[HTC DESIRE HD] Android - Exiting applications - Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]

Okay so, i got my first android device htc desire hd and it's amazing.
Coming from wm6.5, i noticed there was no way to actually exit some apps...they're still running. i was going to download a task killer but did some reading and turns out it's bad.
There's a options in settings to see running processes and can kill them
But i don't know if that's safe to do...
How exactly do you exit apps in android? or is there no need to exit them? android will close them automatically to manage memory or something?
I would be grateful if someone can explain
Thank you

Gurps777 said:
Okay so, i got my first android device htc desire hd and it's amazing.
Coming from wm6.5, i noticed there was no way to actually exit some apps...they're still running. i was going to download a task killer but did some reading and turns out it's bad.
There's a options in settings to see running processes and can kill them
But i don't know if that's safe to do...
How exactly do you exit apps in android? or is there no need to exit them? android will close them automatically to manage memory or something?
I would be grateful if someone can explain
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
new to Android here some posts to read.

Hi, Android 2.2 is build with an "internal taskiller", that will do most of the job itself, but if some apps just doesn't wan't to close themselves: Then just use a taskiller, nothing will turn out wrong. I have been using it for 2 years on my HTC, without any problems at all. But haven't used it on my samsung, cause it has got android 2.2

Gurps777 said:
How exactly do you exit apps in android? or is there no need to exit them? android will close them automatically to manage memory or something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You hit the nail on the head there!
Android has no need to fully exit applications. When you close them they remain idle so switching back to them is much quicker. If Android needs to free up some space for more memory intensive apps, it will close the least important services that are running (some services will not be closed, Home app, etc.).
That's it in a nutshell. It's probably a lot more complicated than that though

Meltus said:
You hit the nail on the head there!
Android has no need to fully exit applications. When you close them they remain idle so switching back to them is much quicker. If Android needs to free up some space for more memory intensive apps, it will close the least important services that are running (some services will not be closed, Home app, etc.).
That's it in a nutshell. It's probably a lot more complicated than that though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i read up on it in that article explaining why not to use task killers, Thanks for that short and wonderful explanation.

Related

Advanced Task Killer free is killing HTC Sense

On my HTC legend, i've installed Advanced Task Killer free, and when using the widget, it sometimes kills HTC sense. Anyone know how to add Sense to the ignore list?
Posting this on the Android forum, and not only Legend since I would think this apply to all Android devices with HTC sense
arxx said:
On my HTC legend, i've installed Advanced Task Killer free, and when using the widget, it sometimes kills HTC sense. Anyone know how to add Sense to the ignore list?
Posting this on the Android forum, and not only Legend since I would think this apply to all Android devices with HTC sense
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well that happened to me on my hero try hiding the mail application because that is somehow connected to sense worked for me
toomie05 said:
well that happened to me on my hero try hiding the mail application because that is somehow connected to sense worked for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, i'll try that
Gmail or exchange app?
There's a very simple solution, stop using task killers; they are completely and utterly pointless on Android.
Android's memory management is NOTHING like Windows Mobile. On there, apps keep running when you "exit" then, and don't close when other apps need their resources. On Android, apps stay in RAM in case you want to reuse them BUT, if something else needs their resources, or they've been inactive too long, Android itself will close them.
If the app is in RAM, odds are something is using it. So if you kill it, whatever is using it has to reload it all over again and that seriously kills your performance.
Stop using the things, seriously. After a couple of days, you'll be glad you did.
Agree with floatingfatman, all task killers do is slow sense down it needs all the processes to run correctly
I'll answer.
Open the Task killer and long hold on TouchFlo and choose ignore.
i use it with no problems. I found that if you take the mail widget off and then replace it it worls. Or just ignoring the mail on adv task killer. But it saves m,e a lot of battery life
arxx said:
Thanks, i'll try that
Gmail or exchange app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use htc stock so i think exchange app
Use one that doesn't suck, like TaskPanel.
I dont even know why you bother useing a task killer. I have had my phone a week now and didnt need one, until i read about it. Then i decided to install it and it just kept messing up programs (crashing, making sync stop etc) so i stoped using it.
Tbh, you dont need a task killer android release memory to apps that need it and they dont take cpu/battery either. Only thing you get by useing a task killer is programs that behave badly and might even crash the OS itself.
So dont just use it. They are all useing a exploit in the API for the programs and is not recomended or supported by neither google or android OS.
Yes, Android does good job on memory management, but however, many background apps/services will access Internet/sync from time to time, thus killing your battery, and that's why ATK does the magic. It might not apply to everyone, as not everyone are using the same apps.
Albert Poon said:
Yes, Android does good job on memory management, but however, many background apps/services will access Internet/sync from time to time, thus killing your battery, and that's why ATK does the magic. It might not apply to everyone, as not everyone are using the same apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you can reschedule the background apps/ services to longer update instead of killing them all the time. Or instead try other apps like "Active Apps" /"Watchdog" which shows you what are necessary to kill rather than blindly killing them.

