Database Info

Killing services

This is a pretty general question, but I couldn't find much on google about this. According to the task killers on the market, an app won't be able to stop a service like exchange or maps automatically (it can only kill the UI app). However, the exchange and map services have lots of alarms associated which increase my battery drain by at least a full %/hour. If I kill the services manually every time I use one of these apps then everything is fine. Does anyone have insight into whether an app or script called from tasker can accomplish this automatically?
FYI: I'm using the CM9 unofficial ROM.

You do not need to kill tasks. The system automatically purges non system apps. Just leave them be and always exit an app using the back button

"App killers" aren't recommended past Froyo and can even harm performance.
Under ICS, you can "Disable" many apps using the Manage apps off the main-screen menu. Titanium Backup can also "freeze" apps.
Many of the Google services get pretty "greedy" depending on your settings. That would be a good place to start for "core" services like those.
If that doesn't work, there is the sledgehammer approach of removing the apk from /system/app -- If you do that, watch your logcat to provide some confidence that you haven't disabled something that you need for another app to work.

th3controller said:
You do not need to kill tasks. The system automatically purges non system apps. Just leave them be and always exit an app using the back button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Le sigh.. didn't even read my post. Also I'm pretty sure the back button thing is a myth.
jeffsf said:
"App killers" aren't recommended past Froyo and can even harm performance.
Under ICS, you can "Disable" many apps using the Manage apps off the main-screen menu. Titanium Backup can also "freeze" apps.
Many of the Google services get pretty "greedy" depending on your settings. That would be a good place to start for "core" services like those.
If that doesn't work, there is the sledgehammer approach of removing the apk from /system/app -- If you do that, watch your logcat to provide some confidence that you haven't disabled something that you need for another app to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyway I'm not trying to kill the "apps" themselves. They can sit paused in memory. I want to end their back-end services without uninstalling the app. The exchange service, like I said, will drain the battery with its unnecessary alarms even if I disable sync and turn the sync frequency to "never" and uncheck all the boxes when deciding what to sync. Google screwed up majorly with exchange, but when I kill the service manually using the method you describe then everything is fine and I can still boot up the app like normal to check my email manually. I just want to automate killing the service.

lexman098 said:
Le sigh.. didn't even read my post. Also I'm pretty sure the back button thing is a myth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unrelated to your OP but related to your post - on CM9 based ROM's - if you go into Settings > Developer Options - scroll to the bottom and select kill app back button. It works well.

lexman098 said:
Le sigh.. didn't even read my post. Also I'm pretty sure the back button thing is a myth.
Anyway I'm not trying to kill the "apps" themselves. They can sit paused in memory. I want to end their back-end services without uninstalling the app. The exchange service, like I said, will drain the battery with its unnecessary alarms even if I disable sync and turn the sync frequency to "never" and uncheck all the boxes when deciding what to sync. Google screwed up majorly with exchange, but when I kill the service manually using the method you describe then everything is fine and I can still boot up the app like normal to check my email manually. I just want to automate killing the service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am also interested in a solution to this. I was hoping to find a widget that displays services, daemons or whatever you wanna call them, in plain text on my home screen, similar to rainmeter for windows. Then you just tap it to manage them. There has to be something similar around.
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Servicely for your apps and services

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Remember that time when your device lost 50% of battery life during the night because a gazillion services from careless apps kept keeping your device awake and you have no way to disable them?
Or when Facebook kept waking up your phone for no reason and you find no way to fix it other than uninstalling it?
Servicely to the rescue!
First of all make sure you're ROOTED (it won't work otherwise). You'll be able to select which apps will be put to sleep when the display goes off. Just like magic!
You can also disable/enable permanently any service on your device. It's useful if you have services that tend to auto-restart and keep your device awake, or if you have games sending you never-ending notifications.
This app is somewhat powerful so act responsibly when using it. I'm more than happy to help if you contact me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The apk in the Play Store is free with ads, but I've disabled the ads for the apk below. You can still purchase the key from inside the app which helps me keep producing stuff for you, but you don't have to do so.
You can choose between two "sleep" modes. The soft mode I assume it's probably similar to what Greenify does. The hard mode completely disables the apps you've choosed during screen off, and re-enabled during screen on. This mode removes any shortcuts or widgets from those disabled apps, but this is the most secure way to guarantee those apps won't wake up or do something crazy. That said, you'll be fine with the soft mode.
Play Store download: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.franco.servicely
DISCLAIMER
I take no responsibility for any fault caused by any procedures of the app. No warranties of any kind are given.

