Database Info

Memory leaks?

My Cappy starts with about 165mb of free RAM, but it quickly goes away as I use apps. I have Task Killer installed and set to kill apps every 30 minutes, but once I get down to about 90mb of RAM it is impossible to get anywhere near what I boot with free. I'm used to memory leakage on my WinMo phones, but this is way worse. I had CleanRAM on my Tilt 2 (from XDA) and it worked pretty good and allows scheduling. Is there a similar app for Android?

I'd get rid of Task Killer, you don't need it.

its not leaking memory...it handles memory differently than windows of yore....stop fretting about how much memory you have available and just reboot your phone once every few days....thats not needed, but if it makes you feel better to look at useless numbers...

Yeah you need to stop looking at this as either a windows pc or an old device (think g1). Get rid of the task killer and never look at how much free ram you have again. Its not important at all. I've had this phone for months and I literally have no idea how much ram it uses on average because I have never checked or cared. My phone has been running smooth since day one. Yours will too.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Available RAM is a useless number? Having unused apps continue to run in the background is nothing to worry about?
Does anyone have anything usefull to respond with?

Miami_Son said:
Available RAM is a useless number? Having unused apps continue to run in the background is nothing to worry about?
Does anyone have anything usefull to respond with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you look at Window 7, there is a concept called pre-fetch. This allows the OS to load the programs into memory based on past usage, and frequency of usage. This lets us open the program much faster, than fetch when requested. This info is loaded to memory, and kept there, until some other program comes in that needs more memory.
And just 'cos a program is present in RAM doesn't mean it would use CPU.
And, based on my observation of android, I see that I have close to 180 MB free when the phone boots up. But this quickly reduces to around 120-150 in less than an hour based on what I use. After like a day this I see that free RAM is about 80-120 MB. And even after 3-4 days of no reboots, the free memory is still present at the same 80-120 levels. I am not sure what kind of memory management android uses, but its very effective, and never caused any noticeable lag in the system.
And, I do not use any task killers, not free up RAM in task manager.

Your concerns are flawed in the fact that the Linux kernel handles memory different than what you are used to. Simply speaking, Linux keeps memory used by applications on need to basis. It keeps it loaded until something else needs to use it. It will take from something else at the required time. A system actually performs faster when there is less memory available because that means that applications are able to be recalled quicker. It's not like it can only load from what is left available.
You will also notice that many applications take up memory but are using 0 CPU. This speaks to the fact that it simply loaded into memory and not taking up resources required for other operations.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Lot to learn about this Android, I see. So, why are there so many task killers on Market and other RAM-related programs if it is not important? Should I really not be concerned when I see a program I hardly use being shown as running on startup?

Miami_Son said:
Lot to learn about this Android, I see. So, why are there so many task killers on Market and other RAM-related programs if it is not important? Should I really not be concerned when I see a program I hardly use being shown as running on startup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I got my android phone, the first thing I did was put up things like task killer, start up auditor, etc. But as weeks passed, I realized these were more of deteriorating performance, than improve it. So got rid of them. Android can handle itself.

Autokiller optimises memory by changing values in android rather than kills apps. I reccomemd it, definately makes the phone faster. Set it to agressive.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Miami_Son said:
Lot to learn about this Android, I see. So, why are there so many task killers on Market and other RAM-related programs if it is not important? Should I really not be concerned when I see a program I hardly use being shown as running on startup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It started with the combination of old versions of android (think cupcake and doughnut) and phones like the G1. Older versions didn't handle ram as well as they do in eclair and up. If you combine this with the fact that those older phones had less ram, and likely didn't use any gpu acceleration (unsure of this though), then task killers and other programs were considered necessary to get a fluid feeling experience.
They are still in the market now for 2 reasons.
1. Because some people still have those old phones and still run old versions of android. (less likely)
2. Habit. If people are used to using them and tell others they are necessary because they've always worked, why would a developer pull his money making app from the market? (much more likely)

So when Pandora or Grooveshark freeze, which happens all the time, and leaves my phone utterly useless until they're done doing whatever it is they're doing, how is using a task killer to...kill the process...not useful? It's much faster than rebooting the phone. I also think it's much faster than going into each application's individual settings to use the 'force stop' command. Is there a different way to kill a stuck app other than these methods?