Best Android Task Manager - Open Processes

Hello All,
I wanted to see what everyone thinks is the best application manger for Android.
Also is anyone familiar with the Getjar free app store?
Thx All,
Force
What do people think of "Advance Task Killer"
It seems to me it shows all tasks, not jsut the open ones.
Regards,
Force
FYI,
Many people say talk killers are not necessary, as that is a windows phenomenon, Linux & android treating background processes differently.
Regards,
Force
I personally use Advanced Task Manager for $0.99. I have read the articles about how Android does not need task Managers because it is built in, but I know from personal experience that without it if there are running programs in the background my phone gets really sluggish especially when I get a phone call and it makes it difficult to answer etc. Take in account, this experience was mainly with the Hero (slower) but I use on my Evo now.
You know people will argue either way, because there is evidence to support both sides of the argument. so with that in mind- i honestly havent had the need for one with my evo, but it you truly are considering one- i actually have a pair to suggest.
one is OS Monitor- free on the market- great app for pinning down process that could be an issue- also supports dmsg repporting- and logcat is built in to- so if your testing something and it goes all wonky you can export the log to view on a pc and send it to the developer too.
the second is AMM- or Auto Memory Manager- free and donate versions on the market. There are pretty much a couple of sliders and you set it how you want android to handle the process. I have had great success with this app on my other device- normal free memory was around 30-35 and using this set aggressively i saw gains of 50mb at most times keeping my freememory to around 75-80mb range.
Hope this helps.
I take both sides. I have task manager installed, but use if ONLY when needed. Aka, I used it when I want to kill the browser after I'm done with it so next time I launch it I won't be seeing old pages.
I like EStrongs Task Manager.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/nextapp.systempanel.r1 is nice, it can kill processes, monitor system stats, uninstall apps and more. There is also a free version.
TREYisRAD said:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/nextapp.systempanel.r1 is nice, it can kill processes, monitor system stats, uninstall apps and more. There is also a free version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i installed that last night, cool app
why someone who know don't explaine exactly how android works and do we need killers and if yes which one is best...
Everyone of us using something but question is that which one is best for our needs.
quick system info pro (free)
I only use the manual task killer widget when memory gets down around 100. Spikes it right back to about 250.
Whats your guys' normal memory range? I see someone on here saying 50 was normal for them but that seems REALLY low to me.
frifox said:
I take both sides. I have task manager installed, but use if ONLY when needed. Aka, I used it when I want to kill the browser after I'm done with it so next time I launch it I won't be seeing old pages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the stock Sense browser not have an option to kill the windows by hitting menu? On CM, I do menu, windows, and X them out

What programs should I uncheck in my Taskkiller?

