Apps keep running in background

[Darkseider]

Mac blows ... there is more you cannot do with a Mac than visa versa with a PC

Offtopic, flamebait. :ban:

I can't imagine you have used much of the mac OS to make a comment like that.

Offtopic, flamebait. :ban:

Mac OS is HORRIBLE ... Linux, BSD and even Windows handle this much better.

Offtopic, flamebait. :ban:

:closed_2:?

Ban? Really? For pointing out that the mach kernel that Mac OS X uses is completely incapable of handling multiple process threads thus causing a severe performance hit? Flamebait? umm, no. Seeing that it is a well known fact that the Mach Kernel in Mac OS X suffers from this. If someone is unwilling to believe that that is entirely up to them but it has been tested ad nauseum and has been proven to be a bottleneck in Mac OS X. Followed by the statement of Linux, BSD and Windows handling this much better which is also true, again based on exhaustive testing by multiple entities.

Now back to the matter at hand. Android handles multiple processes and memory very efficiently. Simply due to the fact that it is a 2.6 linux kernel. Linux as well as BSD is well known for its' excellent memory management. How linux handles memory and background apps is quite elegant. It fills free memory up with cached info as well as giving some some, even though miniscule, amount of processor and memory to active background applications. When these background applications are called upon whatever is cached for them is brought to the forefront and the process is given priority as the foreground application.

Android takes it one step further. Seeing that Android does not use a swap file it automatically culls empty or dead process and the cached info that it had in memory for them. It then assigns that free memory to the foreground application and then re-caches anything needed for it. Those applications that are relegated to the background have a cumulative limit of 10% of the total processor to stay alive. So if you have 6 apps running or 15 apps/processes running in the background the most they can take up total is 10% of the processor to stay alive. This was put in place in Android v1.6 to current. As for the memory they use it is minimal and is only used as a keep alive. IF that memory is needed for a foreground app, like previously stated, the application/process is promptly killed off and the memory re-assigned.

 

[hookbill]

Well, there's so much stuff here that is off topic and the off topic stuff is so wrong that it's not worthwhile even if it was a target. I think this thread has wound down so before anything else blows up I'm going to close the thread.

 

[Judy]

To Kill or Not to Kill?

Newby here...So does it hurt my phone to put the Advanced App Killer on it or not? The Best Buy people put it on when I went back to add a shield...said, oh, you need this....it will increase your battery life & be a lot faster. Don't know about faster, but I can go almost 2 days now without charging...before I'd have to charge at 8 p.m.....

Is it okay to continue with Advanced App Killer since I get extension of battery life....or am I messing up something else?

 

[hookbill]

Are you going to believe someone who works at a best buy or would you prefer the words of people from the droid community who spend sun up to late night with heir droid? Task killers are not necessarys. They interfere with the way your droid workis its memory. You don't need them.

 

[Judy]

Now, I can't kill it!

OK, trying to kill the Advanced App Killer....drag it to the trash, but it won't stay gone.....

Open it; press 'kill selected apps...won't stay away that way either.

 

[hookbill]

You have to uninstall it. Easiest way is market/menu button/downloads. Press on it and uninstall.

 

[Judy]

Deleted. Thanks so much.

Would you happen to know why I can't load a new Contact? I put up Contacts/Menu/New Contact/ I put in info & hit Done....but it's not there.

 

[Cyberpolice]

That's a good question. You are not the only one with this question. I had this question a week ago when I got my Droid X and I saw those programs in the background. I read a lot about the Droid OS before I purchased the phone and it was beautiful and surprising how this OS is put together. It’s like Linux (kind of). Anyhow, I charged my phone 100% and took out the GPS, Wi-Fi, E-mail sync and Bluetooth (Turn off). I was not going to use them so I did not have to have them on. So, my phone was up and running for 1 day and 1/2 without charging. I looked at the program and they were there suspended doing nothing. So DO NOT WORRY ABOUT program running in the background. Remember, the only things that will drain your battery were mention above.

 

[erikfig]

What droid did you buy? If you have the droid one rooted you can delete them like I did. Intall Titaniun Backup free from the marked. open it seleck backups, select the app you want to delete and press uninstall. You won have any issues, believe me, I deleted all the factory crapy apps.

 

[sioras]

memory drain?

So I've read everything about the "to kill or not to kill" argument via ATK or other task management apps. As far as I can tell, running ATK but not obsessively killing apps that run by default is the most efficient way to run your phone.

However, what I haven't seen mentioned is the slow loss of memory of the day. If you keep your eye on ATK at different intervals in the day it seems like you have less and less memory. Starting at around 215+M and then by the end of the day dwindling down to almost 100. Even if I don't run a single app all day it seems to be the case.

