one more resource-hogging app to whip bad behavior into shape?"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True however some of the apps that are residing in RAM, pop up and do updates and checks that do eat data and cpu than if they were killed. Most apps don't do this and typically it's bad to kill apps because the act of killing it uses CPU and especially the act of that app starting back up uses more CPU.
----
RAM is not an issue so don't even consider it one, even if your RAM is full it doesn't matter. This doesn't run like Windows does where things slow down if you don't have enough RAM.
Most apps that use resources in the background I uninstall, but for others (I think I only do this to 1 app) you can use "autostarts" to disable them from starting upon launch, or stopping them from starting upon other events that may trigger an app to automatically start
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.elsdoerfer.android.autostarts&hl=en
It has much more control over when apps automatically launch than the other app I saw posted on the main page- also it doesn't kill them, just prevents them from starting so it's not like an app killer.
Hope this was what you were looking for.
Let it be
Just let the programs start to let the phone fully awaken
Then kill the apps with any klling apps app task killers and so on
gutiejor said:
Just let the programs start to let the phone fully awaken
Then kill the apps with any klling apps app task killers and so on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Don't do this.
POQbum said:
True however some of the apps that are residing in RAM, pop up and do updates and checks that do eat data and cpu than if they were killed. Most apps don't do this and typically it's bad to kill apps because the act of killing it uses CPU and especially the act of that app starting back up uses more CPU.
----
RAM is not an issue so don't even consider it one, even if your RAM is full it doesn't matter. This doesn't run like Windows does where things slow down if you don't have enough RAM.
Most apps that use resources in the background I uninstall, but for others (I think I only do this to 1 app) you can use "autostarts" to disable them from starting upon launch, or stopping them from starting upon other events that may trigger an app to automatically start
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.elsdoerfer.android.autostarts&hl=en
It has much more control over when apps automatically launch than the other app I saw posted on the main page- also it doesn't kill them, just prevents them from starting so it's not like an app killer.
Hope this was what you were looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use autostarts also on startup and when I'm running I use auto memory manager both great apps
I have been using Autostarts for a long time now and am very pleased with it.
gutiejor said:
Just let the programs start to let the phone fully awaken
Then kill the apps with any klling apps app task killers and so on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read that this is a bad habit carried over from pre-froyo days where memory management was different and this was recommended then. I don't have a link but trust me and don't just kill stuff like that.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
Since I noticed this behaviour last night, I've been obsessively watching various apps start and stop on their own. On the App Manager's "Running" tab, I keep seeing several apps start and stop on their own, despite the fact that I've turned off any network-related syncing or listening options in their individual settings.
Also, there seem to be far too many apps in the Cached Processes screen, most of them I haven't run at all for a long time.
Is this behaviour normal? (Android's, not my obsessing...)
I'm worried that something else is going on in the background and killing my battery. Or worse, scanning my system. (Though I did run an antivirus without any problems being detected.)
Thx.
I recently asked a similar question regarding lowering background processes allowed. Whether background and cached apps affect battery. I learned it is a trade off between using more battery to restart or pull from cache. I opted to do a heavy debloat and freeze certain apps or processes I don't need. I also use cool tools to watch my memory and CPU info and battery monitor widget pro to monitor mA and CPU temp. I enjoy trying to max out efficiency. I didn't see my post anymore in the last few pages but if its further back the guys linked me to some great info about processes. Sorry for not linking thread. I will when I get a chance. Hope it helps you too.
Bubba Fett said:
I recently asked a similar question regarding lowering background processes allowed. Whether background and cached apps affect battery. I learned it is a trade off between using more battery to restart or pull from cache. I opted to do a heavy debloat and freeze certain apps or processes I don't need. I also use cool tools to watch my memory and CPU info and battery monitor widget pro to monitor mA and CPU temp. I enjoy trying to max out efficiency. I didn't see my post anymore in the last few pages but if its further back the guys linked me to some great info about processes. Sorry for not linking thread. I will when I get a chance. Hope it helps you too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'll take a look in your post history to see if I can find it.
I'm less concerned with whether or not the apps are actually running or cached, what worries me is that they all seem to be constantly starting and stopping for a few seconds. Watching the Running apps screen I can see many different apps cycling over and over. The process starts, goes on a few seconds, then stops. Then another one pops up. Then another, etc etc.
I looked back about a dozen pages and couldn't find it anymore but I think it was diablo009 that gave me links to some really helpful stuff he had written. I'm not super proficient in maneuvering the forums but maybe you can find his posts with that info another way. Good luck.
Not sure if it loads my signature when posting from phone. But if it does, check Android Memory Management link in my signature.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Bubba Fett said:
I looked back about a dozen pages and couldn't find it anymore but I think it was diablo009 that gave me links to some really helpful stuff he had written. I'm not super proficient in maneuvering the forums but maybe you can find his posts with that info another way. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(This is the one I found.)
I'm aware of that RAM usage with Android from similar articles I read last year, but it was really the automatic starting and stopping of processes/services that bugged me. I think it might just be a situation where if the app's on your phone there's nothing you can do about it if you've granted network access permissions. I probably naively assumed that if you granted those permissions where would be settings to disable network access within the apps.
Some of my observations:
An app prefetched into memory does not use CPU.
A prefetched app could be wiped from memory if more RAM is needed. After the memory intensive app quits, this could be loaded back.
If an app is used frequently, it would be one of the prime candidates to be considered for prefetching.
An app loaded (not prefetched) uses CPU based on its work, like it could be a daemon looking for updates.
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diablo009 said:
Some of my observations:
An app prefetched into memory does not use CPU.
A prefetched app could be wiped from memory if more RAM is needed. After the memory intensive app quits, this could be loaded back.
If an app is used frequently, it would be one of the prime candidates to be considered for prefetching.
An app loaded (not prefetched) uses CPU based on its work, like it could be a daemon looking for updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The last one is what I am worried about. There are apps that are starting processes and then stopping repeatedly. A couple dozen different ones, including ones I have barely ever used. I've looked at some of those apps' settings and disabled any notifications or update checking, basically anything network related, but they keep showing up in my running apps/processes list throughout the day.
Not sure how Google market checks for app updates. It could be querying installed apps at regular intervals to check for their versions to compare to versions in market.
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diablo009 said:
Not sure how Google market checks for app updates. It could be querying installed apps at regular intervals to check for their versions to compare to versions in market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's one thing I wondered about, but I have Google Play updates off. I guess it's possible that it still checks, though.
Thx for the reminder! I'm going to double-check my Play settings just in case something was reset during an update.
You could try something like Rom toolbox pro to stop startup programs if you use them infrequently. I have had a few issue stopping certain apps but a little tweaking and it works well. Juice Defender also has the option for disabling apps from accessing data/wifi or neither. I don't know about the process though. Thanks for spotting your name Diablo and helping out. Great info on the topics.
.Arkham said:
Since I noticed this behaviour last night, I've been obsessively watching various apps start and stop on their own. On the App Manager's "Running" tab, I keep seeing several apps start and stop on their own, despite the fact that I've turned off any network-related syncing or listening options in their individual settings.
Also, there seem to be far too many apps in the Cached Processes screen, most of them I haven't run at all for a long time.
Is this behaviour normal? (Android's, not my obsessing...)
I'm worried that something else is going on in the background and killing my battery. Or worse, scanning my system. (Though I did run an antivirus without any problems being detected.)
Thx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that if you don't use it, uninstall if you are able. Otherwise just disable it. This is unusual though. I randomly go into cached processes and only the things I use or that the system needs are there. On a rare basis something additional might pop up.