how to close all apps - Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Have you been looking how to close apps running in background without having to go deep in settings to close Pandora or iheart Radio and other apps or going all the way to settings and force closing individual apps?
Suggestions: Use another launcher, place a shortcut to close all running apps.
Post here what you find works best for you.

bumpaudio said:
Have you been looking how to close apps running in background without having to go deep in settings to close Pandora or iheart Radio and other apps or going all the way to settings and force closing individual apps?
Suggestions: Use another launcher, place a shortcut to close all running apps.
Post here what you find works best for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you find an app that you can create a shortcut to for purposes you stated, please post back here.
Otherwise, someone suggested a pretty good app called "fast reboot" it's in playstore. I've been using it a couple of days and it's helped with some performance issues.
Basically you just click and it simulates a reboot, stopping and restarting processes. Not sure if that's related to what you want but thought I'd share.

Just back out of the app and it will close. Hit the back button on the remote til the app closes or hit menu and see if there is an exit button for the app. If you still need an app try Fancy Switcher, it works well on the Fire TV

close fire stick apps.

porkenhimer said:
Just back out of the app and it will close. Hit the back button on the remote til the app closes or hit menu and see if there is an exit button for the app....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, "backing out of an app" does not actually close an app on the Fire Stick, Fire Stick 4k or Fire TV Cube. The apps actually continue to run in the background, using up both memory and processing power.
Only a "Force Close" will actually close an app.
An app like "Background Apps & Process List" will reveal all of the apps that continue running in the background even after you've backed out of them using the remote. You can then manually go into Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications, click on the individual applications you want to actually close, and perform a "force stop" on each one you'd like to close.
Background Apps & Process List had been able to allow you to force close apps directly from it's interface, but it lost the ability to do this with one of the Fire OS updates recently. The developer said he's working on getting it fixed and reuploaded when I contacted him a few days ago.
In the meantime, both Task Killer or Task Manager can help automate and speed up the process of shutting down unwanted apps that continue to run in the background, showing you the running background apps in a list when they open, providing you with a checkbox for the ones you'd like to close, and a "Kill Selected Tasks" button. These both work fine on my Fire Stick 4k, though I'm still searching for an app that will perform this same function for the Fire Cube (2nd Gen).

Related

How do you close the web browser?

I don't know if I'm doing this right or not, but currently to close the browser I just press the home hard button. Is this the correct way to close it or is there a proper way to do it? I find that my method always opens the last page I was on. Anyway to disable this?
Apps dont really close as such - they go into the background and Android closes them when it requires their resources.
Hitting home is what I do, and sometimes I go back to my default google window when i open the Browser but often its just where i left it.
This is fine - if i needed to search for something I hit the physical search button anyway. If i want to go to a different site then the bookmarks are there and can be put on the desktop as a shortcut if needed.
What mhewitson says is true BUT, if you use the BACK button instead of the HOME button, the app will usually close right away unless it's being used by something else.
if you hit back enough you get back to where you started, therefore you pick up there next time. Same as hiting home surely
Close all open windows then hit back.
OR if you always want it to open on a specific page/site just add a shortcut to that bookmark and use it rather than opening the Browser/internet icon.
The way i use, is download a task killer from the market like (advanced task killer) you you can pick which apps you want to close
oawalker said:
The way i use, is download a task killer from the market like (advanced task killer) you you can pick which apps you want to close
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i thought about using such an app too but i read somewhere that task killers arent a good idea.
shaliru said:
Yeah i thought about using such an app too but i read somewhere that task killers arent a good idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always used a task killer up until a few days ago because i thought leaving an app open would affect performance. Since i've stopped using a task killler i've noticed an increase in performance, and im not going back to using it.
If you are using the Dolphin Browser (Market app), then it has a specific exit action --- long-press the back button once.

Quick list of running apps? With "Force Stop" option?

