I've noticed that when I close an app (exit it) it usually stays open in the background. An example for this would be Facebook or Google Goggles.
I don't want to have those apps drain my battery when I don't use them and I don't want to have to close them manually every time I exit them. What can I do?
Please help
Im doing the same thing too i would like to know if possible. I tried a taskmanager program but that just halts an app from coming back up again.
Sent from my Arc using XDA premium App
When any Activity is no longer the frontmost Activity (on screen), it's shut down by the OS. Any "background" Activities are simply stored in memory in case you want to go back to them. What you're seeing is essentially the history of the app; when you "open" it again it'll just reload the last saved state. At that point, the application is allowed to execute again.
The only applications that should continue running in the background are services.
The only drain you'll see are, as above, services running and the power necessary to keep the background Activities in memory; they're not actually executing.
Of course, there are ways to get around that, but most good citizens will respect Android's wishes when it comes to saving state and exiting when they're no longer frontmost.
NickWarner said:
When any Activity is no longer the frontmost Activity (on screen), it's shut down by the OS. Any "background" Activities are simply stored in memory in case you want to go back to them. What you're seeing is essentially the history of the app; when you "open" it again it'll just reload the last saved state. At that point, the application is allowed to execute again.
The only applications that should continue running in the background are services.
The only drain you'll see are, as above, services running and the power necessary to keep the background Activities in memory; they're not actually executing.
Of course, there are ways to get around that, but most good citizens will respect Android's wishes when it comes to saving state and exiting when they're no longer frontmost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So when I click the "Force Stop" in the task manager on one of those applications that I've closed, what does it do? I don't think it erases them from the memory.
For instance, Facebook, when I click "Force Close" I'll still get notifications.
I'm seeing some of these applications in the Battery Usage.
Furthermore, Android will completely shut down apps in the background in order to recover the memory they're using, if it's needed elsewhere. That's really the only time that app management is necessary.
If you're simply seeing a lot of "background apps", rest assured they're not draining your battery.
If you are seeing an inordinate battery drain while you're on the home screen, you might have a service running behind the scenes that's consuming your CPU cycles.
Look for System Panel Lite in the Market; it will let you see the amount of CPU being devoted to each process. I'd bet that most of your background stuff is only eating RAM and not CPU. If there is something eating up a lot of CPU, you can investigate that particular app instead of simply force-killing everything in the background.
matanc1 said:
So when I click the "Force Stop" in the task manager on one of those applications that I've closed, what does it do? I don't think it erases them from the memory.
For instance, Facebook, when I click "Force Close" I'll still get notifications.
I'm seeing some of these applications in the Battery Usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two components to the Facebook app: the application itself and a service. When you "Force Close" the application, you're just stopping what you see onscreen. The service is still running, and a totally different animal than the application stuff we were discussing.
Edit: To clarify: You're seeing the package under Battery Usage, which combines the application ("Activity") and service usage to form an aggregate for "Facebook", not just one component.
Edit: (again) You're right above when you say that it removes them from memory. That, in fact, is ALL it's doing. It's removing the history/background Activities from memory. Unless that Activity is actually the frontmost Activity at that time you click "Force Close", it's not saving you any CPU time/battery usage.
Okay.
So you're saying there is no reason for me to "Force Close" every app after I've closed it?
And btw, when you say that they are in the background what does that mean?
I mean, the Active Applications widget is supposed to show me those that are running in the background right? So how come when I go to the home screen (using the back button) from an app like Facebook it won't show in the Active Applications widget but it will show Google Goggles?
matanc1 said:
Okay.
So you're saying there is no reason for me to "Force Close" every app after I've closed it?
And btw, when you say that they are in the background what does that mean?
I mean, the Active Applications widget is supposed to show me those that are running in the background right? So how come when I go to the home screen (using the back button) from an app like Facebook it won't show in the Active Applications widget but it will show Google Goggles?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To your first point, yes, that's exactly it. Android does this for you if it needs the memory. Otherwise, it leaves the history hanging around to make it appear the app is loading quickly the next time you open it (and it puts you right back where you left off). Note that we're ONLY talking about the user interface you see onscreen here, not any services.
