Great site, first post!
I would have found this on my own if it exists, but the nature of trying to find an app that lists your most used apps is difficult to search for.
I was wondering if there is an app out there that functions sort of like a folder on your home screen. One that automatically keeps up with your top 10/15/20 most used apps.
I'm trying to maintain a minimalist home screen and would like to find something like this. Ideally it would be just a single icon that pops up your "favorite" apps when touched. I realize I could of course create a folder for this purpose, but it would be great if there was some sort of automated app for it. Your most used apps likely fluctuate and I think this could be a valuable thing to have.
It could work like the recent apps hotkey. Maybe if there was a way to disable the recent apps from being cleared on a reboot, that would pretty much solve my issue.
Thanks for the help/advice in advance.
I have a Droid 1 for what its worth.
so i found out how to force close apps under settings but theres gotta be a better way.
for example lets say i have browser, market, and facebook apps open. all showing under the window selection button. after time i get a ton of windows there and i don't want all of them open. how do i close them selectively without going through all the settings menu crud?
some apps let me close from within, most don't though and leave me stuck with a ton of windows (apps) open.
What you are asking isn't necessary unless an application has malfunctioned. There is no other way to close applications other than using the force close button in settings. Android handles this itself -- if this doesn't satisfy you download a task manager.
I don't think there is a way yet.
What Google needs to do is make those preview windows in the multitasking bar long-pressable for a menu to be able to close them.
modru2004 said:
so i found out how to force close apps under settings but theres gotta be a better way.
for example lets say i have browser, market, and facebook apps open. all showing under the window selection button. after time i get a ton of windows there and i don't want all of them open. how do i close them selectively without going through all the settings menu crud?
some apps let me close from within, most don't though and leave me stuck with a ton of windows (apps) open.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no need to manually close out apps. Since 2.1, Android has done an excellent job managing memory. It's been written many times (some directly from Google) that micromanaging your apps will actually hurt battery performance. You'll essentially be working against the system as opposed to helping it.
I am not sure if my task manager is working on this device. I use AutoKiller and when I killed task it doesn't appear as though anything closes. Can somebody confirm?
atoy74 said:
There is no need to manually close out apps. Since 2.1, Android has done an excellent job managing memory. It's been written many times (some directly from Google) that micromanaging your apps will actually hurt battery performance. You'll essentially be working against the system as opposed to helping it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
id like to point out thats NOT the issue.
the issue is the ton of windows you end up having to sort through unless you close them. its a quality of life thing, i don't like having unused unnecessary windows open that i have to sort through to get to the stuff i am using. its just bad form.
foldog22 said:
I am not sure if my task manager is working on this device. I use AutoKiller and when I killed task it doesn't appear as though anything closes. Can somebody confirm?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will most likely not work until its rewritten. The way 2.2 and now 3.0 allow access is completely different then 2.1 and below. Plus as said about 200 million task there is 0 reason to run a task killer. If you wanna clear them out, even though there is 0 reason, reboot.
Okay, I get the memory management issue, but as the OP pointed out, I've got all sorts of icons in the "task bar area" (bottom right hand corner) that just sit there or keep coming back.
For example, I haven't listened to any music on my Xoom since yesterday morning, yet I've got an icon down there for Music and Rhapsody. Also, there's no way to clear some notifications.
There's got to be a way to at least clear out the notification isn't there?
you tap on the little icon music for example and you will see a little x on the right of it, click that and it closes it from the notification system
There is absolutely no reason to use a task killer or manually kill tasks. 2.2, 2.3, 3.0, etc. handle memory and tasks extremely well. In many cases, task killers will only cost you more battery and more slowdowns than letting tasks just run out and sit in memory. Unless you're seeing rogue or malfunctioning tasks in the background causing slowdowns, there is no need to kill them.
I do wish you could scroll through the recent running apps rather than only being able to access the latest 5, but spam closing background apps doesnt help at all.
arrtoodeetoo said:
I don't think there is a way yet.
What Google needs to do is make those preview windows in the multitasking bar long-pressable for a menu to be able to close them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I haven't used a task manager since I started learning how android actually works last year when starting to make apps, I can't help but want the same thing in honeycomb for malfunctioning apps. I think google left it out intentionally to discourage task-killing rampages by oblivious users.
Every time I read "you do not need to close apps" I want to scream. first hour of usage I had a second browser installed and it and the stock browser were conflicting with each other... all I wanted to do was a quick close of one of the browsers.
There are always a multitude of good reasons to want to close a background app. I completely understand the technical reasons why an app does not need to be closed, but from a user experience point of view, it should be made simple.
mjpacheco said:
Every time I read "you do not need to close apps" I want to scream. first hour of usage I had a second browser installed and it and the stock browser were conflicting with each other... all I wanted to do was a quick close of one of the browsers.