Miami_Son said:
My Cappy starts with about 165mb of free RAM, but it quickly goes away as I use apps. I have Task Killer installed and set to kill apps every 30 minutes, but once I get down to about 90mb of RAM it is impossible to get anywhere near what I boot with free. I'm used to memory leakage on my WinMo phones, but this is way worse. I had CleanRAM on my Tilt 2 (from XDA) and it worked pretty good and allows scheduling. Is there a similar app for Android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Along with what everyone else said, remember that a memory leak is a LEAK, something that is continuously draining, not a one-time thing. So, if memory goes to 80MB free and holds, that's not a leak, that's simply memory that is being used. If free memory drops to 75, then 60, then 55, 50, 45, and so on, then you have a true leak to worry about.

Well, what we Windows Mobile users often also refer to as leaks is the bad habit of some apps to not release their memory when closed. For instance, a program that carves out 25mb of RAM when started and returns less then half of that when closed.

jaju123 said:
Autokiller optimises memory by changing values in android rather than kills apps. I reccomemd it, definately makes the phone faster. Set it to agressive.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone else know much about "Autokiller"?

i used to use a task killer with my G1, and continued to do so with my captivate but i saw a few things like this: http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/ and decided to get rid of my task killers and my phone seemed actually a little faster and seemed my battery life increased.

matt310 said:
So when Pandora or Grooveshark freeze, which happens all the time, and leaves my phone utterly useless until they're done doing whatever it is they're doing, how is using a task killer to...kill the process...not useful? It's much faster than rebooting the phone. I also think it's much faster than going into each application's individual settings to use the 'force stop' command. Is there a different way to kill a stuck app other than these methods?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is useful in those situations but realistically when people give that argument they are just looking for a reason to keep it. Android has the ability to kill tasks built in. If you're on 2.1 then yeah it's buried deeper in the menu but not a big deal. I can't imagine an app freezing enough to warrant having a task killer for. If you're on 2.2 it's much more easily accessible.
When we talk about task killers we're talking about people using them to kill open tasks that aren't causing issues simply to see more free ram available.

[Q] Memory (RAM) usage confusion

I have two Task Managers installed: "System Panel" and "Advanced Task Manager"
When I use the above two apps to check my free memory (RAM) available, it always shows around 75-100 mb remaining
When I use the stock app manager to check free memory, the value is always significantly higher - like 140-160 mb.
Does anyone know why there is discrepancy between the two readings? Which one shows the more accurate value?

sax1981 said:
I have two Task Managers installed: "System Panel" and "Advanced Task Manager"
When I use the above two apps to check my free memory (RAM) available, it always shows around 75-100 mb remaining
When I use the stock app manager to check free memory, the value is always significantly higher - like 140-160 mb.
Does anyone know why there is discrepancy between the two readings? Which one shows the more accurate value?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont know why there would be a discrepancy but you shouldnt use a task manager/killer on android 2.2+

slowz3r said:
i dont know why there would be a discrepancy but you shouldnt use a task manager/killer on android 2.2+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not?

sax1981 said:
Why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Starting in Froyo, Android has become more efficient at it's own native memory management than past versions and Gingerbread continued that improvement. What this means is that if Android starts running low on RAM, it will start killing things itself and reclaiming/reallocating the memory without the need for a third party app. The other concern about using a TasKiller most people raise is that if you set it to autokill, system apps or other sort of apps that need to be run(such as Facebook widget, other kind of widgets, noLED, et al) will relaunch on their own causing the TasKiller to kill it again... relaunch... kill... relaunch... kill keep your CPU cycles at 100% and draining your battery quicker than it should be.
That being said, I still use a TasKiller on autokill with the screen off simply because I like to (and paid for the app, so dangit, I'm gonna use it! ). Once you have identified the apps that relaunch upon kill and set TasKiller to ignore them, the battery concern isn't an issue.

