Why You Shouldn’t Use a Task Killer On Android - Android General

So i saw many posts on which people have asked as to which task killer should be used !
and then i stumble upon this site which provided me the details,
i just complied info
sources-by Chris Hoffman
http://www.howtogeek.com/127388/htg-explains-why-you-shouldnt-use-a-task-killer-on-android/
Android Doesn’t Manage Processes Like Windows
Most Android users are familiar with Windows. On Windows, many programs running at one time – whether they’re windows on your desktop or applications in your system tray – can decrease your computer’s performance. Closing applications when you’re not using them can help speed up your Windows computer.
However, Android isn’t Windows and doesn’t manage processes like Windows does. Unlike on Windows, where there’s an obvious way to close applications, there’s no obvious way to “close” an Android application. This is by design and isn’t a problem. When you leave an Android app, going back to your home screen or switching to another app, the app stays “running” in the background. In most cases, the app will be paused in the background, taking up no CPU or network resources. Some apps will continue using CPU and network resources in the background, of course – for example, music players, file-downloading programs, or apps that sync in the background.
When you go back to an app you were recently using, Android “unpauses” that app and you resume where you left off. This is fast because the app is still stored in your RAM and ready to be used again.
Why Task Killers Are Bad
Proponents of task killers notice that Android is using a lot of RAM – in fact, Android stores a lot of apps in its memory, filling up the RAM! However, that isn’t a bad thing. Apps stored in your RAM can be quickly switched to without Android having to load them from its slower storage.
In summary, you shouldn’t use a task killer – if you have a misbehaving app wasting resources in the background, you should identify it and uninstall it. But don’t just remove apps from your phone or tablet’s RAM – that doesn’t help speed anything up.
Empty RAM is useless. Full RAM is RAM that is being put to good use for caching apps. If Android needs more memory, it will force-quit an app that you haven’t used in a while – this all happens automatically, without installing any task killers.
Task killers think they know better than Android. They run in the background, automatically quitting apps and removing them from Android’s memory. They may also allow you to force-quit apps on your own, but you shouldn’t have to do this.
Task killers aren’t just useless – they can reduce performance. If a task killer removes an app from your RAM and you open that app again, the app will be slower to load as Android is forced to load it from your device’s storage. This will also use more battery power than if you just left the app in your RAM in the first place. Some apps will automatically restart after the task killer quits them, using more CPU and battery resources.
Whether RAM is empty or full, it takes the same amount of battery power – decreasing the amount of apps stored in RAM won’t improve your battery power or offer more CPU cycles.
hope u understood!
words of wisdom by fellow-mates
go into settings - apps and see how many running apps you have. now go to cached apps and see there, how many apps there are. you see? nearly 50% of those apps discovered by you in the processes are apps that you didn't opened ever but they are still opened and running. why? because that's how linux manages its resources. instead of having free ram for no use (what's the point of having 14gb of ram when you only use 1gb), linux fills all the ram blocks with useful apps or apps that you are running frequently so that when you call that app, it will bring it on the screen almost instantly. this my friend, is called multitasking.
and no, you are wrong. if you use a task killer killing the apps every 10 minutes, the cycles the whole system does - opening again apps and caching them, task killer closing them - results in much more functions done by CPU => more battery spent. even if you say that the battery life its the same, you are wrong. when using a task killer IT MIGHT drain your battery with 0.1% per hour. it's not that much, but IT EXIST.
oh and yeah, one thing: android has its own task killer. that's why you don't need one app to kill your other apps. because android its doing it by itself. if you don't believe me, strip down one kernel, open the init.rc file and find the values for task killer.

