PLEASE READ: Do NOT worry about Apps running in the Background

[vesperaNovus]

vesperaNovus, not sure if your app is better than ATK (or if it's the same thing?), but I would love the ability to select specific apps in groups, where if any app in the group is running, it is killed. That way, I can put apps like dialer, alarm clock and such, in a "don't kill these if they are running" group, and the rest can be shut down.

My app is not ATK, but I'm not going to explicitly say what it is just so it doesn't seem like I'm advertising. I don't know how ATK works but in my app you opt-in what apps you want killed.

I don't let (hopefully) you kill apps that lag or otherwise mess up your device. That is where the problem lies now, there are so many devices now that it's impossible to cover all the bases as far as "problem" apps go. I certainly don't have the budget to own all the devices and the associated plans. That said, I think I'm good on the Droid though.

Take it how you will, but in my opinion if designed and used correctly the task killer apps should save battery life. I do know that Google hates the task killer apps, and I wouldn't be surprised if they somehow curbed them in the future.

 

[cereal killer]

So the app Advanced Task Killer is pointless? Has anyone extended battery life with this app or is it just a mental mind game? I have become OCD with killing apps and am biased on the issue but would love to remove ATK if it does nothing but slows me down.

It's a mixed bag I find. I'm on the side that believes Task Killer is not needed. I have great battery life and no lag. Memory allocation seems on point. The fact that every app runs in their own JVM leads me to believe I don't need to be OCD with memory. Especially coming from a BB I was ready to give up the free memory obsession!

+ 1

I've had my phone on for 4 weeks without powercycling it. I have not had a slowdown or decrease in performance and thats with downloading/installing/uninstalling apps and all the usual functions (email, texting etc etc)

I leave my phone on constantly and have yet to run into a single problem.

Now I will say that I too ran ATK for 2-3 days. I unstalled it when I posted this thread.

Then I did a little more research and found out that it was in fact causing SOME end users to experience issues. So I decided to see if I ran it again for a bit longer if I would experience any issues. Well it didn't take long. 2 days into using it my phone to locked-up and required a battery pull, and the device acted wonky/slow at times.

I uninstalled and I have yet to have one issue. So speaking from my experience I will NEVER use a task killer again because it did cause MY device to become "unstable"

If a user has OCD I would recommend the native task killer rather than a 3rd party app. These are my experiences and I'm sure it's not just isolated..

It's something to consider.

 

[vegita240]

That is great and all, but if u using da motorola droid, you can close apps by putting ur hands on the white space at the top screen, where the battery meter and signal bars are, and just drag down. Put ur hands on the white space, and drag down. simple

 

[LordKastle]

I've also seen that a lot of people are using task killer apps that are automatically closing processes in the background. If you want an app that closes programs, get one like "Advanced Task Manager", and only open it when you want to close apps that you know you have opened. If I find myself bored and know I have opened the browser, and other apps I'll occasionally load it up and kill it off, then kill the actual app-killing program off too.

I see no need to close any OS-driven apps that will continuously load anyway. But cereal_killer has a point - you could just use the native built in task manager. Using a 3rd party app like I just listed is doing the same thing. (But won't hinder the performance at all if used like I just said.)

There is absolutely no need to have an automatic task killer, killing native built-in OS driven processes and that will indeed lag your phone more because they will re-load automatically.

 

[SSHGuru]

Advanced Task Killer Free does nothing automatically. You select what to kill or you can kill everything or leave stuff unchecked.

I use it when my battery is draining for no good reason and it stops it.

Meanwhile it does nothing unless I choose for it to do something so why not?

 

[BillyBob]

ok makes sense, about the reload time, etc, but, which apps do i know are ok to run and not use up resources, I.E. (com.google.apps.maps:BackgroundFriendServices, com. motorola.HiddenMenu, Etc) are those neccessary to remain active, and what do i know to kill and what to keep, without sacrificing OS Speed? (and what is the Significance of color coordination of the Running Background Apps, (Yellow,White,Green)? Thank you guys, maybe this Q. has been answered, but i couldnt find it. Thanks again.

 

[LordKastle]

Don't kill anything that is native to the OS.. like the Google related processes you listed. Only kill the "Apps" that are left open after you opened them and switched screens, not any processes unless they belong to those same apps.

 

[BillyBob]

Thanks for the Quick response,
Appreciate it.

 

[machnhed]

I think after reading virtually this entire thread... I will keep advanced task killer, but stay a little less OCD about it. That way, the ability to manage apps is still there if I need it, yet not going to pay as much attention to it as I have been. Not losing the functionality, yet not overusing it.

Zack

:icon_ banana: (this dancing banana will appear in every post I ever make... just...because)

 

[lschmitt]

When I first got into this thread, I thought it was cool that I didn't need to worry about apps running on my Droid. Coming from Blackberry, I was use to my memory "Leaking" on a daily basis. I deleted Task Killer and on I went.

I noticed my battery and my phone weren't working as before. I did some research and ended up downloading TaskPanel from the market. I use it from time to time throughout the day and notice that my phone runs way better after I kill the unneeded apps and services running on my droid. You can also set it up to auto kill certain apps and/or services.

In conclusion, I feel that you do not need a task killer on android as a nessecity, yet it does seem to be of use. I understand the concept about how android knows what to keep running, and that some services need others to run, but I'm going to go off of the performance of my phone and not what is "suppose" to be. I know from experience, BB Storm, that not everything your told about an OS or phone is always spot on the truth. Experiment; what works for you might not work for others.

Just my opinion

 

[Laurence5905]

For me, it was a control thing... I removed ATK and ran the phone without it for a couple of weeks, after reading this thread. The phone ran just fine...

But I couldn't stand not knowing what was running in the background! So I put ATK back on there, just so I can check to see what's running from time to time. And I kill off games that I was playing that didn't exit when I quit playing them. But that's pretty much it...

So, yeah, you can get away without running a task-killer of any kind, really. But if you're a control-freak like me, you'll want a task-killer for that added little bit of control.

 

[djtrype]

I gained an hour of battery life after uninstalling ATK. The one program to save me battery and resources seemed to be using the most.

 

[SSHGuru]

I find that when I run ATK everything speed up a ton. Smoother transitions etc...

And no it doesn't eat up any resources. All you have to do is look at what's eating the battery - for those who think they get more time by not having it. It does nothing at all on it's own except keep a list of whats running.

For me, it was a control thing... I removed ATK and ran the phone without it for a couple of weeks, after reading this thread. The phone ran just fine...

But I couldn't stand not knowing what was running in the background! So I put ATK back on there, just so I can check to see what's running from time to time. And I kill off games that I was playing that didn't exit when I quit playing them. But that's pretty much it...

So, yeah, you can get away without running a task-killer of any kind, really. But if you're a control-freak like me, you'll want a task-killer for that added little bit of control.

 

[kmdavisjr]

What if you have maps running in the background and the phone goes to sleep? Won't you still be using CPU cycles to recalculate your position? If you are using CPU cycles, you drain the battery, right?

 

[QuPop]

from what i gather it doesnt make too much of a difference. but i find for my own ocd i like to keep ATK and let it do its thing or kill apps manually. if anything just for my own sanity :icon_ banana: