Develop Bugs

Should You Use a Task Killer?

Decided to write an article about task killer use, mainly because of so many people being surprised that i do not recommend it, after their so called techy friends told them they need one, I'll post the opening paragraph with a link to the rest of it.
Task killer, one of the most prominent words within the android world. One that causes many arguments and confusion, well today lets see if we can put it all to rest.
I am constantly surprised when talking to new android owners that come to me with questions about their "faulty" phone and "poor-performing" battery, to discover that one of the first apps they installed was a task killer. Even more surprised when I dig deeper and ask why, with one of the top responses being because their "techy" friend said its a vital app. First things first, anything vital will be a core part of the the operating system. If google required that a task killer be a core part of their os, they would have included an easy way to kill apps, end of. Also, if your "techy" friend told you to download an task killer, please, ignore any advice from them in the future, you will regret it if you don't.
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Android Guide: Should I Use a Task Killer - Droid Den

You start off by saying you don't need one and then you say you do and even recommend one!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

themikeyboosh said:
You start off by saying you don't need one and then you say you do and even recommend one!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
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maybe you should read it again more carefully the paragrah your on about was simply laying out some reasons why you may need a task killer

themikeyboosh said:
You start off by saying you don't need one and then you say you do and even recommend one!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
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system panel is not a task killer mate, its a tool to help you identify bad apples. That is the reason for that apps existence, just ask its dev.

I read yr thread. I'm not so experienced in the systems. But i think this thread is following a good logic, and the systems at the end are all about logic.....
So, first thing i do after finish reading was killing the task killers.
Thanks again for the post.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Excellent article mate keep up your good work.
Many many people are brainwashed by many misleading reviews on Google in to thinking they need a task manager but this article explains nicely why they dont.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

System panel is a good solution. Try also power tutor, if it works with your phone

AndroHero said:
maybe you should read it again more carefully the paragrah your on about was simply laying out some reasons why you may need a task killer
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No no, I've read it, it's plain as day. You've just said it again.
le3ky said:
system panel is not a task killer mate, its a tool to help you identify bad apples. That is the reason for that apps existence, just ask its dev.
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Does it kill tasks? Need I go on.....It doesn't matter how you jazz it up "pal" there's no denying it can be used to kill tasks.

removed

themikeyboosh said:
Does it kill tasks? Need I go on.....It doesn't matter how you jazz it up "pal" there's no denying it can be used to kill tasks.
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lol? Do you honestly not understand?
There are apps out there that are coded badly.
In order to remove those apps you first need to id them.
SystemPanel helps you find out which app is causing a problem.
Then you may uninstall that app.
Nothing about using it as a task killer in there.
Does that help? I could try to put it in simpler terms if not.

I only use a task killer when I want to run some benchmarks shortly after having played around with resource-intensive apps like games.Other than that only as mentioned in the article,to trace and kill bad or frozen apps.Any other use is only harmful.

Very good article. It should be sticked.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

I don't use a task killer with my HTC Desire. But back in the day with 1.5 and 1.6 I needed a task killer. Now 2.1 or higher doesn't need one.

for sure, higher memory and more efficient android definitely does not need one.

"Android is smart enough to recognise when it is running low on available memory, and will start to close those apps that it deems are low priority."
Then pls tell me why after opening more and more apps my desire gets slower as it is running out of memory, and after killing them with task killer except for the one im using its running smoothly again. I would love to stick with the android solution, but its just not working out...
Rooted Desire S-Off running latest Redux Rom (Gingerbread)

At first I thought a task killer was making my battery life longer - but I tried it again a couple of months after using Android - just to see if it impact battery life and found no difference - or not noticable anyway on day-to-day use.

Thanks for this, very informative. Defo should be a sticky

"Don't keep activities" - anybody use it?