There are always a multitude of good reasons to want to close a background app. I completely understand the technical reasons why an app does not need to be closed, but from a user experience point of view, it should be made simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is exactly why in my first post I said "...isn't necessary unless an application has malfunctioned" otherwise such a thing is barely necessary. And in your case, the classic "Settings > ....... > Force Close" would have easily sufficed.
So what you are saying is that a method to kill tasks is necessary, just not often. I, for instance, just had the xda app stuck on the splash screen. I killed it and restarted the app and all was good. There is a potential for harm if used over zealously but at times it would be nice if there was a more convenient way to close an app when necessary.
Applications do not always behave as they should so to say there is no need to kill am app is making a naive assumption that every android app is perfect.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
martonikaj said:
I do wish you could scroll through the recent running apps rather than only being able to access the latest 5, but spam closing background apps doesnt help at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oddly enough, if you turn to portrait, you get a few more. So, technically its not a hard limit on 5, but rather (literally) limited by space on the screen.
Anyone want to place a bet as to what rev we see scrollability?
Sent from my Evo using the XDA App
JanetPanic said:
So what you are saying is that a method to kill tasks is necessary, just not often. I, for instance, just had the xda app stuck on the splash screen. I killed it and restarted the app and all was good. There is a potential for harm if used over zealously but at times it would be nice if there was a more convenient way to close an app when necessary.
Applications do not always behave as they should so to say there is no need to kill am app is making a naive assumption that every android app is perfect.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If this happens use the built in task killer, settings/applications/running tab.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
bwcorvus said:
If this happens use the built in task killer, settings/applications/running tab.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did and it worked. As I said it would be nice to have a more convenient way of force stopping apps that are not behaving.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Closing apps isn't necessary for two reasons.
1. Android does a good job at managing apps on its own.
2. You have 1GB of RAM to work with.
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk
Watchdog does a considerable job since it only lets you know when an app is misbehaving. And since being on 2.3 its barely given me any alerts. Perhaps further proving the awesome memory management.
Sent from my Xperia X10 using XDA App
delete please
looking for a location app Incas lost or stolen. but I'm rooted so I would like it to turn GPS on. I would also like it to give me the number is the similar is changed. maybe take pictures? and make it ring remotely....
I'm also wanting to make my keyboard keys bigger... I'm on cm7 gingerbread keys. I would like to increase the padding between keys. I bought an app for this but the phone says this app can save my keystrokes and it might send them to the developer ... scary stuff... lol
I'm also wanting something to clear the cache or speed my phone up as I sometimes get stuck with a sluggish keyboard.
and last I was wanting to increase my CPU while decreaseing it while not in use... any apps for this?
willing to pay for good known and trusted quality apps.
Thremix said:
and last I was wanting to increase my CPU while decreaseing it while not in use... any apps for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got an answer for this:
SetCPU, available at the market or in the link bellow
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=505419
Would you like fries with that too? At least make an attempt to look and try some solutions first. Google search and the market are your friends...
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
Every third party keyboard will cause that warning to be displayed. As for the others, htcsense.com works great but you are on cm so you will have to use apps. It's been a while since I bothered with those kind of apps but I see people on here mention lookout. Honestly the only thing I use is fetchit to ring the phone at full volume. Never lost a phone but my wife constantly forgets where she laid hers down in the house so I just set that up to locate hers
I bought setcpu but I'm using CPU runner and it was free and I like it over setcpu... ill keep setcpu to help development. as for searching I have, I'm just asking for user opinions to save tike and money. I'm new to android and I need to re-build my app collection. I had atleast $500 in apps! lol
I'm looking for a free gtd app that will let me easily specify custom recurrences. For instance, after trying several apps I can only specify recurrences for every day, every week, every month, etc. I found doit.im that let's me specify every 2 days or 3 days or whatever number I enter but the app seems a tad clunky. Maybe I just need to get used to it. Anybody know
of a good one that has a widget and allows for recurring tasks that I can schedule for every other day and every three days etc?
I have Astrid, maybe it allows for that and i'm just not figuring it out. Thanks for suggestions.
Sent.
Ok, im a nincompoop. I figured out how to use Astrid to specify every other day tasks. Anybody know if there is a way to only show on the widget what is due today?
EDIT:: lmao! I spoke too soon again.I found the 'hide until' option in Astrid. Mods, feel free to close/delete this sorry excuse of a topic my sorry.
Sent.
I am trying to remember the name of an app, for rooted devices. It's supposed to make your phone easier on your eyes, when using at night time.
Thanks.
Good day.
I know this app, don't know if it is what you are searching for.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.ne.hardyinfinity.bluelightfilter.free
Nougat has it's own built in.
Thanks. I don't think this is the one I'm looking for, though. Something tells me that the name of the app, begins with an F.
Edit: I just figured it out. The name of the app is F.flux.