[Q] Why is it ok that stuff runs in the background? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Whenever anyone asks about stuff running the background and how to kill it, the responses always include - "don't worry about it" - Why not? Why should I be ok with the idea that a program that I downloaded, but never ran, is running in the background?

People don't say its 'ok' for all of those apps to be running in the background. It just depends on the type of app before you start to worry. It's 'ok' for some of those apps since they may do some sort of service which is required by either the user or the system.

Another thing to remember is that Android will manage running apps by itself, so when necessary it will kill apps to make sure it has enough available memory to run stuff that you manually start up.
If you'd rather be in control of manually killing running apps then I'd recommend a free all-in-one app called ZDBox (available via the android market):
ZDbox is an amazing all-in-one toolbox. Five stars in xda forum.
ZDbox is an amazing and free all-in-one toolbox. It holds a collection of useful tools and has a nice and easy to use interface. With ZDbox you’re getting your mobile/cell phone under control, do easily some optimization and customize it to your needs. An essential tool which you will love! 5 stars in xda forum.
★ Widgets: Keep screen always on, kill all tasks, WiFi on/off, airplane mode on/off, brightness adjustment, sound settings, rotate screen on/off, bluetooth on/off, start/stop sync, switch between 2G/3G, app lock on/off, GPS on/off, APN on/off (mobile access point), flashlight on/off
★ Battery: Monitoring and showing lots of information about remaining battery time, temperature, health, time since last boot, necessary time until full charge and so on
★ Traffic counter: Monthly/daily mobile data usage overview, shows remaining data traffic, detailed data usage information for each app.
★ Do not disturb: Just set days and the time when you need your privacy and you won’t be disturbed by your phone. Set phone to silent, vibration or airplane mode.
★ App lock: Protect apps with a password or pattern, for exmaple your contacts, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and so on
★ Task killer: Kill all apps at once, define protected apps which won’t be killed, set auto kill when screen gets locked, mark single or multiple apps to kill
★ Notification bar: One tap on the bar shows remaining battery time, running apps, how much data traffic is left and if app lock is active or not. A tap on these informations starts ZDbox.
★ Uninstaller: Shows used/available internal and SD card memory. Apps can be easily uninstalled. Single or multiple (batch) uninstall possible.
★ App to SD: Move apps to your SD card. Single or multiple (batch) move possible. Only for Android 2.2 and 2.3.
•Cache cleaner:
With Cache Cleaner you can clean your cache fast and easily.With auto cache cleaner ,
you don't need manual operation by yourself everyday.ZDbox is your best scavenger,free your phone's memory,make it as light as a feather.
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Since you don't need to use them, why you download them?

Well, I think the free all-in-one app is a good choice.

there are lots of apps functioning like that

Because google loves to spy on us.

It's ok because it's how you get a lot of functionality from some apps. Some Widgets for example need to update regularly (while you are on the homescreen at least) so that you get the latest information.
A well written app will only update / run when necessary (using the AlarmManager class typically). Too frequent updating will cause problems with battery life, none at all will cause out of date data being shown (e.g. for my Awesome Widgets I have to update my clock widget very regularly while it is being viewed in order that I can update the clock time (and weather if it has changed)).
It's not about spying, it's about getting functionality out of your Android device.
All the best,
Ash

its just bull****! sory! i have had bRIA take up like 40% of battery even tho i never ran it and i thought it wasnt running ... had to uninstall it... android for sure is great in some areas but definately not perfect,and pls dont tell average users about startup managers etc.

lol nice rant

Related

Transparent clock and weather widget forgetting locations

Whenever I close the app in the app switcher, the widget loses the current location for weather updates. What's worse is that all locations which I've added in the app are lost upon restarting and I have to select my location again.
I don't suppose the app has to be constantly running in the app switcher for the widget to work correctly?
Yes, usually if a widget is part of a standalone app, the app needs to always run. At least that has been my experience. I don't know about your specific app there though.
I am sure there are apps that make the widget run independently of the main app, but most I have seen seem to need the app running, or the widget won't function.
Turns out this widget doesn't need the app to be running after all. It's just that I had disabled the storage permission as per Android 6 permission settings and that caused a problem even though the app did not complain. I thought it needed to access storage only when adding custom background pictures, which I didn't intend to use.
What's interesting is that without the storage permission even if I left the app running, but it got bumped out of memory and needed to reload, it would also lose location settings. This makes me think there was some sort of virtual storage created in the absence of storage permission, so that as long as the app was running it could save the location there. But it gets erased as soon as the app is closed. Maybe a fail-safe solution for the lack of permission? I could be wrong.