Love the phone but a few times the launcher has redrawn after exiting an app because of most likely memory issues. Anybody using this option? Assuming over time this would keep more memory free and reduce this issue. Any thoughts?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

mobilehavoc said:
Love the phone but a few times the launcher has redrawn after exiting an app because of most likely memory issues. Anybody using this option? Assuming over time this would keep more memory free and reduce this issue. Any thoughts?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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This is one of the reasons why I don't like that Google included these developer options pre-installed on this phone. They're developer options for a reason, we can install them if we need to.
This feature is designed so that developers can test their app to be sure that data is properly saved when is no longer in the foreground. For example, if a user receives a phone call or jumps to another app, the app needs to do what is necessary to save it's data. At times, Android can kill a process in the background. If the user plans to go back (perhaps they finished the phone call), they want to see what it is they were working on last. The developer is supposed to handle this case by rebuilding everything as it was before (to provide that seamless experience for the user when switching between apps).
This debug feature helps us test that it works.
For the average user, all you're really more likely to do is slow down your apps. As they will have to rebuild themselves when you resume them, and you may even open yourself to more quirky bugs (for those apps that didn't properly test the above scenario).
So please don't enable it unless you're doing it for development purposes. My 2 cents.
*EDIT* Here's a page from the Android Dev Guide justifying my explanation:
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/debugging/debugging-devtools.html
Immediately destroy activities
Tells the system to destroy an activity as soon as it is stopped (as if Android had to reclaim memory). This is very useful for testing the onSaveInstanceState(Bundle) / onCreate(android.os.Bundle) code path, which would otherwise be difficult to force. Choosing this option will probably reveal a number of problems in your application due to not saving state. For more information about saving an activity's state, see the Activities document.
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(and yes, they used to call it "Immediately destroy activities")

Thanks. I turned it off. Did notice some bugs while on. I just wish with 1GB of RAM the launcher wouldnt have to reload. Hopefully things get better. Might just be my apps but it happens quite often when leaving the browser.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

mobilehavoc said:
Thanks. I turned it off. Did notice some bugs while on. I just wish with 1GB of RAM the launcher wouldnt have to reload. Hopefully things get better. Might just be my apps but it happens quite often when leaving the browser.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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weird.. how many widgets do you have on your launcher? the more widgets you have, the slower the launcher is.
Have you tried another launcher? The stock launcher has never been known for being fast and efficient, although I haven't had any issues with it (whereas I'm a LauncherPro fan on my other devices).

kwazi said:
weird.. how many widgets do you have on your launcher? the more widgets you have, the slower the launcher is.
Have you tried another launcher? The stock launcher has never been known for being fast and efficient, although I haven't had any issues with it (whereas I'm a LauncherPro fan on my other devices).
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I have quite a few Widgets but nothing too crazy I don't think. I use LauncherPro on my other devices as well but I love this new launcher so I'm going to stick it out. Like I said the most common task that causes the issue is when I'm using the web browser and then come out of it. Otherwise its been stable. I've noticed the same thing with Honeycomb on my Xoom so it might just be one of those things I have to put up with.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

i'm also noticing some redraw and occasional lag when hitting the home button.
I'm hoping that CM9's custom launcher will have an option to lock it in memory- that may increase the performance by a lot.
also when replacement launchers like go launcher start optimizing more for ICS those might be good options.

Have you tried converting your launcher into a system app? You'll need to use Titanium Backup Pro or something similar to do it for you, or simple copy the APK into your system/app folder... Really sped up my launcher!

shawnshine said:
Have you tried converting your launcher into a system app? You'll need to use Titanium Backup Pro or something similar to do it for you, or simple copy the APK into your system/app folder... Really sped up my launcher!
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Did you see the date on this thread, almost 8 months old
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95Z28 said:
Did you see the date on this thread, almost 8 months old
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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... and yet people still continue to discover the thread and benefit from it.
Thanks for clarifying the meaning of "Don't keep activities"

my razr xt910 cannot be counted upon to run smoothly with all the apps simultaneously running and forcing itself to go into reboot. i then fancied an iPhone single styled system (as compared to Android multi-talks) cuz iPhone looks robust and responsive. all the killer that claimed to do the job looked more of a farce and then when i stumbled upon the destroy activity i was like OMG. srsly b4 using it I've only got just inner 100mb of ram, after using it i have a whooping 400mb ram. UI appears faster and all. regarding the relaunching of apps and battery life being used up. i think I'll start to worry about it on a later date. what say any body. ooh yes to add on, even after i deleted 40 apps on my phone it still hanged like fcuked. i guess i can reinstall them back again and not have to worry about it. btw i can't seem to root my xt910 for nuts so i can't custom ROM it along with all other fanciful mods that i hear about what others did to their phones.

Ram manager ??

So do you guys find it necessary to have a ram manager to free memory or no ?

No, ics have a good system to manage ram.

No. Creates more issues than it solves.