Your second point requires a bit more explanation. My apologies if this gets either too basic or too in-depth; I'm not sure what your skill level is with Android. Each "window" or "screen" you see is actually a separate Activity, and is essentially self-contained. As you navigate through screens, the previous one saves what you were doing in memory and then exits. When you hit the Back button, Android simply grabs the last screen in memory and loads it back up. At that point, the application is running again. My references to "background" applications above is exactly this: screens you've left behind that are waiting for you to hit Back.
It's ultimately more complicated than that, but I think this will work for our needs.
matanc1 said:
Okay.
So you're saying there is no reason for me to "Force Close" every app after I've closed it?
And btw, when you say that they are in the background what does that mean?
I mean, the Active Applications widget is supposed to show me those that are running in the background right? So how come when I go to the home screen (using the back button) from an app like Facebook it won't show in the Active Applications widget but it will show Google Goggles?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To continue: Services are the real sticking point here. A service is an application that doesn't have a user interface (or screen). It's running all the time and not subject to the history/back button behavior we've been discussing. These guys are the ones you really need to be worried about, if anything. These are the ones that will run behind the scenes, consuming CPU and data (and, by extension, battery). Facebook is an excellent example: It's always checking to see if you have new messages, posts, etc. so that it can pop them up on the screen. GMail and SMS (and phone calls, even) all do the same thing using services. If the service is badly-written, it can be a real drain even when you're not using it.
You mentioned Google Goggles specifically above, and unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with how that particular app works. I suspect it's not subscribing to the good citizen philosophy and shutting down when you're done with it. It imagine it has to do with needing to perform searches or image comparisons in the background while you're off doing something else. This is technically allowed by Android, but it's frowned upon and suggested that you only do it when absolutely necessary.
Whew. All of that to say this:
Apps, as a general rule, don't consume resources when they're not on screen. They'll consume RAM, which does consume battery power, but it's really insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Some apps will continue running after you "exit" to the home screen, but they should only do that as long as they have actual work to do. Once they're done, they should also shut down as above.
Services will consume resources all the time; they're constantly used for things like checking Facebook, Twitter, email, voicemail, etc.
okay, so again, just to summarize:
Force Closing an app just removes it from the System Memory (which makes them load faster when I open them). These apps use no additional battery life?
So I can feel free to not Force Close apps such as Camera (which I can do that to for some reason which I can't think of)?
Edit: And thank you very much Nick for the help and great responses.
matanc1 said:
okay, so again, just to summarize:
Force Closing an app just removes it from the System Memory (which makes them load faster when I open them). These apps use no additional battery life?
So I can feel free to not Force Close apps such as Camera (which I can do that to for some reason which I can't think of)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're correct. As a general rule, you don't have to force close any applications in Android. They will use some RAM and zero CPU and data, which equates to effectively zero battery.
Leaving the app in the background (in memory) loads the app faster the next time you open it, assuming Android hasn't closed it to reclaim that memory on its own. I've found that within a few minutes of heavy use (browsing the Internet, etc.), Android has shut down several of the apps in the background for me; it needed that memory to let me continue doing what I was doing.
You don't need to force close apps in the normal course of business. The only time you should force close an application is if it's behaving badly while on the screen (it's not responding to button presses or it's stuck in a tight loop or somesuch). Force closing it while it's in the background doesn't really gain you anything.
Okay, so just one last thing:
Do you have any suggestion to try and improve the battery life?
matanc1 said:
Okay, so just one last thing:
Do you have any suggestion to try and improve the battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have some general suggestions:
Don't sync accounts that you don't use. For example, if you don't use Facebook very often, don't have it set to sync up every hour.
Turn off WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS unless you're actively using them. (A caveat: Google Maps uses WiFi in conjunction with GPS, so turn them both on while using Maps, even if you're not connected to WiFi.) Personally, I don't do this. I leave WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS on all the time, but I know people who swear by this.