[POOL][FEATURE REQUEST] Autostart permission toggle - allow apps to run in background

UPDATE: The pool closed after 30 days, but you can still show your need for the feature by adding a post in this thread.
Right now, Remix handles background app activity differently from native Android - if you close the app window, the app is killed - won't continue running in background.
At first glance it feels intuitive and right, because it's battery & performance friendly, but...
Many apps were designed to base their activity in the background like: messaging & social media apps, e-mail clients, network monitors and quite much any app that uses notifications.
Of course you can still run them in background with the window minimized - but that takes up the taskbar space with each background app.
In Windows you can close the window, and the app goes into the traybar (near the date) and doesn't take up the taskbar space.
What I'm requesting is simple:
An autorun permission toggle in settings
By default apps would have autostart switched off, but you could always switch it on for selected apps.
This way we wouldn't have to worry about performance or battery usage - system will still use only what we want it to.​
Please vote in the pool and share your thoughts on this suggestion. If you are not convinced, then read further on
Examples where this feature is needed:
Messenger app:
- notifies you about new messages/calls in the notifcation area
- pops a chat head once someone sends you a message (if feature enabled)
Cloes Messenger window -> no notifications received/no chat heads popups.
Actually what's weird - it sometimes autostarts itself - at least on my device. I couldn't find how that happens, but it seems random.
Gmail / e-mail apps:
- send you notifications when you receive an e-mail
Close window -> No notification
Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Tapatalk/YouTube these also use the power of background activity by notifying you about new stuff. Closing window -> no notication.
There are also monitoring apps - f.e. Internet Speed Meter which main feature is a notification in the notification area showing real-time bandwith usage. It won't work for Remix unless you keep the window open/minimized.
Clock app for settng alarm -> Close Window -> No alarm
Come on guys!
I personally would love to have this feature and I bet the community would want it too! But, for this to happen, we need more votes!
I vote, yes for the toggle.
Yes of course but for Selected apps.
@johnb111 Like I described in the OP, it would be just for the selected apps.
I need it !! Please !!
Need this
very need this
Ni10God said:
very need this
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netship said:
Need this
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assal said:
I need it !! Please !!
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No need for this kind of repetition.
Just thank the OP's first post, and that counts as support for the addition of this feature.
Unless you have specific details to add, it's better to avoid cluttering the thread.
No offence meant to anyone, just a suggestion to keep in mind.
Can you please confirm my understanding that Remix OS does not have background notifications if the app is closed unlike the normal Android OS? Do you think this is a deal breaker since im considering to get a tablet with Remix OS in it vs the one with Android 5.1.1? Thanks in advance for your thougths!
Yes, that's correct - once you close an app window you will not get any notifications from it.
But an autostart toggle could solve this?
@[msd]
Yes, autostart toggle allows for app to start automatically - not just at boot, but also after you close it.
Native, clean Android allows all apps to autorun by default.
Phoenix OS f.e. added a toggle. By default app can NOT autorun, but you can always enable this permission.
I"m on 3.0.207 Remix OS, and get notifications after hit "Quit app" at Gmail. How it works??
@[msd]
Depends on how the app is designed. I don't know why it works after closing, Remix OS has no documentation for how it works, so its hard to say.
If you close Messenger app window, you will not get any further notifications or if you close Alarm app, it won't ring. There are many examples, but it's worst with messaging apps and apps that operate in background only.
It"s true, the Viber doesn"t work after close it, only the Gmail.
Google always break the rules, haha
@[msd] its probably the Google services that are always working in the background
Yepp, I"ve updated it.
Override the autrorun
With the app SD Maid, I know you can change the autorun for apps. Try that.
Sleep and Shutdown support for Intel Atom
This is an ideal OS for the Intel Atom mini laptops. I would love to see the sleep/shutdown issue resolved on the next update. It's they only problem I have discovered while using it on this processor.
Currently I work around it by not letting it sleep. I shut it down by initiating a restart, and then powering off when the HP splashscreen or Bios message appears.

Mate 10 pro and protected apps

Please where is this function? And battery optimization permission.... Are same things ? Thank
From what I've been able to determine, there is no 'protected apps' menu option on Emui 8.
The place to adjust them is in - Settings - Battery - Launch. Personally I find Huawei's management way too agressive, so I turned off managing all automatically. Then in batch manually set everything to allowed and let Android sort it out. It doesn't seem to have made any difference to my battery life, but at least most notifications seem to work now. You could manually set only the ones you want to allow to run in the background though and it might help.
From settings - battery I also went into the settings icon top right and turned off the 'power intensive prompt' option because it was annoying - Google maps is SUPPOSED to be using frequent positioning, and my podcast app isn't much use if it isn't running in the background!
The whole power management seems to be designed for a phone with a tiny battery, where micro management is needed - but on a phone with the largest battery out of any flagship it seems needlessly aggressive....
Edit: It is also possible in the running apps/recent apps screen to click the lock icon on a program which is supposed to prevent Android from closing that app - but not sure how effective that is on EMUI.
Hello to all. I have installed in huawei mate 10 pro and I would like to use an application to notify gmail emails and whatsapp messages on always on display. use led blinker application that works properly when the phone is charging, while when it is without cable the notifications arrive only when I turn on the screen. I can think that it is a protection of consumption but I have activated all possibilities. could someone tell me what I could activate to solve this problem? thank you
This does exist. It's in the recent apps page (bottom left/right button, depending on your settings).
If you press the lock icon on an app it should "lock" the app from automatically closing.
It also prevents that app closing when you tap the recycle bin icon in the recent apps page.
This is exactly what I need, but I am running EMUI 9 on mate 10 pro and I cannot find this "lock"!! Yet I am sure I have seen it at some point in time... X-(
I just got the Android Pie/EMUI 9 upgrade last week and I found the lock by accident. When viewing your apps in the recents view, find the app you want to lock and drag it down towards the trash icon. You should now see the lock icon for that app at the top, and it should be protected from clearing recents. Clicking the lock or dragging it down again should toggle the lock.
On recent apps list, slide down the app window to lock - lock pad on top. Slide again to unlock