+1 for no. Watchdog has always been a must have for me, but it hasn't yet had to call out an app on my SGN.

No. Don't use automated tools to kill tasks and free up memory... in Android, free memory is wasted memory. You make your phone work harder when you interfere with its built-in memory management.

I kill running services that shouldn't be running... That allows for more RAM to be used by active applications.

EP2008 said:
I kill running services that shouldn't be running... That allows for more RAM to be used by active applications.
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Users always feel they are smarter than the OS when it comes to killing processes. They are usually wrong.

adrynalyne said:
Users always feel they are smarter than the OS when it comes to killing processes. They are usually wrong.
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Funniest thing I read all day and its true

adrynalyne said:
Users always feel they are smarter than the OS when it comes to killing processes. They are usually wrong.
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Yes,I feel that having running SERVICES that I'm not using is a huge waste of memory and battery resources. Android is not smart in this regard.
For example, I use the amazon app store to check for free apps of the day ONCE a day. No need to have it run as a service all day, using up ram and CPU. Another example is pulse news reader. I want to go in the app, refresh the feeds, read them and exit, but the app remains running as a service for no reason. I also use a document scanner app which runs as a service when I'm not using it for no good reason. So, I kill the service.
To suggest that I'm wrong in doing this shows a lack of understanding of the issue at hand.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

EP2008 said:
Yes,I feel that having running SERVICES that I'm not using is a huge waste of memory and battery resources. Android is not smart in this regard.
For example, I use the amazon app store to check for free apps of the day ONCE a day. No need to have it run as a service all day, using up ram and CPU. Another example is pulse news reader. I want to go in the app, refresh the feeds, read them and exit, but the app remains running as a service for no reason. I also use a document scanner app which runs as a service when I'm not using it for no good reason. So, I kill the service.
To suggest that I'm wrong in doing this shows a lack of understanding of the issue at hand.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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You have no idea how android works and deserve to have your nexus confiscated.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

EP2008 said:
Yes,I feel that having running SERVICES that I'm not using is a huge waste of memory and battery resources. Android is not smart in this regard.
For example, I use the amazon app store to check for free apps of the day ONCE a day. No need to have it run as a service all day, using up ram and CPU. Another example is pulse news reader. I want to go in the app, refresh the feeds, read them and exit, but the app remains running as a service for no reason. I also use a document scanner app which runs as a service when I'm not using it for no good reason. So, I kill the service.
To suggest that I'm wrong in doing this shows a lack of understanding of the issue at hand.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Android does not operate like windows. Apps listed as "Running" are actually only loaded in ram and are not using cpu cycles or battery power. Android loads them in ram in order for them to start/be available more quickly to the user. If Android needs more ram for a task, it will remove any thing it needs to in order to free up more ram. You are wasting battery power and cpu cycles by "killing" those apps/service. If you think of ram as a memory stick you will realize that once something is loaded there, it doesn't take any power to keep it there.
Good luck
Good luck

jordanishere said:
You have no idea how android works and deserve to have your nexus confiscated.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
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System services should obviously not be messed with, but disabling autostarting services that you don't use is generally not a problem. It may take more power/time to start up apps that use those services (since they will have to be manually started), but if it's an app that you use infrequently it may be worth doing.
Intelligently tuning what services are allowed to autostart themselves is NOT the same as indiscriminately killing apps chasing after "free memory".
Personally, I wouldn't terminate services, but only modify which ones are allowed to automatically start up with the OS.

codesplice said:
if it's an app that you use infrequently it may be worth doing.
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Is it worth doing when Android does this automatically?
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EP2008 said:
Yes,I feel that having running SERVICES that I'm not using is a huge waste of memory and battery resources. Android is not smart in this regard.
For example, I use the amazon app store to check for free apps of the day ONCE a day. No need to have it run as a service all day, using up ram and CPU. Another example is pulse news reader. I want to go in the app, refresh the feeds, read them and exit, but the app remains running as a service for no reason. I also use a document scanner app which runs as a service when I'm not using it for no good reason. So, I kill the service.
To suggest that I'm wrong in doing this shows a lack of understanding of the issue at hand.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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you basically proved what he said was true

