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Task Killers... The Answer from Google & Developers.
- Thread starter Martin030908
- Start date
Task Killers Per Lifehacker:
Android Task Killers Explained: What They Do and Why You Shouldn't Use Them
How Android Manages Processes
In Android, processes and Applications are two different things. An app can stay "running" in the background without any processes eating up your phone's resources. Android keeps the app in its memory so it launches more quickly and returns to its prior state. When your phone runs out of memory, Android will automatically start killing tasks on its own, starting with ones that you haven't used in awhile.
The problem is that Android uses RAM differently than, say, Windows. On Android, having your RAM nearly full is a good thing. It means that when you relaunch an app you've previously opened, the app launches quickly and returns to its previous state. So while Android actually uses RAM efficiently, most users see that their RAM is full and assume that's what's slowing down their phone. In reality, your CPU—which is only used by apps that are actually active—is almost always the bottleneck.
Why Task Killers Are (Usually) Bad News
Apps like Advanced Task Killer, the most popular task killer in the Market, act on the incorrect assumption that freeing up memory on an Android device is a good thing. When launched, it presents you with a list of "running" apps and the option to kill as many as you want. You can also hit the Menu button to access a more detailed "Services" view, that lists exactly which parts of each application are "running", how much memory they take up, and how much free memory is available on your phone. This set-up implies that the goal of killing these apps is to free up memory. Nowhere on the list does it mention the number of CPU cycles each app is consuming, only the memory you'll free by killing it. As we've learned, full memory is not a bad thing—we want to watch out for the CPU, the resource that actually slows down your phone and drains your battery life.
Thus, killing all but the essential apps (or telling Android to kill apps more aggressively with the "autokill" feature) is generally unnecessary. Furthermore, it's actually possible that this will worsen your phone's performance and battery life. Whether you're manually killing apps all the time or telling the task killer to aggressively remove apps from your memory, you're actually using CPU cycles when you otherwise wouldn't—killing apps that aren't doing anything in the first place.
In fact, some of the processes related to those apps will actually start right back up, further draining your CPU. If they don't, killing those processes can cause other sorts of problems—alarms don't go off, you don't receive text messages, or other related apps may force close without warning. All in all, you're usually better off letting your phone work as intended—especially if you're more of a casual user. In these instances, a task killer causes more problems than it solves.
What You Should Do Instead
That said, not all apps are created equal. Many of you have used task killers in the past and actually found that after freeing up memory, your phone works a bit better. It's more likely that this is because you've killed a bad app—one that was poorly coded, and (for example) keeps trying to connect to the internet even when it shouldn't. Any performance increase you experience is more likely because you killed the right app, not because you freed up loads of memory (or, in many cases, it's just placebo). Instead of killing all those apps, find out which ones are actually causing the problems. If you really know what you're doing, you may benefit from using a task killer to stop the one or two inefficient-but-loved apps on your phone.
Note, however, that this is still a contested notion. A lot of developers (including ROM builder extraordinaire, Cyanogen) will not even look at your bug reports if you're using a task killer. In this humble blogger's opinion, your best bet is to stay away from regular task killer usage entirely. If you absolutely have to have that one battery-killing app on your phone, though, kill away—just be aware that when you experience a recurring Android bug later on, the task killer may be at fault. Of course, you can just stop using it to determine whether that is or isn't the case.
Android Task Killers Explained: What They Do and Why You Shouldn't Use Them
How Android Manages Processes
In Android, processes and Applications are two different things. An app can stay "running" in the background without any processes eating up your phone's resources. Android keeps the app in its memory so it launches more quickly and returns to its prior state. When your phone runs out of memory, Android will automatically start killing tasks on its own, starting with ones that you haven't used in awhile.
The problem is that Android uses RAM differently than, say, Windows. On Android, having your RAM nearly full is a good thing. It means that when you relaunch an app you've previously opened, the app launches quickly and returns to its previous state. So while Android actually uses RAM efficiently, most users see that their RAM is full and assume that's what's slowing down their phone. In reality, your CPU—which is only used by apps that are actually active—is almost always the bottleneck.
Why Task Killers Are (Usually) Bad News
Apps like Advanced Task Killer, the most popular task killer in the Market, act on the incorrect assumption that freeing up memory on an Android device is a good thing. When launched, it presents you with a list of "running" apps and the option to kill as many as you want. You can also hit the Menu button to access a more detailed "Services" view, that lists exactly which parts of each application are "running", how much memory they take up, and how much free memory is available on your phone. This set-up implies that the goal of killing these apps is to free up memory. Nowhere on the list does it mention the number of CPU cycles each app is consuming, only the memory you'll free by killing it. As we've learned, full memory is not a bad thing—we want to watch out for the CPU, the resource that actually slows down your phone and drains your battery life.
Thus, killing all but the essential apps (or telling Android to kill apps more aggressively with the "autokill" feature) is generally unnecessary. Furthermore, it's actually possible that this will worsen your phone's performance and battery life. Whether you're manually killing apps all the time or telling the task killer to aggressively remove apps from your memory, you're actually using CPU cycles when you otherwise wouldn't—killing apps that aren't doing anything in the first place.
In fact, some of the processes related to those apps will actually start right back up, further draining your CPU. If they don't, killing those processes can cause other sorts of problems—alarms don't go off, you don't receive text messages, or other related apps may force close without warning. All in all, you're usually better off letting your phone work as intended—especially if you're more of a casual user. In these instances, a task killer causes more problems than it solves.
What You Should Do Instead
That said, not all apps are created equal. Many of you have used task killers in the past and actually found that after freeing up memory, your phone works a bit better. It's more likely that this is because you've killed a bad app—one that was poorly coded, and (for example) keeps trying to connect to the internet even when it shouldn't. Any performance increase you experience is more likely because you killed the right app, not because you freed up loads of memory (or, in many cases, it's just placebo). Instead of killing all those apps, find out which ones are actually causing the problems. If you really know what you're doing, you may benefit from using a task killer to stop the one or two inefficient-but-loved apps on your phone.