sax1981 said:
Why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
they changed the way android 2.2+ handles apps in the background so when the task killer kills an app it does more harm than good, mainly kill the hell out of your battery because android wants to start it back up again
Dont know the details but thats the jist of it

System panel is a must have. It's not used to kill all apps, just to monitor your phone and kill an out of control app.
To answer the question, the way android shares RAM between processes is very difficult to actually identify free RAM and which apps are using what. So some apps make the choice to display the free RAM differently, no way around it as there is no one "right answer" on each memory usage. I always go by system panel myself.

RogerPodacter / slowz3r / unremarked - Thanks for the info!

Whats Best way to free up the ram???

Whats best way to free up the more ram? I have root and froze the safe stuff. The lowest I can get free is about 185MB / 328MB.

Rooting and freezing apps doesn't give you more RAM, since there is only 512MB of RAM and the OS takes part of that to run.
You can free up internal app storage space, by deleting bloatware, or cut/paste the bloatware into a folder on the SDcard (I call mine VZWBloat) and that will save you space.
You can run a task killer to kill off apps that you don't need but you have to be careful, Android does need certain apps to be available in the background and it will just reopen automatically and that will put them into a cycle and drain the battery.

rcb929 said:
Whats best way to free up the more ram? I have root and froze the safe stuff. The lowest I can get free is about 185MB / 328MB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please do not post Questions or problems in Android Development
Moving to General

RaptorMD said:
Rooting and freezing apps doesn't give you more RAM, since there is only 512MB of RAM and the OS takes part of that to run.
You can free up internal app storage space, by deleting bloatware, or cut/paste the bloatware into a folder on the SDcard (I call mine VZWBloat) and that will save you space.
You can run a task killer to kill off apps that you don't need but you have to be careful, Android does need certain apps to be available in the background and it will just reopen automatically and that will put them into a cycle and drain the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey im using root explorer when im in system/app/ how do i single out the bloatware apps?

rcb929 said:
Whats best way to free up the more ram? I have root and froze the safe stuff. The lowest I can get free is about 185MB / 328MB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Freeing up that much RAM is probably detrimental to the overall efficacy of the memory management system, I've never seen mine at 185MB, and if I did I'd worry something was wrong.
If you really want to free up more RAM, for no benefit whatsoever, use something like Advanced Task Killer and set it to allow killing of the lowest level processes it can, then kill everything. Bam, tons of free'd up RAM. Again, this has pretty much no benefit whatsoever and for a short time will probably make your phone more sluggish and slow.

In Android (Linux) free memory is considered wasted memory.
That said, I remember on my galaxy S that the phone ran snappier when I tweaked the memory management of the phone.
Task killers are generally considered a bad idea on android, so I would avoid using one of them to free up memory. However, there is a poorly named app called auto killer that is actually just an interface to tweaking androids built and memory management. I recommend giving it a try, here's a link: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.rs.autokiller
Note that it is not a task killer per se, it is just a tweak for android phone memory management schemes.
I haven't used it on my droid charge yet, but play with the settings maybe starting with aggressive. Good luck and let us know how it works for you.
Sent from Thunderbolt

I don't have my phone with me right now, but you need to make the folder read/write and then hit menu and multi-select or select multiple. This thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1082588 shows what is ok to freeze, but I am not familiar enough with those to say you can remove all of them. Typically I would look for the Verizon specific apps, games like lets gold, guitar hero etc. If you remove anything related to touch wiz (widgets) you need to remove both of the associated files. I am pulling this from memory on my previous TB.
These are the ones I recognize, but the others in that long list I would like to see better clarification of what they are and how they are tied into the TouchWiz UI so we don't get errors. Please exercise caution when doing this.
• Bitbop 1.0
• Blockbuster 0.6
• City ID 1.1.4
• Lets Golf 2 3.2.2
• Rhapsody 1.0
• Rock Band 4.4.3
• Slacker 2.1.170
• TuneWiki 2.2
• VCAST Media Manager 4.2.96.3
• VVMService 1.0.30
• VZ Navigator 7.1.2.87
• WeatherBug Clock 11.04.07.01