Looks promising. Might replace greenify this little gem, thank you??

Enabled pro and start on boot but after closing the app an open it again, it shows this.

Should greenify be disabled/uninstlled before using servicely??

Really like this app! This is like the perfect version of greenify. And probably with more features to come. I was just wondering, is it save to add google play services to list? Or wil I loose allot of functionality with the apps that rely on google play services?

Will this also stop notifications from the app when you have it disabled? Like fb, instagram, xda and twitter?

@franciscofranco
Another possible improvement for your new app:
- With the pro Version there is the option to start the service automatically with the boot. If you boot the device there is no information like "set on boot service has been..." Dont know if you need this message on the boot like in FKU for you new app, but maybe you could make it as an option
and: if you close the app from the task manager, you see the normal action: app is restarting. After the restart the settings/killing apps applies again?
i instantly bought the pro version, before even using it
And if you add a new app to the service, it will be killed after 60 secs? or is first a reboot needed?
And if you kill an app like google keep, can the changes still be synced?
Sorry for the large amount of quetions, i´ve never used apps like this

wow... really like this... thanks franco
just a request for someone who knows... we can get a list with safe services to kill?

eluspo said:
Will this also stop notifications from the app when you have it disabled? Like fb, instagram, xda and twitter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah... does this have the background sync feature which I believe Greenify has??

Gonna try this for a while and replace greenify if it's better
Thanks

So if a service is idle, let's kill it every minute. The service restarts - which would come with a CPU/memory expense greater than if it had remained idle - and repeat this every minute?
This doesn't seem like an informed decision. It could just be a checkbox in an application's settings that would alleviate the service from repeating.
I don't see why you don't educate people on looking at application's checkboxes.

@franciscofranco I'm a fan of your work and this app looks beautiful. However, I have a pretty stupid question. How is this different from a task killer and automated killing? I thought those were bad, but is this different?

Turned it off for Google play music, google keyboard, Google play services, lmt. I ran into issues with app fc here.

deadzombieseverywhere said:
Turned it off for Google play music, google keyboard, Google play services, lmt. I ran into issues with app fc here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
turned it on for google play services and no issues so far.
Yeah... does this have the background sync feature which I believe Greenify has??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no if an app is selected, it has nor background sync - tested it with telegram (btw with greenify donation it doesn´t work too...)
will test Servicely for a while and report back. If it does a well job, then goodbye Greenify

This app keeps closing apps that I'm using. I thought it only closes if the app is in the background? For example, I'm watching a YouTube video and it just closes.

Umm, this is essentially a task killer....

I don't understand the difference from a task killer. Task killers drain more battery. If it kills a service, it autorestarts, right? Or it is like greenify, keeps the service from starting?
I've tried this with whatsapp and didn't work. I know that is not suppose to kill services in the background, but what does it is suppose to kill? If it is not in the foreground, it is in the background... For an intense, having facebook installed, there is always a background service, this will never kill it, right?
It would be great if if would work better thank greenify, and stopping services from getting started.

Great work Franco! Testing now

I have Greenify, not sure if I'll use this... but purchased paid pro version to support Franco and his awesome Kernel (and other dev projects).

euge.lee.nebby said:
I have Greenify, not sure if I'll use this... but purchased paid pro version to support Franco and his awesome Kernel (and other dev projects).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here.....
Franco deserve as developer and person... Thx for all

Question Keyboard locking up

I'm having an issue on my a52 where the keyboard is hanging a lot. I installed g- keyboard and it's a bit better but also hangs.
Anyone else have this issue and know of a fix?

Clear the system cache.
System instability and lagging are a bad signs... the only warnings you may get before a crash.
Make sure your data is backed up.
Find the root cause, suspect malware as a possibility as well.
If you did an OS upgrade a factory reset is needed.