Is there any apps which will list all the apps which are currently running on my Desire, and give me the option to Force Stop them, without having to go through the Manage applications option?
I was showing my Desire to a new iPhone 4 owner and was showing him some of the different Launchers I can install on my phone, and because I use Home Switcher to go between them, I think the other Launchers I have installed (HTC Sense & ADW Launcher, I use LauncherPro) are still running in the background.
And the only way I can see to stop them is to go through the Manage Apps program.
I don't want an Automatic Killer, but I would like a list and an option to kill them?
Any ideas?
Press and hold home button
benko286 said:
Press and hold home button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but that is only the last 6 apps, and it doesn't give a force stop option.
I guarantee that there is aLOT more apps running on your phone than that 6.
Used advanced task killer from the market

Close apps from ICS task switcher?

Does anyone know of any mods to allow the force closing of apps from the ICS task switcher by swiping to the side? This would be rather useful - certainly more useful than the current behavior of just hiding the running app in the switcher.
Maybe we could have swiping one way keeps the current behaviour and swiping the other way closes the app?
Thanks!
T
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
I was just wondering this a few days ago, I thought that swiping them closed the app but obviously not. I would love this feature too!
If I start the XDA app and open a forum I can switch back to that screen through the task switcher or by clicking the app icon. But when I close XDA through the task switcher it restarts when I click the app icon (showing splash screen).
To me it looks like the XDA app gets termintated when I close it in the task switcher.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Bluediss said:
If I start the XDA app and open a forum I can switch back to that screen through the task switcher or by clicking the app icon. But when I close XDA through the task switcher it restarts when I click the app icon (showing splash screen).
To me it looks like the XDA app gets termintated when I close it in the task switcher.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+ 1 on this. I'm pretty sure it ends the task when you swipe it away
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
no it doesn't...
u can still see the process running...
Sent from my MB526 using xda premium
I'm pretty sure apps are unaffected by the switcher - there are just some apps that close automatically when they are "minimized".
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
I think apps are affected in some way by the switcher. Try to open the market, go to my apps, press the home button and launch the market again : it's still on the my apps screen.
Now press the home button, "close" the market by swiping from the task switcher, and reopen it : it starts on the main screen, and not on the my apps screen.
From the app switcher: long press an app -> app info - force stop ... and is out of memory and closed for good.
ro_explorer said:
From the app switcher: long press an app -> app info - force stop ... and is out of memory and closed for good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah - I guess what I'd like is for the swipe to give that behavior every time. It doesn't seem to consistently do that.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Here's my test using SystemPanel. You can follow along to verify.
Open Market -> Press Home -> Open SystemPanel
Result: Market is in "Active Applications" category
Press Home -> Open Market -> Press Back so I'm at Home Screen -> Open SystemPanel
Result: Market is in "Inactive (Cached) Applications" category
Press Home -> Open Market -> Press Home -> Swipe Market away in Task Switcher -> Open SystemPanel
Result: Market is not found in neither "Active Applications" nor "Inactive (Cached) Applications" categories
So my conclusion: Swiping apps away in Task Switcher has stronger effect than pressing back all the way until you're at home screen. It will kill the app/process (but the process may restart itself)
luffyp said:
Here's my test using SystemPanel. You can follow along to verify.