rcb929 said:
Whats best way to free up the more ram? I have root and froze the safe stuff. The lowest I can get free is about 185MB / 328MB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BY FAR.... BAR NONE.... The best way to free up memory and keep it free without messing with task killers is to use a program called startup auditor. This app prevents apps from starting up automatically on startup and throughtout the day without interfering with normal app processes. You can shut down or enable any app you want.
Even cooler, if you select the option menu and hit disable all, it only disables programs that won't interfere with the phone operation so it knows which apk's are critical for phone integrity. PRETTY COOL!!!

burningembers said:
Freeing up that much RAM is probably detrimental to the overall efficacy of the memory management system, I've never seen mine at 185MB, and if I did I'd worry something was wrong.
If you really want to free up more RAM, for no benefit whatsoever, use something like Advanced Task Killer and set it to allow killing of the lowest level processes it can, then kill everything. Bam, tons of free'd up RAM. Again, this has pretty much no benefit whatsoever and for a short time will probably make your phone more sluggish and slow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NEVER USE ADVANCE TASK KILLER... See other post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1106265

RaptorMD said:
Rooting and freezing apps doesn't give you more RAM, since there is only 512MB of RAM and the OS takes part of that to run.
You can free up internal app storage space, by deleting bloatware, or cut/paste the bloatware into a folder on the SDcard (I call mine VZWBloat) and that will save you space.
You can run a task killer to kill off apps that you don't need but you have to be careful, Android does need certain apps to be available in the background and it will just reopen automatically and that will put them into a cycle and drain the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DON"T USE A TASK KILLER ON ANY SAMSUNG DEVICE. See other post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1106265

I wasn't really condoning the use of task killers. I disagree with them 99% of the time (there are some edge cases). I just gave the OP an option if he really, really wanted to for no reason whatsoever.

@OP: I would recommend leaving the pasture gate open.

rcb929 said:
Whats best way to free up the more ram? I have root and froze the safe stuff. The lowest I can get free is about 185MB / 328MB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an app called Greenify. Its available on Play store.
Just check it out.
It also helps to maintain the juice of the battery.. !!

To Free Ram
A more easy way to delete a minimum of 1gb of space which by doing so also frees up ram is to delete the dump state log cat. See every time your device has an error or force close issue, date is collected / written to the log file and this can take up ane enormous amount of space which when space is low also means your device user more ram. To do this go to your dial pad and type in *#9900#
This will automatically brings up options and then just choose to delete the dump state/log cat. Let it clear for a few minutes and that's it's. Try seeing how much space you have before and after and you'll realise this is a blessing.

[Q] Is adanced task manager good for our xt720?

I've seen a lot of debates abt whether advanced task manager is good for the phone or not but im not sure if it has a positive effect on our xt720 with very little ram, so does it make more sense to use advanced task manager?? Btw im talking abt the 2.1 version of xt720 not the dexter's froyo or anything else. any help would be appreciated!

Advanced task manager is an app and task killer. Although discussion is varied it is safe to say a majority of very computer literate people tend to think task killers are bad for your phone and actually cause more battery drain in the end.
It is important to know how android handles memory. When you open an app for example the browser, and then move to gmail android puts the browser in an idle state. If after that you open say google maps and your phone has no more free memory android will kill your first process the browser to make space. The apps which are idle take no memory resources and just sit there. Killing idle apps, which usually reappear as soon as they are killed drain more juice, and are slow to launch.
A better app to use is the Autokiller memory optimizer. It uses a script to change androids own parameters at boot. So you can specify at what ram you want android to kill the idle apps. It does not involve killing apps and lets android handle everything. Ive been using it for quite some time and my phone is snappy fast and has around 60-70MB ram free all the time. I use the strict settings anything about that free's too much ram. Ofcourse your phone needs to be rooted for this to work.