I've never used those programs, I like to use what the phones have by default
But is good to know anyways

I agree with that...to an extent
Auto killing apps is plain stupid, but I do believe in killing certain apps. In a perfect world heavy apps would just be uninstalled, but plenty of useful apps without good replacements are fairly heavy, and it helps to kill them. E.g. after exiting a game I will kill it because its hogging up valuable ram by running in the background, while still using he same resources it uses at the forefront.
I understand that android, and Linux should manage ram well, but more often then not some app is just out there slowing my phone down. Even an hour later of not using that app, it'll still be in the background using up a lot of CPU and ram I don't have (more importantly battery). Android is great at managing smaller apps, but in my experience, it sucks at doing the same for larger apps.
Sent from my Desire HD using xda app-developers app

I don't use automatic task killers, those that are constantly running, but i do kill unused tasks and apps with no reason to be still running. Google services is a common example. It will launch at boot and keep running peemanently, even if you never launch a google app, google services is running, why?
A lot of apps, mostly the free ones, get revenue by reporting anonymous usage statistics (not so anonymous in some cases). So they stick a running service even if the app is never launched again (sometimes even if it isn't launched in the first place).
To sum up, killing everything is bad, but leaving everything to run free can also decrease performance. This can be observed on an android device that has been running for a long time, versus an android device that's just been reset.

some unused tasks will repeatedly rerun even if killed.
This will further decrease battery life and affect performance as resources are needed to keep restarting it.
The best way is to ignore if it takes a small portion of resources or to uninstall the app. Rooted users may disable the triggers via certain apps.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2

In phones with very low RAM, this becomes a necessity.
Switching programs take up a lot of time to process unless there is a sizable free RAM

Markuzy said:
some unused tasks will repeatedly rerun even if killed.
This will further decrease battery life and affect performance as resources are needed to keep restarting it.
The best way is to ignore if it takes a small portion of resources or to uninstall the app. Rooted users may disable the triggers via certain apps.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use auto run manager
it is the answer to most of every body's problems

DarthSimian said:
In phones with very low RAM, this becomes a necessity.
Switching programs take up a lot of time to process unless there is a sizable free RAM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if u have low RAM, please manually remove the apps!

dxppxd said:
I don't use automatic task killers, those that are constantly running, but i do kill unused tasks and apps with no reason to be still running. Google services is a common example. It will launch at boot and keep running peemanently, even if you never launch a google app, google services is running, why?
A lot of apps, mostly the free ones, get revenue by reporting anonymous usage statistics (not so anonymous in some cases). So they stick a running service even if the app is never launched again (sometimes even if it isn't launched in the first place).
To sum up, killing everything is bad, but leaving everything to run free can also decrease performance. This can be observed on an android device that has been running for a long time, versus an android device that's just been reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use autorun manager, keep it simple

dxppxd said:
I don't use automatic task killers, those that are constantly running, but i do kill unused tasks and apps with no reason to be still running. Google services is a common example. It will launch at boot and keep running peemanently, even if you never launch a google app, google services is running, why?
A lot of apps, mostly the free ones, get revenue by reporting anonymous usage statistics (not so anonymous in some cases). So they stick a running service even if the app is never launched again (sometimes even if it isn't launched in the first place).
To sum up, killing everything is bad, but leaving everything to run free can also decrease performance. This can be observed on an android device that has been running for a long time, versus an android device that's just been reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
let me tell you something about google services...
when you installed your rom, you had to check two options from google services - location and another one.
if you are on stock, those options are available in settings also.
the google services are needed (you are running a google os, right?) because without it, the location feature will not work, the play store will give you headaches and not to mention, google now that needs that service like water.
if you kill that process over and over again you will not gain anything because that service will keep restarting it until you will give up. ah, you will loose a massive amount of battery if you do so
another thing, the google service is a system app. system apps have priority in resources so even if you kill now, as i said, it will restart after a few seconds because some apps that you are running are requesting that service.
as someone said here, yes, even I kill games after I stop playing, BUT, I do it from the task manager built in. Settings - Apps - Running apps etc.