Open Market -> Press Home -> Open SystemPanel
Result: Market is in "Active Applications" category
Press Home -> Open Market -> Press Back so I'm at Home Screen -> Open SystemPanel
Result: Market is in "Inactive (Cached) Applications" category
Press Home -> Open Market -> Press Home -> Swipe Market away in Task Switcher -> Open SystemPanel
Result: Market is not found in neither "Active Applications" nor "Inactive (Cached) Applications" categories
So my conclusion: Swiping apps away in Task Switcher has stronger effect than pressing back all the way until you're at home screen. It will kill the app/process (but the process may restart itself)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same observation here. It most definitely closes apps.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Android already has a rather aggressive task manager that closes apps when necessary. Apps running in the background helps Android run more efficiently instead of force closing everything all of the time.
Google left this feature out intentionally for a reason.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
mb02 said:
Google left this feature out intentionally for a reason.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, but you must admit, it does seem like a very good idea... would be good to minimize the amount of processes running and thus have less drain on the battery.
Galaxy Nexus in the house via Tapatalk!!!
Tasks in memory shouldn't perform any functions, and they shouldn't drain the battery at all. Having empty memory takes the same amount of power as having full memory, except full memory caches your frequently used apps so they open quickly.
Processes, on the other hand, don't end when you press back all the way. They are what apps use to perform scheduled tasks in the background. Things like push notifications.
You shouldn't ever need to end a process. If you have an app which is wasting your battery with its background process, uninstall the app and stop using it.
808phoneaddict said:
yeah, but you must admit, it does seem like a very good idea... would be good to minimize the amount of processes running and thus have less drain on the battery.
Galaxy Nexus in the house via Tapatalk!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the contrary, constantly keeping RAM free of apps is counterproductive to battery efficiency. Apps are saved in RAM in order to be called back up quickly in the future when they are "closed", saving the CPU usage of completely reopening apps every time you go to use them again. When RAM is getting full, the least used apps are terminated. Apps saved to RAM don't drain battery, they sit there on pause. The only battery drainers are background services and syncs. RAM is meant to be used, not kept empty at all times for no reason. It is the placeholder for programs to be called to the CPU, nothing is really run from RAM.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
If you think the app is consuming CPU in the background when you don't intend it to, uninstall it and report to the developer. This is a flaw in the app design.
Force Close does not help in this case as let's say if the app has a service, the service will be killed and restarted immediately. And the app state will reset just the same as swiping.
jd1001 said:
I was just wondering this a few days ago, I thought that swiping them closed the app but obviously not. I would love this feature too!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A Google Developer answered this on Google+, essentially, swiping out the app in App Switcher is the same as hitting the back button to exit.
JayBeezy802 said:
A Google Developer answered this on Google+, essentially, swiping out the app in App Switcher is the same as hitting the back button to exit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
X2
I actually thought Matias Duarte himself agreed that it does in fact close the app.
Android OS Using > 50% of my battery
I have the phone in Airplane mode with no wifi overnight and I am losing 30% battery. I notice that OS is using more than 50% battery. How can I lower that? I noticed Google Maps and the Weather Channel were running since I bought the phone, even though I "close" most task by swiping away.
Swiping does close, you can see the app terminate in the logcat
Sent from my Kanged Galaxy Nexus