Thank you for the reply.
I just received the phone yesterday and went through setup. I did check for updates and there was an update available so I ran it which brought the phone up to the latest June security patch. This morning after reading your message I did a factory reset to see if that would help but the keyboard still hangs. It's like it just can't keep up with typing or something? Everything else seems to work perfectly fine it's just typing on the keyboard that seems to hang?
"System instability and lagging are a bad signs"
Do you mean to say that it's possibly defective?
I have the 8GB / 256GB model.
If I switch between Google keyboard and Samsung Keyboard it will work ok for a little bit but them it starts hanging again. Very strange behavior.
Sure would suck to have to send it back

This a new phone?
Is there carrier bloatware present?

New to me, open box, unlocked SM-A525F/DS. Doesn't appear to have carrier bloatware.

I don't know... my first inclination be to return it.
Check for updates including the Samsung Galaxy store and Playstore. Make sure it's not a 3rd party app causing it.
My S4+ do that crap sometimes and I think was internet connection related.
The native keyboard is one of the best, it's the only one I use.

Yeah, I would think that the native Samsung keyboard app would work flawlessly but for some reason it hangs much more than the G-Keyboard.
Like I said I did a factory reset it and only loaded a new google account so I could test it out fresh and it is still doing it. It doesn't do it when I first open the phone but then after using it a bit the keyboard hanging issue starts to happen.
When I google the problem I only came across someone having the issue on a A51
the software update page says that it is up to date: Current version : A525FXXS2AUE2 / A525FOJM2AUE1 / A525XXS2AUE2
Security patch evel: June 1, 2021

Crap... that sucks. It maybe a mobo issue or a corrupted flash. I say return it if you can.
Almost sounds like a memory leak... is the ram usage steadily climbing?

So I got back from a dentist appointment and had left the A52 at home and I go to test the Samsung and Google keyboards and now they are working perfectly fine, smooth as butter, and I can't make it hang/freeze anymore?!?!?!
New to Samsung, coming from my PH-1 with custom ROM.
Where would I check that ram usage?

Yay!
Power management can cause erratic device behavior, I never use it.
Activate Developer options. Also you can see ram usage in Samsung Device Care.

Interesting, I do have power management on, I will keep that in mind if it starts acting up again.
I now have developer options on and I checked Device care:
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Try disabling it and see what happens.
You need to weed out misbehaving apps one by one on a case by case basis.
3rd party apps that demand to run at startup deserve special attention.
Some apps like Brave browser continue to run in the background even after you close them. I finally ended up firewall blocking it when not in use to stop this behavior... nothing else worked.
Firewall blocking apps that don't need internet access also helps to move things along.

I do not have Brave browser on my A52? Was it a pre-installed app on yours that you can't uninstall?

SirDigitalKnight said:
I do not have Brave browser on my A52? Was it a pre-installed app on yours that you can't uninstall?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just an example. I keep it because of it's ad blocking ability plus no malware has ever breached it.

ok. Well it looks like power saving mode was already off. it must have reset to off when I did the factory reset. Under more battery settings there is a Adaptive battery setting which is on? Would this effect it?

SirDigitalKnight said:
ok. Well it looks like power saving mode was already off. it must have reset to off when I did the factory reset. Under more battery settings there is a Adaptive battery setting which is on? Would this effect it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Adaptive battery, kill it. That could induce this kind of behavior. Android manages its self well without it. Simply close out apps when done with them. This works well with most apps except for poorly coded ones like Brave
Go to running apps in Developer options to view some of what's eating up the house.
Sometimes cache apps like Brave are still running in the background even though it's not shown as a current running service. Killing it off the cache list will however shut it down.
I found it's easier to just close Brave then firewall block it until needed again
Hey, it could be worse... it could be an iphone

Thanks for you help! I just killed Adaptive battery. I found "Running services" , Im guessing it is what you mention? I do see a lot there: KLMS Agent, Video call effects, Samsung Pass, SmartThings, Bixby Voice, etc..... Samsung Keyboard and One Ui Home seem to be using the most memory.

Yay
Yeah a lot junk. I use Package Disabler and Karma Firewall as well as settings to knock it down.
Home - Package Disabler
The only NON-root solution that let’s you disable any unwanted packages that come pre-installed / installed with your phone / tablet.
www.packagedisabler.com
Typically those apps use a lot of ram but not much battery or CPU cycles.

Holy cow thats a lot, I have very few running compared to yours!
Adaptive battery seems to have been slowing the phone down as everything now is much more snappy.