Some stuff still pops up everytime I clear my running apps, so I was wondering what is recommended to check off first.
Main thing are widgets or apps you require on all the time.
Sent from my M860 using Tapatalk
You shouldn't use such app like this, let the android do the killing stuff him self.. try to google about taskiller on android to make it clearer for you..
double_ofour said:
You shouldn't use such app like this, let the android do the killing stuff him self.. try to google about taskiller on android to make it clearer for you..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some lower end phones require a task killer to even make the phone bearable. I noticed my old Android phone needed to kill apps or it would start lagging really bad but when I killed tasks, it ran smooth. Keep this in mind, OP might not have a high end phone.
dEris said:
Some lower end phones require a task killer to even make the phone bearable. I noticed my old Android phone needed to kill apps or it would start lagging really bad but when I killed tasks, it ran smooth. Keep this in mind, OP might not have a high end phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will notice a speed up for a while but in a long run the system will not go stable enough..
I'm using a Galaxy S. I just like to kill off programs. Am I not supposed to? I mean, there can be a LOT of programs running.

[Q] how do you close apps?

so i found out how to force close apps under settings but theres gotta be a better way.
for example lets say i have browser, market, and facebook apps open. all showing under the window selection button. after time i get a ton of windows there and i don't want all of them open. how do i close them selectively without going through all the settings menu crud?
some apps let me close from within, most don't though and leave me stuck with a ton of windows (apps) open.
What you are asking isn't necessary unless an application has malfunctioned. There is no other way to close applications other than using the force close button in settings. Android handles this itself -- if this doesn't satisfy you download a task manager.
I don't think there is a way yet.
What Google needs to do is make those preview windows in the multitasking bar long-pressable for a menu to be able to close them.
modru2004 said:
so i found out how to force close apps under settings but theres gotta be a better way.
for example lets say i have browser, market, and facebook apps open. all showing under the window selection button. after time i get a ton of windows there and i don't want all of them open. how do i close them selectively without going through all the settings menu crud?
some apps let me close from within, most don't though and leave me stuck with a ton of windows (apps) open.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no need to manually close out apps. Since 2.1, Android has done an excellent job managing memory. It's been written many times (some directly from Google) that micromanaging your apps will actually hurt battery performance. You'll essentially be working against the system as opposed to helping it.
I am not sure if my task manager is working on this device. I use AutoKiller and when I killed task it doesn't appear as though anything closes. Can somebody confirm?
atoy74 said:
There is no need to manually close out apps. Since 2.1, Android has done an excellent job managing memory. It's been written many times (some directly from Google) that micromanaging your apps will actually hurt battery performance. You'll essentially be working against the system as opposed to helping it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
id like to point out thats NOT the issue.
the issue is the ton of windows you end up having to sort through unless you close them. its a quality of life thing, i don't like having unused unnecessary windows open that i have to sort through to get to the stuff i am using. its just bad form.
foldog22 said:
I am not sure if my task manager is working on this device. I use AutoKiller and when I killed task it doesn't appear as though anything closes. Can somebody confirm?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will most likely not work until its rewritten. The way 2.2 and now 3.0 allow access is completely different then 2.1 and below. Plus as said about 200 million task there is 0 reason to run a task killer. If you wanna clear them out, even though there is 0 reason, reboot.
Okay, I get the memory management issue, but as the OP pointed out, I've got all sorts of icons in the "task bar area" (bottom right hand corner) that just sit there or keep coming back.
For example, I haven't listened to any music on my Xoom since yesterday morning, yet I've got an icon down there for Music and Rhapsody. Also, there's no way to clear some notifications.
There's got to be a way to at least clear out the notification isn't there?