Keep your screen brightness as low as you can stand it. Again, I don't do this. I generally leave it on Auto-brightness.
Ultimately, though, you need to find that balance between usability and battery life. If you're always on Facebook and Twitter, sending SMS and surfing, well, there's not much you can do but keep an extra battery or charger nearby. If you're an office-worker that only uses their phone on break and at night, some of the above will probably help.
If you can give me an idea of a normal day's usage of your phone (and make/model/ROM version), I might be able to be a little more specific, or at least point you in the direction of your device's Q&A forum.
Well, I'm new to android and I've got a Samsung Galaxy S 2.
I don't really use the data connection (which is why it's always disabled unless I decide otherwise) and I turn on the Wifi only when I need it (which is often relative to 3G).
Normally I just use my phone for calls, SMSing and a bit of surfing.
About the google maps, I've noticed that it uses A LOT of battery and that it starts itself after I force close it, so I've closed the Maps service which seemed to fix the problem.
That's more or less it.
Not much syncing as well, I usually sync only when I need it.
Edit: I must say that I don't really understand what Backround Data is.
Is it that the Background Data lets the apps use data (like use facebook via wifi?) while the Auto Sync syncs automatically when I get a new email / notification? Does the background data have to do only with the my monthly data package and not with wifi ( i think that is the case ).
First off, you'll probably be better served to ask the guys in the Samsung Galaxy S2 Q&A Forum. They'll have a better idea of what the device's baseline is and what specific features you can turn off. Sometimes, as with the Samsung Fascinate, there are specific features that cause problems on the stock ROM, like Maps issuing bad WakeLocks. I know on my Fascinate before the first update, I had to toggle airplane mode every time I booted or Maps would eat the battery up in hours. Those guys in the device-specific forums will have a better handle on it, if there's anything of concern.
In general, though, it sounds like you're doing a pretty good job of keeping the device doing just what you want it to do. Android's sync framework is going to try to sync up all of your accounts essentially simultaneously whenever you turn on data, since it's probably been turned off for longer than their individual refresh intervals. You might want to turn off automatic sync on the service that you do use, so you can control those a little better when you turn on data to do something else.
Maps is a heavy data user and it makes use of GPS, which is going to consume quite a bit of power. The startup cost you're noticing is it trying to get a fix via the cell tower, GPS, and WiFi all at the same time, since the services have been off. If you use Maps often, you might be better served to leave data on (but, say, Edge only if you're GSM or 3G only if you're LTE/WiMax). This way, Maps can get a rough fix on your location at all times and not have to beat up the hardware to get a fix from scratch when you turn all the services on.
The Maps service is probably, to be anthropomorphic, freaking out all the time because it's trying to get some sort of fix while all the data services are off. Truth be told, I don't believe it was designed for that. Shutting down the service is a good way to go if you don't use it often.
You could try an application like Autorun Manager to control which services start up on boot. To make the most use of it, you need to be rooted, but in non-rooted form it will give you more control over what starts up automatically.
matanc1 said:
I must say that I don't really understand what Backround Data is.
Is it that the Background Data lets the apps use data (like use facebook via wifi?) while the Auto Sync syncs automatically when I get a new email / notification? Does the background data have to do only with the my monthly data package and not with wifi ( i think that is the case ).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Background Data is what services use behind the scenes (like syncing and such), but I believe it's an aggregate of all data, not just data on the cellular network. I'm looking through the docs right now to see if I can find a definite answer.
Edit: According to the docs, Background Data is data that is sent or retrieved when the application is not onscreen. This can be either in a service (as is usually the case) or when the app has to do some cleanup after you've moved to a different screen.
Thank you very much
I've noticed that I've got a few widgets that are using memory etc, ones that I don't use and never intend to.
They were preinstalled with the phone and I can't seem to uninstall them. Is there a way that I could without rooting my phone?
And on another subject, if I root my phone, is there a way to "unroot" it in case I'll need to send it to Samsung if there is a problem with it (since i've got a warranty and rooting voids it?)
matanc1 said:
Thank you very much
I've noticed that I've got a few widgets that are using memory etc, ones that I don't use and never intend to.