SirDigitalKnight said:
Holy cow thats a lot, I have very few running compared to yours!
Adaptive battery seems to have been slowing the phone down as everything now is much more snappy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, that's not all of them
Isn't it amazing how much better it runs with power management out of the way?
Power management was a mess 2 years ago... some things don't change

Question System UI constantly accesses location

Hello, dear friends! I (and many other OneUI 4 users) stumbled upon a problem of "System UI" constantly (every 3-5 minutes) accessing the location (as seen from Permission Usage).
In my case turning off Wi-Fi, mobile data or bluetooth does not stop the location usage. No location-based Bixby routines are running, no Smart Tags are used. Every single option regarding location (apart from completely disabling it) is toggled off - but the location keeps getting used by System UI. The only way to stop it is, of course, to simply turn off location entirely.
Resetting all settings or just network ones does not help.
If you google "System UI constanly accessing location" you will find a lot of people with this problem, but so far no solution has been found.
Any help will be appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Yeap, quit invasive behavior.
I turn off location unless I need it to be running.
My N10+/Pie behaves the same way.
Wearables will not run without location permissions however if location is disabled it will run. I normally run with Google play Services disabled as well unless needed.

blackhawk said:
Yeap, quit invasive behavior.
I turn off location unless I need it to be running.
My N10+/Pie behaves the same way.
Wearables will not run without location permissions however if location is disabled it will run. I normally run with Google play Services disabled as well unless needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure it is an intended behaviour. Feels like a bug to me.
With all those location stuff happening in background my phone lags quite a bit.
When I turn off the location it is buttery smooth...

montibor said:
I'm not sure it is an intended behaviour. Feels like a bug to me.
With all those location stuff happening in background my phone lags quite a bit.
When I turn off the location it is buttery smooth...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting. You sure it's not chewing up bandwidth at the same time? That can definitely cause lagging. Try in safe mode to rule out a 3rd party app. The possibility of malware comes to mind or perhaps it's a glitch indigenous to that firmware.
If you can't find the root cause sometimes a work around is the only solution.

blackhawk said:
That's interesting. You sure it's not chewing up bandwidth at the same time? That can definitely cause lagging. Try in safe mode to rule out a 3rd party app. The possibility of malware comes to mind or perhaps it's a glitch indigenous to that firmware.
If you can't find the root cause sometimes a work around is the only solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I put my phone into the safe mode and will later update here on how the location permissions going

Do it do it at night when not in use?

blackhawk said:
Do it do it at night when not in use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tested the Safe Mode and.... the location is still being accessed every few minutes.
I'll probs try to contact the Samsung Support now :,(

montibor said:
I just tested the Safe Mode and.... the location is still being accessed every few minutes.
I'll probs try to contact the Samsung Support now :,(
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try disabling Google play Services temporarily and see if it stops...

blackhawk said:
Try disabling Google play Services temporarily and see if it stops...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly, it didn't work

See which apps use battery overnight.
Is all global power management disabled?
Turn off all app, Samsung, Google and carrier feedback.

blackhawk said:
See which apps use battery overnight.
Is all global power management disabled?
Turn off all app, Samsung, Google and carrier feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing helps, unfortuanately. People point out that it is com.android.phone that is constantly getting location. There might be some luck with ADB

montibor said:
Nothing helps, unfortuanately. People point out that it is com.android.phone that is constantly getting location. There might be some luck with ADB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just keep it normally off. Rather than trying to turn location in all the apps it's used in. Many however I disable anyway because of security.
Try this...
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blackhawk said:
I just keep it normally off. Rather than trying to turn location in all the apps it's used in. Many however I disable anyway because of security.
Try this...
View attachment 5701999View attachment 5702003
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, now it's off for me all the time as well. Have to be super cautious to not lose the phone now

montibor said:
Yeah, now it's off for me all the time as well. Have to be super cautious to not lose the phone now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Find my Device is something I don't miss.
Ha-ha you figured out that it needed to be disabled as System Administrator to toggle off Google Play Services
Keeping it with you at all times* and never lay it down unless in a secured location. It's a responsible frame of mind that many have lost as a skillset. There's no substitute for physical security.
It seems a bit complicated at first, but it's really not once you understand the flow put and dependencies. After a bit it becomes second nature to use the device like this. A little extra time in return for better SOT and security.
*I always wear bdu pants so the N10+ easily and securely nests in the cargo pocket. Easy as pie.
Develop a carry method that works well for you and protects the device. Get in the habit of making a mental note were you laid it down in the house, etc. Be consistent. Lol, my N10+ and my Gerber Strongarm are always with me

Question How can I stop battery drain on "screen off"?