What does swiping an item up in "Recent Apps" actually do?

It would seem logical that swiping an app up not only removes it from the "recent apps" list, but should also close the app. However after swiping an app up I can still see it running in "Task Manager". So I'm not sure what swiping an app does at all? Any ideas?
Swiping from task manager is the same as closing it using the back button.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
joshnichols189 said:
Swiping from task manager is the same as closing it using the back button.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cannot swipe in the Task Manager. You can close the app by pressing the [X]. I'm talking about the "Recent Apps" list which is accessible by pressing the right hard button.
That's what I meant. Swiping in the recent apps list is the same as closing with the back button.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
I think it just removes it from the recent apps menu, but leaves the process running. Try playing music and then swipe the music app up in the recent apps menu. It continues playing.
I think it was designed to navigate quickly between apps, not to be a task manager.
maniacaus said:
I think it just removes it from the recent apps menu, but leaves the process running. Try playing music and then swipe the music app up in the recent apps menu. It continues playing.
I think it was designed to navigate quickly between apps, not to be a task manager.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, it does kill processes, you swipe the App away basically telling Android It's okay to kill it.
and it doesn't kill Music because that's an Ongoing process that you see in the Navigation Bar which must be exempted, it will just re-Appear in the list.
I'm quite sure it will kill the process instead of just remove it from the list.
I think it's just like the Task Manager , +the design and graphic things.
Pardon my blasphemy.
Anywho....i do wish they would revert back to the standard recent apps menu.
ozaghloul said:
It would seem logical that swiping an app up not only removes it from the "recent apps" list, but should also close the app. However after swiping an app up I can still see it running in "Task Manager". So I'm not sure what swiping an app does at all? Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Swiping offscreen in Recent Apps should close the app if it's running. But just being the Recent Apps list doesn't necessarily mean it's still in memory. The HTC Task Manager isn't really a good snapshot of the current applications in memory, some items, like Gmail, rarely show up. Take a look at the Tasks tab in "Android System Info" for a more accurate view of backgrounded apps.
maniacaus said:
I think it just removes it from the recent apps menu, but leaves the process running. Try playing music and then swipe the music app up in the recent apps menu. It continues playing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually it does remove the Music app (UI) from memory, the player service is still running.
maniacaus said:
Anywho....i do wish they would revert back to the standard recent apps menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, this is the thing I miss most from plain ICS (don't like the Settings in Sense either, but that's cosmetic). This task switcher wastes alot of screen real estate, and the canted screenshots reminds me of HTC TouchFLO from my old WinMo phones, looks out of place compared with the rest of the UI.
TommUK said:
Actually, it does kill processes, you swipe the App away basically telling Android It's okay to kill it.
and it doesn't kill Music because that's an Ongoing process that you see in the Navigation Bar which must be exempted, it will just re-Appear in the list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This, exactly. The music app along with other ongoing processes that you can see in the nav bar are exceptions, but other applications get killed.
How can you test this? Well, fire up Opera Mobile. Now swipe Opera Mobile up. Then fire up Opera Mobile again. You'll see Opera's splash screen again, indicating that it is starting up all over again, which it wouldn't do if it would've been running in the background.
my guess is that if you swipe it from the "Recent Apps" section Android waits for all its processing to complete before it runs its cleanup procedures
Though I would like to know what are all the apps that can be removed off the HOX so that I can get more free RAM space currently always sitting on 600MB in use
is there such a list?
cos I dont want to brick my baby
jinkira said:
my guess is that if you swipe it from the "Recent Apps" section Android waits for all its processing to complete before it runs its cleanup procedures
Though I would like to know what are all the apps that can be removed off the HOX so that I can get more free RAM space currently always sitting on 600MB in use
is there such a list?
cos I dont want to brick my baby
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RAM is meant to be used.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Understandable, but I dont want to use so much.. I am still old school when it comes to memory usage and keeping as much free as possible untill needed
so I just want a list of BLOATWARE that is ok to uninstall

Help on how to exit google now launcher..

Like many I downloaded google play store and many google apps.
I also activated the google now launcher.
1. How do I revert to fire os?
Double pressing home brings up quick switch which has apps but no os option.
2.. In this mode the lock screen does not have 3d even though low motion is on.
Thanks for any help.
Perhaps you want to know how to have silk use google instead of bing?
Go to settings, configure amazon applications , click on silk and choose search engine from bing, google or Yahoo.
DrJim99 said:
Like many I downloaded google play store and many google apps.
I also activated the google now launcher.
1. How do I revert to fire os?
Double pressing home brings up quick switch which has apps but no os option.
2.. In this mode the lock screen does not have 3d even though low motion is on.
Settings/Applications/Force Quit or clear data/Google Now Launcher/Clear Defaults
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks and a correction
gale2000 said:
DrJim99 said:
Like many I downloaded google play store and many google apps.
I also activated the google now launcher.
1. How do I revert to fire os?
Double pressing home brings up quick switch which has apps but no os option.
2.. In this mode the lock screen does not have 3d even though low motion is on.
I had low motion on and it should have been off.
Settings/Applications/Force Quit or clear data/Google Now Launcher/Clear Defaults
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This does not work any more.
DrJim99 said:
Settings/Applications/Force Quit or clear data/Google Now Launcher/Clear Defaults
I don't get Force Quit or clear data option. Maybe, the choices have changed with the OS version change.
Thanks.
r
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download home switch application from play store.
Just download any other launcher. Any of them. When it gets installed, press the Home button. It'll ask you which launcher you want to use. Choose any of them, but "Always" must NOT be checked. Then uninstall that launcher. Press the Home Button. It'll ask you again which launcher you want to use. Choose the stock one and name sure to check "Always".
Or go to the Play Store, search for Google Now Launcher and then uninstall it.
Noticed on a phone that I rooted recently for someone else that when I used the kindle app it switched to the fire launcher. Don't know if this works all the time, kindle app would open once I clicked on it in the fire os.

Categories

Resources