you tap on the little icon music for example and you will see a little x on the right of it, click that and it closes it from the notification system
There is absolutely no reason to use a task killer or manually kill tasks. 2.2, 2.3, 3.0, etc. handle memory and tasks extremely well. In many cases, task killers will only cost you more battery and more slowdowns than letting tasks just run out and sit in memory. Unless you're seeing rogue or malfunctioning tasks in the background causing slowdowns, there is no need to kill them.
I do wish you could scroll through the recent running apps rather than only being able to access the latest 5, but spam closing background apps doesnt help at all.
arrtoodeetoo said:
I don't think there is a way yet.
What Google needs to do is make those preview windows in the multitasking bar long-pressable for a menu to be able to close them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I haven't used a task manager since I started learning how android actually works last year when starting to make apps, I can't help but want the same thing in honeycomb for malfunctioning apps. I think google left it out intentionally to discourage task-killing rampages by oblivious users.
Every time I read "you do not need to close apps" I want to scream. first hour of usage I had a second browser installed and it and the stock browser were conflicting with each other... all I wanted to do was a quick close of one of the browsers.
There are always a multitude of good reasons to want to close a background app. I completely understand the technical reasons why an app does not need to be closed, but from a user experience point of view, it should be made simple.
mjpacheco said:
Every time I read "you do not need to close apps" I want to scream. first hour of usage I had a second browser installed and it and the stock browser were conflicting with each other... all I wanted to do was a quick close of one of the browsers.
There are always a multitude of good reasons to want to close a background app. I completely understand the technical reasons why an app does not need to be closed, but from a user experience point of view, it should be made simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is exactly why in my first post I said "...isn't necessary unless an application has malfunctioned" otherwise such a thing is barely necessary. And in your case, the classic "Settings > ....... > Force Close" would have easily sufficed.
So what you are saying is that a method to kill tasks is necessary, just not often. I, for instance, just had the xda app stuck on the splash screen. I killed it and restarted the app and all was good. There is a potential for harm if used over zealously but at times it would be nice if there was a more convenient way to close an app when necessary.
Applications do not always behave as they should so to say there is no need to kill am app is making a naive assumption that every android app is perfect.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
martonikaj said:
I do wish you could scroll through the recent running apps rather than only being able to access the latest 5, but spam closing background apps doesnt help at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oddly enough, if you turn to portrait, you get a few more. So, technically its not a hard limit on 5, but rather (literally) limited by space on the screen.
Anyone want to place a bet as to what rev we see scrollability?
Sent from my Evo using the XDA App
JanetPanic said:
So what you are saying is that a method to kill tasks is necessary, just not often. I, for instance, just had the xda app stuck on the splash screen. I killed it and restarted the app and all was good. There is a potential for harm if used over zealously but at times it would be nice if there was a more convenient way to close an app when necessary.
Applications do not always behave as they should so to say there is no need to kill am app is making a naive assumption that every android app is perfect.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If this happens use the built in task killer, settings/applications/running tab.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
bwcorvus said:
If this happens use the built in task killer, settings/applications/running tab.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did and it worked. As I said it would be nice to have a more convenient way of force stopping apps that are not behaving.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Closing apps isn't necessary for two reasons.
1. Android does a good job at managing apps on its own.
2. You have 1GB of RAM to work with.
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk
Watchdog does a considerable job since it only lets you know when an app is misbehaving. And since being on 2.3 its barely given me any alerts. Perhaps further proving the awesome memory management.
Sent from my Xperia X10 using XDA App
delete please