They were preinstalled with the phone and I can't seem to uninstall them. Is there a way that I could without rooting my phone?
And on another subject, if I root my phone, is there a way to "unroot" it in case I'll need to send it to Samsung if there is a problem with it (since i've got a warranty and rooting voids it?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In theory, widgets don't consume resources unless they're on your home page. If they have services that collect their data, that's a different story. If you don't want them, you can just long-press on them and drag them to the trash can.
In conjunction with Autorun Manager above, you can remove the widget from your home page and stop the service from starting at boot. For example, I don't use Facebook (I know, lame), so I removed the widget and stopped the service. True, it's burning up a couple of megabytes of disk space, but that's insignificant next to the power of the Force, as it were.
Regarding uinstalling them, generally the answer is no. If you root your phone, you can manually remove them from the device, but that's sometimes overkill. Generally, they take up little enough room on disk that you won't be hurting for space.
In most cases, "unrooting" is as simple as flashing the stock ROM (usually available at the top of your device's development forum). Rooting your device generally doesn't make any changes to the device itself that can't be undone by flashing a stock ROM.
I've heard that rooting still leaves traces on the device though and that if they catch that it's been rooted I'm screwed. So you're saying that's not true?
I know I've made a few posts about this in the past, but now I've learned a few things since then.
I know the battery isn't the greatest on the infuse (no rom that I'm using atm..) but would like to get the most juice out of my device that I can. I have root access and currently use the apps "battery calibration" and "no-frills CPU control" which I set my cpu at a relatively low frequency to help keep juice.
My phone is drained throughout my day, even without use. I believe it primarily happens because my data (mobile network) consumes it. I know apps such as "juice defender" are great at reducing idle drainage because it shuts off your network connection while in idle to save battery. However, I have used this application in the past and after a few days of use, it shuts off my mobile connection altogether.
My question is, if I were to use this application again and my mobile network were to malfunction, would I be able to change my apn to regain my network connection? In the past I had to reset my phone to regain connection, which isn't really worth using if that's the only solution.
Or are there any other battery saver apps worth using??
Thanks
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
Dr_Nacho said:
I know I've made a few posts about this in the past, but now I've learned a few things since then.
I know the battery isn't the greatest on the infuse (no rom that I'm using atm..) but would like to get the most juice out of my device that I can. I have root access and currently use the apps "battery calibration" and "no-frills CPU control" which I set my cpu at a relatively low frequency to help keep juice.
My phone is drained throughout my day, even without use. I believe it primarily happens because my data (mobile network) consumes it. I know apps such as "juice defender" are great at reducing idle drainage because it shuts off your network connection while in idle to save battery. However, I have used this application in the past and after a few days of use, it shuts off my mobile connection altogether.
My question is, if I were to use this application again and my mobile network were to malfunction, would I be able to change my apn to regain my network connection? In the past I had to reset my phone to regain connection, which isn't really worth using if that's the only solution.
Or are there any other battery saver apps worth using??
Thanks
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A bit more information is needed before a specific course of action can be recommended. How much battery life are you using in an average 24 hour period? Also, what version of Juice Defender(beta, free, plus, ultimate) are you using, and what specific settings are you utilizing. It is a very customizable program after all. You might look into Battery Indicator Pro, which estimates your total remaining battery life based on your level of usage. I would also recommend CPU spy, which, if your device is rooted, will show the percentages that your device is running at various CPU levels.
If you turn off all the locational stuff, turn off 'update my current location' in Navigator, and set your CPU gov to conservative, you might get better battery life. I've not had any lasting luck with any of the battery saving apps. In the end, I decided to buy a couple of Anker batteries from Amazon just in case I have a bad battery day... Also some of the battery saving mods work, but I'm not sure about applying them to ICS and JB ROMS. I haven't tried!
Battery life is what you make of it..
Anything running in the background will drain the battery.. email constantly checking for new messages, twitter, Facebook, GPS, WiFi if no connection is found, etc..