Help! Background services getting killed.

I have a problem where background services getting killed when recent are cleared.
Apps on question run at boot without visible windows eg. KinScreen, lux, fluid gesture
I have disable miui optimization in developer options, selected no restriction on battery saver and set apps to autostart.
problem still persist if recent are cleared all these services get killed.
Any way to prevent background services being killed??
I have root and open to suggestion but prefer to stay on miui.
i have same question,,
I have this issue too. What I did was lock my apps in recents. Not a clean way to do it, but it works.
NOTE: I posted this same issue in MIUI forums and seems that we're not alone and the issue is MIUI RAM management itself. I hope it gets fixed in future MIUI versions but for now the workaround I gave is our best shot. Hope this helps and enjoy your Poco, I know I am
First, in app info sections, you turn on autostart for each required app.
Secondly, in battery settings, give each required app >no restrictions policy.
Thirdly, lock them in recent menu.
Done.
You need to do these steps for apps such as alarm, email clients and the ones you mentioned. I had to do this with Google photos as well so that it could sync on its own.
lockhrt999 said:
First, in app info sections, you turn on autostart for each required app.
Secondly, in battery settings, give each required app >no restrictions policy.
Thirdly, lock them in recent menu.
Done.
You need to do these steps for apps such as alarm, email clients and the ones you mentioned. I had to do this with Google photos as well so that it could sync on its own.
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yes ive done all this but the problem with this is
1. my recent mennu is filled with locked apps
2. some apps start as purely service no visible window
i have to launch it manually so the window appears in recents. eg lux and kinscreen.
any solution to make miui to treat apps and services like stock android. No other OS does this. This is ridiculous
I'm out of ideas now.:laugh:
Check if disabling cleaning of cache memory in battery settings changes anything for you.
Same here. Tried this all, but apps still getting killed. I can't use my gear fit 2 pro app in background. Everytime I clear the recent menu gear got disconnected. Someone please help!
POCO F1 - No root - Locked bootloader - Fully stock
This is the most annoying thing about MIUI. I use Blokada and I need to keep it locked on recents which I hate the most. If I don't lock it and clear recets, Blokada gets killed and VPN gets turned OFF. Can't use live wallpaper for the same reason. On AOSP based ROMs, this problem doesn't exist. It smartly understands which apps need to run in the background and which apps can be killed. Hence, no need to keep an app on the recents. I don't understand what's the necessity of being so aggressive about RAM management when we have 6/8 GB of RAM. Due to this pathetic RAM management, I always see almost 3.9/4 GB free RAM out of 6 GB. And as we know, free RAM is wasted RAM.

Question Easy High Performance Mode Toggle?

There doesn't seem to be a way to turn on high performance mode outside of navigating to battery in the settings and then advanced battery settings. Does anyone know of a way to add a notification switch or even a widget on the home screen to quickly turn it on and off?
Also I have tried my best to eliminate the OS's ability to kill apps running in the background. The one I have issues with the most is PokemonGo. I will switch from one app to another and when going back to PokemonGO it will have killed it and it restarts when going back to it. Loading like I just opened the app for the first time.
Things I have done so far. Disabled battery optimization for the app in the battery settings and turned on "Allow background activity" in the app settings under app management.
I have no task killers installed and the OS is basically stock after a factory reset.
I'm rooted and on DE2118_11_C.16
Have you tried locking the PokemonGo app to prevent it from being suspended?
Also you should check setting under developer mode in APPS section: Susspend execution for cached apps.
I would lower the background process limit from 5 to 3 due to the limited amount of ram on this device and lock any app you want to continue to run if it falls into 4th place.
Also, I would tur off RAM Boost as it does not improve app selection based on my use.
I have it locked yes, still gets closed in the background at random it seems.
RAM Boost was off as well.
The Suspend execution for cashed apps can you explain a bit on how this works? Do I have to cache the app or something in addition for it to work?
I keep the VPN Hotspot, AD Guard, and Pokemon GO locked.
xVoidx said:
The Suspend execution for cashed apps can you explain a bit on how this works? Do I have to cache the app or something in addition for it to work?
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This will "freeze" apps that are cached (past the open app limit) and they will not take any resources. This also will cause them to stop responding like your Pokemon app.

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