1ceb0x said:
let me tell you something about google services...
when you installed your rom, you had to check two options from google services - location and another one.
if you are on stock, those options are available in settings also.
the google services are needed (you are running a google os, right?) because without it, the location feature will not work, the play store will give you headaches and not to mention, google now that needs that service like water.
if you kill that process over and over again you will not gain anything because that service will keep restarting it until you will give up. ah, you will loose a massive amount of battery if you do so
another thing, the google service is a system app. system apps have priority in resources so even if you kill now, as i said, it will restart after a few seconds because some apps that you are running are requesting that service.
as someone said here, yes, even I kill games after I stop playing, BUT, I do it from the task manager built in. Settings - Apps - Running apps etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if u dont want them to restart use, autorun manager

task killer
Well, i think a task killer is useful. It sometimes helps to speed-up the phone a bit.

snelle-eddie said:
Well, i think a task killer is useful. It sometimes helps to speed-up the phone a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No that is wrong.....it consumes more ram it self
Sent from my One V

Normally to kill a process I use the Running Tab in Apps, If any recently opened app which I feel should be closed is open I kill it!Though I leave the google services untouched!
Stopped using Task managers and Battery saving apps long time ago!
Want to really save the juice? Try Under Clocking! and killing the bloatware(saves RAM too!)

I used to have a task killer but the more I killed apps, the slower my phone was, so I eventually ended uninstalling it.

great post. lots of usefull info!!

Instead of using a task killer to keep on eating your battery life, simply either delete the app or disable it in your system if it's a system out (eg: default browser, bloatware, etc).

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zomut.watchdog&feature=search_result

its good, but most android users atleaast ppl like me know which apps are usefull and which are not

cybervibin said:
its good, but most android users atleaast ppl like me know which apps are usefull and which are not
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming you are replying to me, your response is a bit ambiguous...

Related

How to Permanently Kill Apps/Processes

Please bear with me since I understand this is a noob question, but a google search revealed no such topics... I have dl'd several task managers on my newly installed Android 2.2 (thanks to a wonderful xda developer) and I kill tasks to free memory on my device. However, it seems that if I open an app during any given time use of Android, those processes never fully terminate. This includes Google Voice, Maps, News & Weather, Meebo and Voice Search (which might be a system thread or w/e and I am ok with that) among many other apps. Is there a way to permanently kill these apps? Thank you for your help and patience.
EDIT: Just want to add that I use the back button to exit apps most times cuz I read thats the proper way to do it.
Don't bother, Android is not like a desktop OS where running too many applications runs down the available memory to the point where the OS slows down. Android is clever in that it will take memory claim memory back from running applications if they are not in focus. This is fast and completely transparent to the user.
Killing applications will often slow the OS down. as you have noticed, a lot of them start up again because they are needed by the OS in someway. Killing these applications slows your experience down as Android has to reload them from the flash memory - s.l.o.w
There are times where killing applications is genuinely useful but they really are few and far between.
Oh and to actually answer your question, most of the task managers will kill the task like they are supposed to. If the task starts up again, it is because something is telling it to. Like your sync settings for example.

How to disable unwated service....

I have recently installed ADVANCED TASK KILLER V1.9.7, its quite good but I see that many unwanted services start all by themselves. Everytime I kill these unwanted app, I get upto 225MB of free ram but with in a minute or twon I find many services like FACEBOOK, MAPS, SUPERUSER, CAMSCANNER, GMAIL, MAIL, MARKET, MUSIC, ETC which I dont even use regularly.
Is there any way to disable these services from starting automatically and keep the RAM free..........
Stop worrying about the ram, and actually enjoy your phone. The more you try and prevent these services the more time and battery your phone will use trying to launch these services. Also you need services like superuser. Seriously, take some time to actually think about what you are doing.
Android doesn't work like Windows. The task killers can be useful sometimes but if you keep killing those things, it will just keep coming back alive thus eating battery and making it launch slower when you need it.
It may use some RAM but it just sits there doing nothing using no CPU, not even eating the battery. Plus, i'm sure you have 512MB or more RAM so it's better that the system is using the RAM instead of wasting it.
praveen5344 said:
I have recently installed ADVANCED TASK KILLER V1.9.7, its quite good but I see that many unwanted services start all by themselves. Everytime I kill these unwanted app, I get upto 225MB of free ram but with in a minute or twon I find many services like FACEBOOK, MAPS, SUPERUSER, CAMSCANNER, GMAIL, MAIL, MARKET, MUSIC, ETC which I dont even use regularly.
Is there any way to disable these services from starting automatically and keep the RAM free..........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read a little, try to google 'task killer gingerbread', you don't need to use task killers on ginger bread the free ram isn't a problem
Swyped from my Desire S using XDA Premium
Read this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1097538
i found it really helpful when i first got into android (which is 3 weeks ago )