sohrab.naushad said:
Advanced task manager is an app and task killer. Although discussion is varied it is safe to say a majority of very computer literate people tend to think task killers are bad for your phone and actually cause more battery drain in the end.
It is important to know how android handles memory. When you open an app for example the browser, and then move to gmail android puts the browser in an idle state. If after that you open say google maps and your phone has no more free memory android will kill your first process the browser to make space. The apps which are idle take no memory resources and just sit there. Killing idle apps, which usually reappear as soon as they are killed drain more juice, and are slow to launch.
A better app to use is the Autokiller memory optimizer. It uses a script to change androids own parameters at boot. So you can specify at what ram you want android to kill the idle apps. It does not involve killing apps and lets android handle everything. Ive been using it for quite some time and my phone is snappy fast and has around 60-70MB ram free all the time. I use the strict settings anything about that free's too much ram. Ofcourse your phone needs to be rooted for this to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im trying the app now so far so good. After i put it in strict level, there is nothing else that i should be doing with the app rite? i can just continue with the normal use of my phone rite? thx a lot! oh and i already uninstalled advanced task manager.

Nopes, just use your phone as you would Use the lowest settings that make your phone feel fast. How much free memory are you getting now? Also reboot your phone once. I've used the strict settings makes my phone feel great lemme know how it works out for you.

You should also use milestone overclock to overclock your processor if you dont already. Its available on the market for free. I use 1 Ghz, 74 Vsel!

After using the memory app, I have also 60-70mb free oh and I also use milestone overclock my settings are 1ghz 62vsel. What are the advantages of increasing the vsel value?
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App

I find that having a higher vsel keeps the system more stable during memory intensive tasks. Also I found no difference in battery life thats why I use the stock presets. Before I used 56 vsel 1 ghz but when I opened up the camera or something the system would hang and reboot. Try it out, its also much faster

More vsel actually drains the battery faster. From my experiance and recomnendations I found out that 1Ghz @ 66vsel is my optimal setting.
About ATK and Autokiller memory optimizer - crap! I preffer Running service and Manage application to deal with programs if I need to, but I mostly let Android decide for himself. My phone always have around 60MB free memory and ROM is fast and very responsive.
Also you may wanna try JuceDefender. Awesome app which saves you battery and clears RAM, if you are not feeling comfortable doing it yourself.

eSu.Matix said:
More vsel actually drains the battery faster. From my experiance and recomnendations I found out that 1Ghz @ 66vsel is my optimal setting.
About ATK and Autokiller memory optimizer - crap! I preffer Running service and Manage application to deal with programs if I need to, but I mostly let Android decide for himself. My phone always have around 60MB free memory and ROM is fast and very responsive.
Also you may wanna try JuceDefender. Awesome app which saves you battery and clears RAM, if you are not feeling comfortable doing it yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, I think you're confusing autokiller memory optimizer with the normal task killers. Look it up, it isnt a task killer but changes androids native application management parameters. Which ROM are you on?
Also ive used ultimate juice for sometime. It doesnt clear RAM, it just toggles your data and wifi according to options you set. I also noticed that without juice defender my phone works just as much so dont know how much that helps.
Battery calibration after new ROM flash has always made my battery meter more accurate and lasts longer.

I very well may and I apologize for that.
Actually I use recovery mode options to set the aggressiveness of the running service and I'm more than satisfied.
Sent from my XT720 using XDA App
P.S. StealEpicBlue with some little tweaks from me (few deleted system apps).

eSu.Matix said:
I very well may and I apologize for that.
Actually I use recovery mode options to set the aggressiveness of the running service and I'm more than satisfied.
Sent from my XT720 using XDA App
P.S. StealEpicBlue with some little tweaks from me (few deleted system apps).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you do that. I am running steelblue also and can always tweak it more. Is it through Androidiani recovery that you set the aggressiveness. I might start a thread tomorrow about all the things Androidiani does and how to use them. Haven't been able to find too much on it, but I know alot of people use it.