I'm happy with the battery performance, but only when the screen is on. When I use the phone mostly with the screen on, I get good SOT(6-9 hours), but with the screen off, the battery consumption is terrible. How can I pull this down?

Probably a cloud app; try temporarily disabling Google play Services, Google backup is a dependency as is Playstore, Gmail. Some apps also need it to run. I enable it once or twice a day. Disabled saves 1+%@hr.
Trashware social media apps like fb, WhatsApp etc shouldn't be installed. It all adds up.
6 hours SOT with a 5002 mAh battery isn't good, 9 hrs is fair to poor. That said all Samsung's should be optimized for best performance.

Thanks for your opininon. Are you saying we shouldn't use Whatsapp? Is it real solution?

Unfortunately, because of SD 8 gen 1 limitations (probably worse on Exynos variant), about 6-7 hours SOT is best you're going to get on the S22 ultra.
Try the following guide here & see if it helps your battery life.

I have the Exynos version. My phone has a SOT of about 10 to 12 hours. Rooted and bebloated. I do have the brightness very low though.
Android 13.
OneUI 5.
Latest.
Lightly debloated.

That's interesting. I guess depends on what apps the phone is using during SOT.......
Mind sharing your battery usage breakdown screenshot?

TheKaptan23 said:
Thanks for your opininon. Are you saying we shouldn't use Whatsapp? Is it real solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Real as it gets. All social media apps should never be installed. Many should even be logged on to. WhatsApp track record is stunningly bad.
Lots of users means its got a huge bullseye on it even if they try to secure it, it will hacked again like the sun rises in the morning... for sure. Meanwhile phishing scams run under the radar and count on you screwing up. And many do.
You got to ask yourself one question,
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You feel lucky today?

TheKaptan23 said:
Thanks for your opininon. Are you saying we shouldn't use Whatsapp? Is it real solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No really. The problem is that all the apps developed by Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp) are power hogs. Meta does not care if it chews up battery. The primary reason is that Meta is shoving ads in your face. Even when your screen is off, those apps are running in the background. Meta is not the only offender. There are plenty of other app developers that do the same thing.
Also, there are different "flavors" of Android. Each OEM implements it differently (even within the OEMs). This makes it less cost effective to customize their apps for each OEM. There is only one flavor of iOS and iPadOS, so it is much easier to tweak it for iPhones and iPads than it is for Android devices.

I understand. Thanks. I have another question. You said you turned off google play services. When I turn it off, notifications do not work and many applications do not work. How do you overcome this situation?

TheKaptan23 said:
I understand. Thanks. I have another question. You said you turned off google play services. When I turn it off, notifications do not work and many applications do not work. How do you overcome this situation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't effect any notifications for me that I use except Gmail. Most my apps run without it. I tend to shun those that do.
Some of the Samsung apps take the place of Google apps, no need to run both.
If killing Google play Services helps at night it's likely Google backup Transport running.

Hello, I have something to ask about. I need to know if there is any ability to store a system application variables usin adb. Imagine that I want to open my settings app and do something mabye a confirmation dialog will be shown in order to say something such as alert for something supposed that I did click on OK, i the normal case this alert will never be shown even if you clear the settings app data or clear the cash, is there any way to use adb to store the settings app data before opening it the if anything as the previous senario happened I can restore the settings app to the moment before clicking on the OK button or even before this alert has shown

TheKaptan23 said:
I understand. Thanks. I have another question. You said you turned off google play services. When I turn it off, notifications do not work and many applications do not work. How do you overcome this situation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many apps that "need" Google play Services are Playstore pay apps. This can be circumvented by first allowing the app to activate, then firewall blocking their internet connection. Firewall block Playstore as well although it should be disabled except when needed.
If an app doesn't need internet access to function it should be firewall blocked anyway.