Now I've only recently stopped pounding my KILL selected apps button, so it could be that since the phone doesn't have to keep refreshing the run-by-default apps that this may stop, because I otherwise don't know why the resources would dwindle like that.

 

[Backnblack]

So I've read everything about the "to kill or not to kill" argument via ATK or other task management apps. As far as I can tell, running ATK but not obsessively killing apps that run by default is the most efficient way to run your phone.

However, what I haven't seen mentioned is the slow loss of memory of the day. If you keep your eye on ATK at different intervals in the day it seems like you have less and less memory. Starting at around 215+M and then by the end of the day dwindling down to almost 100. Even if I don't run a single app all day it seems to be the case.

Now I've only recently stopped pounding my KILL selected apps button, so it could be that since the phone doesn't have to keep refreshing the run-by-default apps that this may stop, because I otherwise don't know why the resources would dwindle like that.

Why obsessed with the free memory? It does not affect the operation of the device.

 

[sioras]

...doesn't it?

and if it doesn't why is it displayed? WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT ME?! :shocked:

 

[eliassami5]

...doesn't it?

and if it doesn't why is it displayed? WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT ME?! :shocked:

wow another one of these threads...

If Android needs more memory than there is currently available it will AUTOMATICALLY close down apps running in the backgroud to free up memory. Constantly killing apps running in the background is HARMING you more than they are helping you. Android will automatically start them back up the second you kill them so you are wasting CPU resources as well as battery power by constantly killing them. Another reason Android automatically opens up apps is to allow them to open up much quicker when you do need to use them, like the voice search or the camera or the calender. Try killing the camera with ATK then to try and open it up and see how long it takes to load, now try it when its running in the background...background tasks are there to help you and they use little to no CPU power just idling there...DONT WORRY ABOUT THEM.

Only use ATK when you have an app that wont respond or is obviously draining your battery due to it constantly doing background tasks...but in that case the best thing to do is to just uninstall that particular app since it wasn't written properly by the developer.

 

[ffej89]

Well said Eli

 

[jsh1120]

...doesn't it?

and if it doesn't why is it displayed? WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT ME?! :shocked:

wow another one of these threads...

If Android needs more memory than there is currently available it will AUTOMATICALLY close down apps running in the backgroud to free up memory. Constantly killing apps running in the background is HARMING you more than they are helping you. Android will automatically start them back up the second you kill them so you are wasting CPU resources as well as battery power by constantly killing them. Another reason Android automatically opens up apps is to allow them to open up much quicker when you do need to use them, like the voice search or the camera or the calender. Try killing the camera with ATK then to try and open it up and see how long it takes to load, now try it when its running in the background...background tasks are there to help you and they use little to no CPU power just idling there...DONT WORRY ABOUT THEM.

Only use ATK when you have an app that wont respond or is obviously draining your battery due to it constantly doing background tasks...but in that case the best thing to do is to just uninstall that particular app since it wasn't written properly by the developer.

As already noted, this is a never-ending topic. And it seems to generate new life each time a new Android phone is introduced and uninformed VZW reps (and others) put task killers on phones.

The poster above is absolutely correct. I'll just add one other point (again.) Just because a program is "in memory" does NOT mean it is RUNNING. It is simply sitting there doing no more harm than someone sitting in a chair in a room full of chairs. As long as there are empty "chairs" that new programs can "sit in," the quiet programs "sitting" in memory are doing no harm. They're not consuming resources; they're not using battery power.

There is no advantage in having "free memory" unless memory is so full that there are no more "chairs" available and a non-running program refuses to leave when the Android OS asks it to.

If you MUST have a "task killer," try something like "SystemPanel." It will allow you to kill a rogue app. It will also enable you to see that many programs "in memory" are NOT using any cpu cycles. (As they would be if they're RUNNING.)

What may happen to your phone over time is a couple of conditions that slow things down. You may have so many apps that have to (really) run periodically that your operating system has to move programs out of active memory and even out of cache to do its work. If this is happening to you, try uninstalling some apps. (No one ever promised you that your phone could run everything ALL AT ONCE.)

The other common condition is that you don't clean the cache associated with your email, messaging, or browser apps on a regular basis. When these programs DO run, they drag that data into active memory. Eventually, this condition will force the OS to push other programs out of memory and restart them again when you go back to them. This is an especially common problem when users report that their "launchers" have to redraw the screen on a regular basis. That is typically because the OS doesn't have room to hold the launcher (with 147 homescreens and widgets), the browser (with 50 pages of cached browsing), and email (with 900 emails), and the messaging app (with 4000) messages all in memory at the same time.

In short, as your mother told you...."Clean your room!"