Wich task killer should I download

I WANT TO DOWNOALD A TASK KILLER BUT I DONT KNOW WICH ONE
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You don't really need one... the Samsung one is perfect
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
You really shouldn't need to download a task killer unless your still on a really old version of android such as 1.6. Any advice you are reading about the benefits of task killers are likely outdated and are remnants of the older day's of android. In fact installing one on anything above 2.1 will likely be detrimental to performance and battery life. Android will manage and kill processes on it's own, and if you start killing tasks with a 3rd party app you will likely find that android starts them right back up again. This constant kill and restart will eat up cpu cycles and drain battery. Let Android manage tasks and memory on it's own the way it was designed to.
Instead, focus on tweaking the settings of apps that you don't often use to ensure that they are not running in the background when you don't need them. I'm not sure what your goal is with the task killer, whether it's battery or performance related, but some good places to start tweaking are here:
Facebook --> If you don't need to be notified of updates and you don't care much for syncing contacts then disable the syncing feature from within the app. Otherwise it will run in the background and call in every hour or so looking for updates to sync.
Google Talk --> If you don't use this, then start the app and make sure that auto sign in is disabled. This should keep it from autolaunching in the background and signing you in.
News & Weather app --> Go into settings and manually specify your location rather then using cell triangulation or gps settings to determine your location. These will both drain your battery. Also set the app to download a very high auto refresh, like 6 hours, or disable it completely so that it only refreshes when you actually launch the app.
Location settings --> It's best to disable "use wireless networks" and "gps" unless you are actually using location based services. I personally only turn them on when i need to use them. This saves a bunch of battery by not constantly pinging cell towers to determine your location throughout the day.
To get an idea of what else you can tweak, go into Settings --> Manage Applications --> Running, and have a look at what apps are currently running. More then likely each app should have some sort of settings available that will help you manage what it actually does in the background.
Also, keep in mind that part of Androids strategy in launching apps quickly is to keep the commonly used apps open in the background and ready to launch. If your phone does not feel sluggish or slow, then don't fix what aint broken, leave it be.
Hope this helps.
DaMeatMan said:
You really shouldn't need to download a task killer unless your still on a really old version of android such as 1.6. Any advice you are reading about the benefits of task killers are likely outdated and are remnants of the older day's of android. In fact installing one on anything above 2.1 will likely be detrimental to performance and battery life. Android will manage and kill processes on it's own, and if you start killing tasks with a 3rd party app you will likely find that android starts them right back up again. This constant kill and restart will eat up cpu cycles and drain battery. Let Android manage tasks and memory on it's own the way it was designed to.
Instead, focus on tweaking the settings of apps that you don't often use to ensure that they are not running in the background when you don't need them. I'm not sure what your goal is with the task killer, whether it's battery or performance related, but some good places to start tweaking are here:
Facebook --> If you don't need to be notified of updates and you don't care much for syncing contacts then disable the syncing feature from within the app. Otherwise it will run in the background and call in every hour or so looking for updates to sync.
Google Talk --> If you don't use this, then start the app and make sure that auto sign in is disabled. This should keep it from autolaunching in the background and signing you in.
News & Weather app --> Go into settings and manually specify your location rather then using cell triangulation or gps settings to determine your location. These will both drain your battery. Also set the app to download a very high auto refresh, like 6 hours, or disable it completely so that it only refreshes when you actually launch the app.
Location settings --> It's best to disable "use wireless networks" and "gps" unless you are actually using location based services. I personally only turn them on when i need to use them. This saves a bunch of battery by not constantly pinging cell towers to determine your location throughout the day.
To get an idea of what else you can tweak, go into Settings --> Manage Applications --> Running, and have a look at what apps are currently running. More then likely each app should have some sort of settings available that will help you manage what it actually does in the background.
Also, keep in mind that part of Androids strategy in launching apps quickly is to keep the commonly used apps open in the background and ready to launch. If your phone does not feel sluggish or slow, then don't fix what aint broken, leave it be.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It help thaxx a lot
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(Q) How to automatically turn off the application?

Guys, how to automatically turn off the running application?
I feel very upset because my application like Maps, Market, Gmail, etc, always automatically running without my permission.
Because of that, i always manually kill that apps with Task Killer. But, not much later, it was running again!!!! Please help me guys, How to automatically turn off the apps? and never running again without my permission
u dont have to close those apps...doing so would result in wasted battery life as the app/process would start again on its own...
using task killers is NOT AT ALL advisable on android 2.2+, because android has ram management built in...
kill (better if u uninstall) only rogue apps, like i had this wallpaper app which used to constantly start by itself, and i was better off unistalling it....rather than killing it every time it started...
and its not advisable to uninstall google apps like gmail and maps, and these will keep running passively in the background...and they are harmless...so no reason to worry about them....
try using titanium backup...freeze the apps you dont want to run(works only on titanium backup premium...
i think this might help
a.cid said:
u dont have to close those apps...doing so would result in wasted battery life as the app/process would start again on its own...
using task killers is NOT AT ALL advisable on android 2.2+, because android has ram management built in...
kill (better if u uninstall) only rogue apps, like i had this wallpaper app which used to constantly start by itself, and i was better off unistalling it....rather than killing it every time it started...
and its not advisable to uninstall google apps like gmail and maps, and these will keep running passively in the background...and they are harmless...so no reason to worry about them....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but, it can "eat" my ram performance right?
hebosto said:
but, it can "eat" my ram performance right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i didnt get you properly....ram performance on android (based on linux) is different than what it is on windows...
here ram in use is not neccessarily bad, because it manages ram differently....if any app actively requires ram, then android closes passive apps itself.....
and if ur phone feels laggy, then its because an app/process is actively using cpu, rather than ram...if you understand what i mean....

Greenify--Take control of your background processes

Don't know how many of you saw this, but I installed it last night, and it's awesome.
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/greenify-keeps-your-android-running-smoothly/
Basically, it allows you to stop apps from running in the background without disabling them. You can still run them like normal, but they don't eat up RAM when you're not. It does stop background functions, but many of the apps I see running like this don't do anything for me in the background anyway. YOU determine what runs in the background instead of your apps.
It doesn't work with system apps, these need to be moved to phone storage before Greenify can take control of them.
I've noticed a definite improvement in available memory and multitasking.
Play Store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/..._source=xda&utm_medium=post&utm_term=download
You will spend more battery in killing those apps. ram is supposed to be filled up, the only answer to run more apps is to get more ram , not kill running apps.
Did you read the post? It's not a traditional app killer. It prevents them from running in the background at all.
Installed this a few hours ago. Definitely smoother phone, and moderately better multitasking. Been trying to find a way to get rid of pesky Facebook which uses like 25 mb of RAM just to send you push notifications and sync your calendar.
You may need to convert Facebook to a user app first. It can't do anything to system apps. I did it with mine and it's now behaving.
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