automatic boot up apps

Hello!
Another question I have is that; When I use the app "all in one tool" I discovered that I can increase boot up speed by disabaling some start up apps, I dont have a problem that it takes 2 min and 30 sec to boot up my device but I was suprised of how many apps that automatically starts up. What does it even mean when a app starts up when I am not useing it? is it running in the foreground and draining RAM? For instance I have a game called Blood and Glory that starts up when booting "apparently"
So My question is should I disable them all? The "all in one tool" divides the apps into "user" and "system" so I think I should leave the system apps alone.
Also can you permenatly kill select apps so it only runs when I use them? Seems like when I kill select 38 apps to leave RAM space they all start up again a few minutes later.

Stammis said:
Hello!
Another question I have is that; When I use the app "all in one tool" I discovered that I can increase boot up speed by disabaling some start up apps, I dont have a problem that it takes 2 min and 30 sec to boot up my device but I was suprised of how many apps that automatically starts up. What does it even mean when a app starts up when I am not useing it? is it running in the foreground
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.
and draining RAM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RAM is not drained, only taken up. That's a good thing, actually -- free RAM is wasted RAM! (At least as far as apps are concerned I actually use, see the next point).
For instance I have a game called Blood and Glory that starts up when booting "apparently".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could disable games from starting up -- I like my RAM taken up with useful apps.
So My question is should I disable them all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't recommend that because...
The "all in one tool" divides the apps into "user" and "system" so I think I should leave the system apps alone.
Also can you permenatly kill select apps so it only runs when I use them? Seems like when I kill select 38 apps to leave RAM space they all start up again a few minutes later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...Android has a very good memory management prcoess, and if you kill these apps, you will use battery in doing so and a few seconds later use up some more battery to restart them. Endless cycle. Winner: no one, except for the power company; loser: you, in all probability, thanks to worse memory management and worse battery life.
TL;DR: stay away from 'task killers', and in this case only kill games.

MartyHulskemper said:
No.RAM is not drained, only taken up. That's a good thing, actually -- free RAM is wasted RAM! (At least as far as apps are concerned I actually use, see the next point).You could disable games from starting up -- I like my RAM taken up with useful apps. I wouldn't recommend that because......Android has a very good memory management prcoess, and if you kill these apps, you will use battery in doing so and a few seconds later use up some more battery to restart them. Endless cycle. Winner: no one, except for the power company; loser: you, in all probability, thanks to worse memory management and worse battery life.
TL;DR: stay away from 'task killers', and in this case only kill games.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the fast and detailed respons, I have one question left, will uninstalling apps make my device faster? I have alot of apps that I dont use but I keep around becasue I might use them someday, accordning to "all in one toolbox" I have 13% or 135mb memory left of my RAM, is that well whitin the margin so to say?

Stammis said:
Thank you for the fast and detailed respons, I have one question left, will uninstalling apps make my device faster? I have alot of apps that I dont use but I keep around becasue I might use them someday, accordning to "all in one toolbox" I have 13% or 135mb memory left of my RAM, is that well whitin the margin so to say?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It probably won't make your tablet faster, except for boot up time maybe. It doesn't matter that much how much ram you have "left". The Android OS will kill unused processes when other apps are requiring more ram.
Like Marty said: Free ram is wasted ram.
That said: The more apps you have installed, and if you have automatic updates enabled in Play Store, the more often your work/play on the tablet will be interrupted/slowed down by downloading updates. One solution is to disable automatic updates and another strategy could be the Greenify app.
I don't believe in task killers, they often seem to cause more problems than they solve. Greenify takes a gentler approach by hibernating processes and has a very small memory footprint.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

+1 on berndblb's response! Uninstalling apps doesn't really make your tablet faster, and only reclaims device storage space if they're HUGE... The usual few MB here and there do not really add up into something significant unless you have dozens of apps and games installed you could do without.