Note, however, that this is still a contested notion. A lot of developers (including ROM builder extraordinaire, Cyanogen) will not even look at your bug reports if you're using a task killer. In this humble blogger's opinion, your best bet is to stay away from regular task killer usage entirely. If you absolutely have to have that one battery-killing app on your phone, though, kill away—just be aware that when you experience a recurring Android bug later on, the task killer may be at fault. Of course, you can just stop using it to determine whether that is or isn't the case.
yet another "biased opinion" not all phones are the same not all user's use the same apps
and the part that says
" Nowhere on the list does it mention the number of CPU cycles each app is consuming, only the memory you'll free by killing it"
advance task manager does
and
"That said, not all apps are created equal. Many of you have used task killers in the past and actually found that after freeing up memory, your phone works a bit better. It's more likely that this is because you've killed a bad app—one that was poorly coded, and (for example) keeps trying to connect to the internet even when it shouldn't"
rom manager is alway connected to net on my phone is it a bad app?
and
" In this humble blogger's opinion, your best bet is to stay away from regular task killer usage entirely"
"OPINION"
google only knows what their log shows them
their log is based off their setup default non-rooted phones so jnt this is to you.
to say google is on your side is a stretch from the truth
and the part that says
" Nowhere on the list does it mention the number of CPU cycles each app is consuming, only the memory you'll free by killing it"
advance task manager does
and
"That said, not all apps are created equal. Many of you have used task killers in the past and actually found that after freeing up memory, your phone works a bit better. It's more likely that this is because you've killed a bad app—one that was poorly coded, and (for example) keeps trying to connect to the internet even when it shouldn't"
rom manager is alway connected to net on my phone is it a bad app?
and
" In this humble blogger's opinion, your best bet is to stay away from regular task killer usage entirely"
"OPINION"
google only knows what their log shows them
their log is based off their setup default non-rooted phones so jnt this is to you.
to say google is on your side is a stretch from the truth
Bilgediver
Member
Ok so what are you thoughts on the program "Startup Auditor"?
We recognize that AUTO-KILLs are bad. What about a program that prevents user-selected programs from auto-starting and pre-loading into the memory in the first place?
We recognize that AUTO-KILLs are bad. What about a program that prevents user-selected programs from auto-starting and pre-loading into the memory in the first place?
Darkseider
Senior Member
Startup Auditor from what I have gathered from this thread and its' description is more or less modifying the startup script disallowing a process or service from starting and running. No different than modifying an init.d script in linux. That I can deal with because it isn't constantly allowing the restart/rekill/restart cycle. It just doesn't allow it to start. Again this is pure speculation based on the description of the application. In any case if this is what it does then I am all for it.
Bilgediver
Member
Well it doesn't require root, so if a script that does that doesn't require root then I guess that's what it does.
Bilgediver
Member
I guess you'd have to ask the dev for that answer.
Bilgediver
Member
I just looked at the market. Autostart bseems more like a script runner at boot.
Start auditor doesn't do that. Ill take screenshots
Grr, tried using tapatalk upload but it apparently won't recognize screenshots from shootme, .png pictures.
Tapatalk on original Moto Droid, UltimateDroid'd
Start auditor doesn't do that. Ill take screenshots
Grr, tried using tapatalk upload but it apparently won't recognize screenshots from shootme, .png pictures.
Tapatalk on original Moto Droid, UltimateDroid'd
JohnnyDepth
Member
This is the issue.
With a BlackBerry you were able to select (or deselect)
certain permissions based on what YOU the user wanted.
While Android OS prides itself on this so-called open source
platform...It actually isn't.
Why aren't there settings that us, the end user can customize
and change as WE feel they need to be?
Since I flashed to BBv0.5 I don't have any issues...
With LFYv1.6 I eventually )towards the end of using it)
developed issues that couldn't be fixed.
50% without signal, market taking forever to load, LAG,
and absolutely horrible battery life.
Bugless Beast is the right fit for me.
Even at 800Mhz I don't fee the need to go faster anymore.
People can keep their high scores/benchmarks.
My phone runs so fluid now.
Best of all?
ZERO autokiller (I wised up)
ZERO task killing.
I don't run SetCPU anymore (because there isn't a need)
I don't run TempMonitor anymore (see above)
All of these extra apps are optional with Bugless Beast!
Martin030908
Super Moderator
The word 'bias' keeps being tossed around. (: to give a settled and often prejudiced outlook to)
It's not bias to experience yourself the lack of need for a task killer.
While I do understand each device is not the same nor is the configuration of every device.... but it's not 'bias' to say task killers are a waste.
Stop throwing that word around... it doesn't fit in this discussion.
It's not bias to experience yourself the lack of need for a task killer.
While I do understand each device is not the same nor is the configuration of every device.... but it's not 'bias' to say task killers are a waste.
Stop throwing that word around... it doesn't fit in this discussion.
Freedom of speech - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
it is biased to tell everyone that they are bad based off your device and configuration
and to blindly tell people to remove them shows prejudice
some may need them when i ran other roms i needed them new bb and havent even installed them
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There's a reason they don't install pacemakers on perfectly healthy human beings. A healthy human heart is pretty adept and running on its own.
Drop the task killers and let Android do its thing. As Steve Jobs so eloquently stated "if an OS needs a task killer there is something definitely wrong"
Sent from my Droid
Drop the task killers and let Android do its thing. As Steve Jobs so eloquently stated "if an OS needs a task killer there is something definitely wrong"
Sent from my Droid