Background processes LIMIT! - General Questions and Answers

Hi all,
In the setting options if I change the "no of background processes" from STANDARD LIMIT to maximum 2 processes like in the screenshot, how does it affect the phone?
Changing the background processes option affects my phone how?
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio Z715e using xda app-developers app

It will allow only two processes to be run in the background, any others will be shut down instead of kept in memory.
I wouldn't mess with things you're not sure about unless you need to. If you're constantly running out of RAM this might be one thing to help, but otherwise, no reason to bother.

Pennycake said:
It will allow only two processes to be run in the background, any others will be shut down instead of kept in memory.
I wouldn't mess with things you're not sure about unless you need to. If you're constantly running out of RAM this might be one thing to help, but otherwise, no reason to bother.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes,I only did that cuz I have 768mb ram out of which only 583 mb is available to me.so this should help me with it.
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio Z715e using xda app-developers app

You already have plenty of much free memory. Android doesn't work like windows os. Android is built to have every usually used app loaded in memory for fast loading. If you put a limit, many of your apps will stop working and you'll face poor performance.

Thanks for the input!
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio Z715e using xda app-developers app

So if we choose "no progress" it will slightly affect the performance, but also increase battery life, correct?

I use these option a lot. I didn't find any problems.
But .....
How can be set to more than 4, let say 8 background process ?

You can't! Max is 4, or else go for the standard limit option.
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio Z715e using xda app-developers app

best to keep at standard.I know this is old post but should still apply!

catch_doon said:
Hi all,
In the setting options if I change the "no of background processes" from STANDARD LIMIT to maximum 2 processes like in the screenshot, how does it affect the phone?
Changing the background processes option affects my phone how?
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio Z715e using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are so many wrong answers to this topic.
Setting this option forces Android to stop each process as soon as it is empty (that is, when no services are started and no activities are on screen for that app).
To be clear: this option won't stop apps that would normally run in the background from doing so. Your mail client will still run periodically to check mail, if it's configured to do that. Apps that use Google Cloud Messaging to receive push messages from Internet servers (such as Gmail and Facebook) will still be able to do so. The option would be better named "Cached background process limit", since it limits apps that would otherwise show up with that label in the apps manager.
Next time each app needs to start, Android has to load the app from storage, from scratch. This uses more power and takes longer than running it again when the process was in memory. This doesn't just mean when you start an activity from that app deliberately; it also means the email client has to be loaded afresh each time it wants to check email. Over time this can build up to a huge battery drain.
Because this is a development option, it can also trigger rare bugs in certain apps, and those apps' developers may not be keen to fix them. One example is that, on Nexus devices running 4.2.2, when this option is on, the in-built Calendar app will keep restarting itself with this option set, because stopping the cached background process causes the calendar's content provider to be removed, which causes a loop of services restarting each other to check for calendar updates. If this happens, the loop will run down your battery very quickly.

chankeypathak said:
There are so many wrong answers to this topic.
Setting this option forces Android to stop each process as soon as it is empty (that is, when no services are started and no activities are on screen for that app).
To be clear: this option won't stop apps that would normally run in the background from doing so. Your mail client will still run periodically to check mail, if it's configured to do that. Apps that use Google Cloud Messaging to receive push messages from Internet servers (such as Gmail and Facebook) will still be able to do so. The option would be better named "Cached background process limit", since it limits apps that would otherwise show up with that label in the apps manager.
Next time each app needs to start, Android has to load the app from storage, from scratch. This uses more power and takes longer than running it again when the process was in memory. This doesn't just mean when you start an activity from that app deliberately; it also means the email client has to be loaded afresh each time it wants to check email. Over time this can build up to a huge battery drain.
Because this is a development option, it can also trigger rare bugs in certain apps, and those apps' developers may not be keen to fix them. One example is that, on Nexus devices running 4.2.2, when this option is on, the in-built Calendar app will keep restarting itself with this option set, because stopping the cached background process causes the calendar's content provider to be removed, which causes a loop of services restarting each other to check for calendar updates. If this happens, the loop will run down your battery very quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just a regular user so I only will track about my experience with this.
I was set the 2 background processes because my phone was getting hot and also it has son low performance because of that, when I change to the two processes limit I've seen some improvement in temperature as well in performance wich become more batery life was well.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

That is right to some extent limiting the processes saves battery as well but again it all depends on your usage .. its better you force stop the apps you dont use .. and keep it to standard limit..

Hello all
For me my phone Nokia 8 facing a fast drain battery, when I changed it to 4 background process limit I get improve battery life without effect on performance of the phone.
Note (before set the background process limit): The image of the camera of my phone often flaming (shaking and still) , don't know if it hardware or software fault. I think it's the reason for draining battery.

Related

Wich task killer should I download

I WANT TO DOWNOALD A TASK KILLER BUT I DONT KNOW WICH ONE
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA Premium App
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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Home vs back button exiting apps

From my layman understanding of how android OS works, leaving an app via the home button will place the app in a "pause" state but not remove it from memory until the OS decides it has been paused a while and wants the resources for something else.
Using the back button is supposed to tell the OS that you're done with the app and take the service out of memory usage *IF* the app was coded well enough to cooperate.
But I've noticed on my phone that no matter which method I've used, when I open the stock task manager the apps remain as running services regardless. So does it make any difference on my battery life and system resources which method I use?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
well i would suggest that you should close only apps like games or facebook(because facebook keeps syncing and games use a lot of cpu).Other processes for example keyboard do not affect battery life and should be running in the background

Why You Shouldn’t Use a Task Killer On Android

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...

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.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

battery

Did you notice that from a little while a lot of programs run un the background without you notice unless use a programa like battery doctor?. Why!. It seems that somebody want us yo run out of battery and charge again so as to spend electricity. Even if you use battry doctor once, they start again soon. Android operating system should take care.This is anoying and you have to charge battery twice or more depending the time your smartphone is on and not the use you make of them
Android is not like Windows. It's normal to have apps run in the background. Actually they don't "run", they just stay there to optimize memory usage in case you call them. Using memory kill apps actually makes your life batter WORSE, cause android will reload those apps anyway a moment later.
It's not a bug - it's a feature. Live with it
It would eat up ram of you didn't, also I would recommend rooting and freezing apps when not using them ie Facebook, Instagram, ect
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I don't believe that's correct about shutting off apps
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This is why they invented Greenify.
simple
unamigo11 said:
logout from facebook ,and turn off your wifi...turning off the wifi and data this will save battery..android will automatically disables all tasks related internet ..this will save lot off battery
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