Anything that makes the phone process even while the screen is off is going to kill a battery..
What ROM are you using? Some ROMs have better life than others..
How much are you actually using the phone?
What's the brightness set at?
Have you tried changing the processor and slowed it down?
Lots of information that is missing is helpful..
Its powered by Jellybeaned AOKP!
I know apps such as "juice defender" are great at reducing idle drainage because it shuts off your network connection while in idle to save battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some have good luck with these, others don’t. I prefer to try to adjust settings myself.
I believe it primarily happens because my data (mobile network) consumes it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about putting a widget on your homescreen to toggle data on/off. Keep it on only when you need it. I go a step further, I use Tasker to automatically turn my data off every time my screen times out (because that means I’m not using it... I can restart my data later with my widget when I need it). Maybe that’s extreme, but I’m not just watching my battery.. I’m managing my limited data plan.
My phone is drained throughout my day, even without use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may be that you have wakelocks keeping your phone awake when it’s supposed to sleep. One way to see this is (in GB or above) Settings / About-Phone / Battery Use...then click on the small graph at the top... should expand it to a large graph with traces along the bottom including Awake and Screen On. If you have long periods of time where phone is awake while screen is off, that’s a wakelock problem. A good program to troubleshoot that is Better Battery Stats. If nothing else, follow the instructions in the first post in the BBS thread linked below, and then post a dump to the end of that BBS thread (the developer and a lot of other knowledgeable people follow that thread and will help you interpret results):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179809
Thru use of BBS, I found that Google Maps is one that was keeping mine awake and I think someone else on the forum reported the same. If that program (Maps) is causing problems, you can disable it from auto-starting on boot using Gemini Manager. It will still be available when you need it, just take a few seconds longer to load the first time after boot. Then need to reboot to stop it from causing wakelocks after use (there may be other easier ways, but this works for me).
Another program (Power Tutor) was helpful to me to see programs that were consuming unusual amount of battery although not necessarily thru wakelocks. In my case Dolphin Browser HD was occasionally drawing very high power even when that program was not actively in use.
electricpete1 said:
I found that Google Maps is one that was keeping mine awake and I think someone else on the forum reported the same. If that program (Maps) is causing problems, you can disable it from auto-starting on boot using Gemini Manager. It will still be available when you need it, just take a few seconds longer to load the first time after boot. Then need to reboot to stop it from causing wakelocks after use (there may be other easier ways, but this works for me).
Another program (Power Tutor) was helpful to me to see programs that were consuming unusual amount of battery although not necessarily thru wakelocks. In my case Dolphin Browser HD was occasionally drawing very high power even when that program was not actively in use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So how can I stop maps to running in background? only rebooting the device is the only option?or is there any other option?
TIA
atrix4nag said:
So how can I stop maps to running in background? only rebooting the device is the only option?or is there any other option?
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to provide more details on my previous post (not sure if it's answering your question):
I followed instructions here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=29420959&postcount=7059
In particular, I installed the free program "Gemini Apps Manager". That allows you to stop programs from auto-loading at boot.
So I used the program to stopp Google Maps from auto-loading at boot.
That stopped a large chunk of my wakelocks, as long as I don't manually launch Google Maps.
If I do manually Google Maps, then those wakelocks come back, and to get rid of them I have to reboot.
I don't use Maps that often (only when I go on trips), so it's not a big problem for me to reboot when I'm finished with my trip to help keep my battery use low.
It may also be possible to kill it from the list of applications at Settings/Applications/ManageApplications and killing botht the application and the process...but I'm not sure if it will stay killed that way... haven't tried. I know some applications have hooks that make it hard to get rid of them once they're launched.
But (if you haven't already), I think it's a good idea to use BBS to find out what programs are causing problems on your phone. You may have other apps causing lot bigger problems than Maps. And it certainly may be the case that a program that acts up on one phone can be fine on another phone due to differences in the way the user configures the application settings and the phone settings (along with other possible differences in application version, ROM used, etc etc).
electricpete1 said:
Just to provide more details on my previous post (not sure if it's answering your question):
I followed instructions here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=29420959&postcount=7059
In particular, I installed the free program "Gemini Apps Manager". That allows you to stop programs from auto-loading at boot.