Performance boost with ASUS Task Manager

Hey guys I just foun out that with the widget "ASUS Task Manager" threw the one touch clean I had a really big performance improvement. Before I had 14 tasks running in background which made my tablet really laggy. So maybe this will help you too.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
You can also use any advanced task manager to look at the apps that autostart with the tablet and remove half of them (wisely). I'm using System Tuner at the moment. Seems more sound to me than just hitting 'kill all' once in a while manually and pretty much randomly. It's better to make your device run some while killing or even not starting others..
Infiinty users should also consider changing their Minfree values to let the system take care of freeing the memory more efficiently, you can also see my thread on tweaking in the development section.
guys. where i can download this task manager widget?
i'd like to install it on my Kindle Fire CM9. very nice tool.
juster2 said:
guys. where i can download this task manager widget?
i'd like to install it on my Kindle Fire CM9. very nice tool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one OP speaks of is built into the bloatware of Asus. I use it with pretty good results. The one D14 spoke of is called System Tuner and is available at the play store by searching for it or clicking here.
The thread he referenced is a great one, albeit rather technical, and is located here.
+1 for System Tuner
A long time user of the System Tuner app...
Where does the advice, "don't use task managers with GB or newer because the OS is designed to handle tasks well" fit into this? I have read that advice all over the place and heard it on at least the Android Central podcast. I'm not saying it's wrong but this goes against that. Are we supposed to be killing tasks all the time in ICS?
PaulQ602 said:
Where does the advice, "don't use task managers with GB or newer because the OS is designed to handle tasks well" fit into this? I have read that advice all over the place and heard it on at least the Android Central podcast. I'm not saying it's wrong but this goes against that. Are we supposed to be killing tasks all the time in ICS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im a firm believer in this as a general rule as people go crazy killing tasks that dont need killed. Android memory management is generally pretty good, although alot of times stock ROMs give priority to bloatware. I use the app when I notice lagginess and see that I have games still running. I depend on my tablet to keep me going all day so I can't allow alot of junk running in the background. The best route is to restart the tablet, but that even has flaws with apps autostarting. In general, if you do't know what your doing, dont use a "kill all" as you're killing processes that dont need to be killed and can actually cause your tablet to run slower until these processes restart.
There is one thing I would like to kill all the time - Verizon's Backup Assistant. I have all of its check boxes unchecked and it still runs every few days. Will "System Tuner" let me set it to be killed every time it tries to rear its head?
PaulQ602 said:
There is one thing I would like to kill all the time - Verizon's Backup Assistant. I have all of its check boxes unchecked and it still runs every few days. Will "System Tuner" let me set it to be killed every time it tries to rear its head?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do believe you can black list apps and autokill them anytime they pop up.
agree with Chief Geek. task killers on latest android versions can be more evil than good. never used autokill options, always in manual mode but full memory=increased battery drain. also on my kindle fire with 512mb ram, and spb shell 3d installed as default launcher, after i quit from any heavy application(games, browser w/many tabs etc) my launcher takes up to 30-40sec to load back. thats can be annoying. task killer can be useful in some circumstances.
i've found task killer similar to asus task manager. ics task manager. "Search" tool sometimes very helpful if use it with brains people without brains don't use search
PaulQ602 said:
There is one thing I would like to kill all the time - Verizon's Backup Assistant. I have all of its check boxes unchecked and it still runs every few days. Will "System Tuner" let me set it to be killed every time it tries to rear its head?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should, it has another list for what's starting at boot time. But if these can't help, try disabling its connectivity in DroidWall or remove it manually as root from where it's installed, probably /system/app (but be careful and make a backup just in case).
PaulQ602 said:
Where does the advice, "don't use task managers with GB or newer because the OS is designed to handle tasks well" fit into this? I have read that advice all over the place and heard it on at least the Android Central podcast. I'm not saying it's wrong but this goes against that. Are we supposed to be killing tasks all the time in ICS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, as one who has done a LOT of looking into this for a LONG time, heres my two cents.
If you are constantly killing a task that constantly starts itself up agian, that uses more power than just letting the task sit in the background memory. If extended battery life is your goal, you dont want to constantly be killing the same tasks over and over
If performance is your goal, and you want the most SPEED out of your device, then you want as much free memory available to the device as possible, hence the one click clean dealies. This is usually short lived because most of the tasks you kill will start themselves up again in short order.
Best case: Determine what tasks you are killing often and find a permenant solution. I have frozen maps on occasion because of this. Gotten rid of the facebook app, and also nerfed a bunch of free games because they kept popping up.
Overall task killers are not needed, just know your system and monitor it properly and it will run smooth.
pileot said:
Overall task killers are not needed, just know your system and monitor it properly and it will run smooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
Task killers only temporarily work around the issue. Android is supposed to be handling processes and services by itself. Of course, there are applications that abuse the likes of "persistant" processes and services which can slow it down. Tweaking things like the SuperCharger script does can help, but it's usually apps that are the real culprits.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
PaulQ602 said:
There is one thing I would like to kill all the time - Verizon's Backup Assistant. I have all of its check boxes unchecked and it still runs every few days. Will "System Tuner" let me set it to be killed every time it tries to rear its head?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe that you can just "Disable" this app via the Settings->Apps menus. ICS has a nice feature that will let you disable apps that you don't need. That should stop it from running.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2

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