I agree with using "Autostarts", it's one of my fav apps and cuts down on startup time and certain apps like to be triggered for all kinds of rediculous things. Once again though I think it is counterproductive to use automated task killers. Watchdog will alert you of apps running away with your ram and battery, but does not just auto kill all random apps. As far as the Amazon AppStore, I agree that it can be very malicious with RAM if it wants to be even when just checking the FAOTD in the mornings, on my Atrix I would get constant alerts from Watchdog for Amazon AppStore. On my SGN however I have yet to recieve ANY alerts for ANY app yet from Watchdog, this leads me to think there is better optimization going on with ICS or the Nexus than I had with Gingerbread and Atrix.
Is there any reason not to use AutoStarts or WatchDog? They are not auto killing apps at all. And I am requesting a "real" technical explanation not just you opinion or a "think of it like.." story, those are useless to me and offer no explanation.

jordanishere said:
Is it worth doing when Android does this automatically?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
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Eh, usually there's not much benefit to be had - but preventing a service from auto starting when you might not use its app for the entire time Android is booted won't cause any problems. You're essentially "freezing" the service while still allowing it to be used on demand .

WiredPirate said:
I agree with using "Autostarts", it's one of my fav apps and cuts down on startup time and certain apps like to be triggered for all kinds of rediculous things. Once again though I think it is counterproductive to use automated task killers. Watchdog will alert you of apps running away with your ram and battery, but does not just auto kill all random apps. As far as the Amazon AppStore, I agree that it can be very malicious with RAM if it wants to be even when just checking the FAOTD in the mornings, on my Atrix I would get constant alerts from Watchdog for Amazon AppStore. On my SGN however I have yet to recieve ANY alerts for ANY app yet from Watchdog, this leads me to think there is better optimization going on with ICS or the Nexus than I had with Gingerbread and Atrix.
Is there any reason not to use AutoStarts or WatchDog? They are not auto killing apps at all. And I am requesting a "real" technical explanation not just you opinion or a "think of it like.." story, those are useless to me and offer no explanation.
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I relied upon autostart tuning and Watchdog on my N1, but haven't experienced a real need for either on the SGN. Not necessarily a technical response, but just my experience.

Wow, the ignorance on XDA is staggering.
A RUNNING SERVICE is not the same as a cached app or background process.
Why the heck would anyone want 3 or 4 running services in the background when they don't need them running?
Right now, I have the logmein service using 26mb, Amazon app store using 38mb, pulse taking up 43mb and I'm NOT using these apps. They are running as services and using ram, battery and cpu.
Continue to defend Android and all its flaws. The user doesn't always have to accept how poorly some things function.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

EP2008 said:
Right now, I have the logmein service using 26mb, Amazon app store using 38mb, pulse taking up 43mb and I'm NOT using these apps. They are running as services and using ram, battery and cpu.
Continue to defend Android and all its flaws. The user doesn't always have to accept how poorly some things function.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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Less an Android flaw and more related to how developers wrote those apps. Otherwise I think we are in agreement though.

codesplice said:
I relied upon autostart tuning and Watchdog on my N1, but haven't experienced a real need for either on the SGN.
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why?
10char

Apps keeps reloading and doesnt close

Hello there ive got a real problem i dont know if its accutually a problem my SGW apps doesnt close even ive used task killers and keeps reloading in the task managr and eats too much ram how i can fix this cause its really annoying me
Sent from my GT-I8150 using XDA

What is the apps called ?
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andynroid said:
What is the apps called ?
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well most of apps i run facebook , messenger , even task killers ... seems weird to me .. the problem is when i kill these apps it kees reloading into the ram and uses you know large amount of it

Some of apps such as messenger will run in background to push notifications to your phone whenever chat(for messenger) or facebook notifications is available .
Thats why even if you kill the apps, it will automatically run again.
And as far as i know, you cant choose not to run those apps in background, but you can choose not to enable notifications for some apps (such as facebook), hope that will stop those apps from running in background .
Sent from my GT-I8150 using XDA