So I used the program to stopp Google Maps from auto-loading at boot.
That stopped a large chunk of my wakelocks, as long as I don't manually launch Google Maps.
If I do manually Google Maps, then those wakelocks come back, and to get rid of them I have to reboot.
I don't use Maps that often (only when I go on trips), so it's not a big problem for me to reboot when I'm finished with my trip to help keep my battery use low.
It may also be possible to kill it from the list of applications at Settings/Applications/ManageApplications and killing botht the application and the process...but I'm not sure if it will stay killed that way... haven't tried. I know some applications have hooks that make it hard to get rid of them once they're launched.
But (if you haven't already), I think it's a good idea to use BBS to find out what programs are causing problems on your phone. You may have other apps causing lot bigger problems than Maps. And it certainly may be the case that a program that acts up on one phone can be fine on another phone due to differences in the way the user configures the application settings and the phone settings (along with other possible differences in application version, ROM used, etc etc).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your detail explanation. My main question was how can close the app without restarting? i feel my major battery drain is from dolphin browser, befor dolphin i used opera, even that has the same problem. Most of the time, if I dont open dolphin, my phone battery is good, but once I open it, it drains battery. So i am looking for soemthing simple which does, without rebooting the device.
Any way thanks for your help.
I've had my U11 (64/4 variant) for a month now. I'm satisfied with it in general, but I've noticed something really peculiar.
In the first days, my U11 was extremely snappy and fast (opening applications, opening the camera, unlocking the screen, and so forth). However, after using it for a week, I noticed a strange phenomenon: the general speed of my phone was changing all the time. I mean, sometimes, I had to wait approximately 2 seconds for Gmail to load & display my inbox, while sometimes I just tapped on Gmail and it loaded & displayed my inbox almost instantly. (No, Gmail wasn't in the RAM in the latter case...)
It's still happening and I'm not happy about it because I ditched my S7 due to Samsung's tacky and laggy TouchWiz (I heard that it had been renamed, but I don't really care). Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that SenseUI is laggy and tacky because I love it and I haven't even experienced a slight lag since I had this phone, but the unpredictable speed of my phone is irritating a little bit. By the way, the same goes for the camera (stock application): sometimes, it takes quite long for the camera to load & be ready, while sometimes it doesn't even take a second.
More than 90% of the storage is free and more than 50% of the RAM is free most of the time.
What do I do? Shall I perform a factory reset? As I've mentioned, I'm using the stock ROM and I want to do so in the future, too as I've got used to it.
Htc Boost+ app. If you dont have it get it. If you do have it then check the foreground and background restrictions.
If you're using any apps from 3rd parties that control apps and ram, remove them. Android has it's own app killer and boost+ will do the rest according to how you use the phone.
Signal clarity is also a huge player in the speed of today's devices. If you have a weak wifi or cell signal then the phone has to wait for the data transfer so server connections will suffer, hence why you experience intermittent slow loading.
The camera may take a while because of not being in background or if other apps are consuming resources. Also the more you use an app the quicker it should open as android 'should' hold the app in ram, if theres enough room.
Hope this helps clarify.
shivadow said:
Htc Boost+ app. If you dont have it get it. If you do have it then check the foreground and background restrictions.
If you're using any apps from 3rd parties that control apps and ram, remove them. Android has it's own app killer and boost+ will do the rest according to how you use the phone.
Signal clarity is also a huge player in the speed of today's devices. If you have a weak wifi or cell signal then the phone has to wait for the data transfer so server connections will suffer, hence why you experience intermittent slow loading.
The camera may take a while because of not being in background or if other apps are consuming resources. Also the more you use an app the quicker it should open as android 'should' hold the app in ram, if theres enough room.
Hope this helps clarify.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply. I had already used the Boost+ before I posted this thread. I deleted a few apps that I hadn't really used, and now I don't have any problems with my phone as far as speed is concerned.