diedo said:
well most of apps i run facebook , messenger , even task killers ... seems weird to me .. the problem is when i kill these apps it kees reloading into the ram and uses you know large amount of it
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Number one thing to remember....Android is Linux....not Windoze..
So things which cause problems in Win environment, such as Apps/Programs hogging resources, are not a problem in Android......
if system needs memory for a task or app, it simply kills whatever us unimportant or not currently in use....
and takes Ram it needs for new process.
Most Android purists frown on the use of Task Killers.....
in fact CM devs will not take a problem on board if you are using a TK.
Having said that, memory management can be improved....
try V6 SuperCharger.....search XDA for thread......
Also, dome interesting reading here:
http://mobworld.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/memory-management-in-android/
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irishpancake said:
Number one thing to remember....Android is Linux....not Windoze..
So things which cause problems in Win environment, such as Apps/Programs hogging resources, are not a problem in Android......
if system needs memory for a task or app, it simply kills whatever us unimportant or not currently in use....
and takes Ram it needs for new process.
Most Android purists frown on the use of Task Killers.....
in fact CM devs will not take a problem on board if you are using a TK.
Having said that, memory management can be improved....
try V6 SuperCharger.....search XDA for thread......
Also, dome interesting reading here:
Sent from my GT-I8150 on Lanzarote Canary Vacation using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
well man i know the differences of these two operating system and over the ram use you know what it cause lots of hangs ... plus task killers do nothing and about that memory management article i've already read a bunch of them long time ago ... but i'll try the solution of disabling notifications and see what will happen .. thanks for your great follow bodies

diedo said:
well man i know the differences of these two operating system and over the ram use you know what it cause lots of hangs ... plus task killers do nothing and about that memory management article i've already read a bunch of them long time ago ... but i'll try the solution of disabling notifications and see what will happen .. thanks for your great follow bodies
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Click to collapse
Well if you know do much you should know that:
killing auto-start apps/tasks is futile
turning off sync/notifications is an obvious solution for apps like Gmail, G+, FB, etc.
I made a suggestion which would help with memory management, but you seem to know everything anyway!!
other than that, I have difficulty understanding what exactly you are asking or saying!!
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[Q] Boost Ram/Disable Auto Start App's

Looking for a App that does as above without taking up much memory in the background whilst doing so. I trialed Smart Booster app and it allowed me too disable auto start for apps I don't need and hibernate others etc but sorta felt like the app itself drain my battery just as much as the apps that were auto starting. Thanks in advance

It's not free, $1.49. But it's worked for me in the past. Personally don't think it will be very useful on this device.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.elsdoerfer.android.autostarts

illmatters said:
Looking for a App that does as above without taking up much memory in the background whilst doing so. I trialed Smart Booster app and it allowed me too disable auto start for apps I don't need and hibernate others etc but sorta felt like the app itself drain my battery just as much as the apps that were auto starting. Thanks in advance
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Why do you want free RAM? Free RAM is wasted RAM. Android doesn't need you to constantly clear the RAM. It's actually bad to do that because you need to use more CPU power to recompile the whole app when you open it again until we fully switch to ART which pre-compiles all apps.
Also Android by design will dynamically close apps to make room if it needs more RAM than you have available. Plus not clearing it will safe battery because the CPU will run less cycles when you use apps.
That's just my opinion, however I'm sure you have a reason as to why you wan to clear the RAM. I just thought it was with mentioning the above in case you didn't know.

Pilz said:
Why do you want free RAM? Free RAM is wasted RAM. Android doesn't need you to constantly clear the RAM. It's actually bad to do that because you need to use more CPU power to recompile the whole app when you open it again until we fully switch to ART which pre-compiles all apps.
Also Android by design will dynamically close apps to make room if it needs more RAM than you have available. Plus not clearing it will safe battery because the CPU will run less cycles when you use apps.
That's just my opinion, however I'm sure you have a reason as to why you wan to clear the RAM. I just thought it was with mentioning the above in case you didn't know.
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Reason = Battery Drain. I don't use the Radio, EVER. So why is it showing in android os in the battery settings? Just like quite a few other processes sitting in that long ass list. That's why I ask.

illmatters said:
Reason = Battery Drain. I don't use the Radio, EVER. So why is it showing in android os in the battery settings? Just like quite a few other processes sitting in that long ass list. That's why I ask.
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Why don't your freeze them with titanium backup if you are rooted?

Pilz said:
Why don't your freeze them with titanium backup if you are rooted?
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Might just do that, thanks. I see LG Suite is using a lot. I dunno why though, that's fine If I freeze also? Requires $5.99. Gonna have to deal with it for a while, ive donated over $30 just today..

illmatters said:
Might just do that, thanks. I see LG Suite is using a lot. I dunno why though, that's fine If I freeze also? Requires $5.99. Gonna have to deal with it for a while, ive donated over $30 just today..
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There's a free version if the app that allows you to freeze apps still, but it won't let you do batch operations if I remember correctly.