Hey guys, Wanted to know if someone could clarify the difference between active applications, running services, system storage, and app cache. I understand that active applications are apps that are left open (usually what happens when you press the home screen to leave the app) and that closing these apps clears up LOTS of RAM. I also understand that running services are the background processes that some apps use and that closing some of these are pointless cuz they will just start back up again. My question is, are all these categories eating away at my RAM? Does clearing up Cache also free up RAM? Are apps that are downloaded on the system storage also eating up RAM or is system storage a completely different thing? Sorry for all the questions, But I am hoping someone here can give me a clear explanation or breakdown of the things I just listed. Thanks!
http://www.androidcentral.com/ram-what-it-how-its-used-and-why-you-shouldnt-care
It's not a PC. It's not Windows OS. Stop worrying and let Android manage it for you. Relax and enjoy your phone.
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I can't understand something on android system.
When I boot my mini pro, I can see in a (for example) Open Advanced Task Killer lot of aps.. (see attachment)
Now I see Skype in a list of active processes. I do not understand is it now skype active and loaded in system? I asked this because I'm not signed in to skype, and it is configured to not loaded when system boot.
If not in which state are now all this apps?
I have same questions for other few programs, for example Samba file sharing. It is disabled in his config. I mean apk is not freezed. But it is loaded in processes list!
I see that all those aps eat memory, so y question is, is there any solution to disable this aps and load it only when I want to use it, and when I closed them to stayed disable!
Thx for help.
this app are in background.. it dosent effect much your system.. usually it is automatically loaded.. just kill/forcekill the app if you need more memory...
Nothing wrong with it, these programs just autorun in background for functionality purposes.
When you actually start using an app, android will automatically free up memory to make that app work.
Carpe-Dimi said:
Nothing wrong with it, these programs just autorun in background for functionality purposes.
When you actually start using an app, android will automatically free up memory to make that app work.
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I think you didn't understand me..
These aps using my memory even they are not started and active..
That is the confusion at me!
like i said it just automatically loaded in background, if you want to free up memory you can just kill it...
if it is not being used at all you can just uninstall it.. but be perfectly sure if you uninstall a system app... it will free up memory and save battery life..
paradorx said:
like i said it just automatically loaded in background, if you want to free up memory you can just kill it...
if it is not being used at all you can just uninstall it.. but be perfectly sure if you uninstall a system app... it will free up memory and save battery life..
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Click to collapse
Thx..but, if they using my memory and "app's not running" then I do not understand the purpose why are loaded they?
Is there any solution to load they only when I need it, like in windows system?
I mean, when I close that app that it close fully and my memory freed up!
easyyu said:
I think you didn't understand me..
These aps using my memory even they are not started and active..
That is the confusion at me!
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Click to collapse
I completely understood you
these apps are given memory by the android OS to run in background. there they do simple things such as syncing and checking for updates, or other things that i don't know of. this is functional, because when you open the app, it won't take forever to load and do what u want it to do.
However...
If you open an application (so it actively runs in the foreground) and it needs memory, the android OS will take the memory from your background apps and give it to the foreground app to use.
so, nothing to worry about as it has a functional purpose and won't interfere with your actual phone usage
if you don't want apps to use a lot of memory tho, you could try setting the vm heap size to something lower. (I believe 32M is standard) but this also limits the memory usage of the foreground app.
Carpe-Dimi said:
I completely understood you
these apps are given memory by the android OS to run in background. there they do simple things such as syncing and checking for updates, or other things that i don't know of. this is functional, because when you open the app, it won't take forever to load and do what u want it to do.
However...
If you open an application (so it actively runs in the foreground) and it needs memory, the android OS will take the memory from your background apps and give it to the foreground app to use.
so, nothing to worry about as it has a functional purpose and won't interfere with your actual phone usage
if you don't want apps to use a lot of memory tho, you could try setting the vm heap size to something lower. (I believe 32M is standard) but this also limits the memory usage of the foreground app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx for answer..but this still no option for me.
I wanted to "stoped" apps at boot, and just then used it when I need it. And when I exit from some app to free memory and fully exit from android system like in windows systems.
easyyu said:
I can't understand something on android system.
When I boot my mini pro, I can see in a (for example) Open Advanced Task Killer lot of aps.. (see attachment)
Now I see Skype in a list of active processes. I do not understand is it now skype active and loaded in system? I asked this because I'm not signed in to skype, and it is configured to not loaded when system boot.
If not in which state are now all this apps?
I have same questions for other few programs, for example Samba file sharing. It is disabled in his config. I mean apk is not freezed. But it is loaded in processes list!
I see that all those aps eat memory, so y question is, is there any solution to disable this aps and load it only when I want to use it, and when I closed them to stayed disable!
Thx for help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are running on background and are programmed to start when booting ur phone, some apps like IM+ has the option to disable it, try doing it...
Hope it helps
XxLordxX said:
They are running on background and are programmed to start when booting ur phone, some apps like IM+ has the option to disable it, try doing it...
Hope it helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But most of them have not, and thats the problem!!
For example, skype and many other.
hi guys, i notice in manage applications / running servises that i have many applications that they are running without i open them, and when i stop them ( forced to stop ) in about 1-2 minues they are running again, this applications is social hub, maps, facebook...
and i'am using right now (without connection to the internet) 365mb ram!!!
how can i close that programms to safe more ram?!?!?!
Thanks.
Advanced Task Killer, now that's not advised in Android!
Alternatively you can use Titanium Pro and freeze some unwanted apps, that'd save some.
PS- Also found this app,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1305060
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Don't bother about it (if you really wanna bother about this, then start by learning memory management in Android/Linux before drawing incorrect conclusions)).
The RAM is used for caching applications etc, it improves speed. If you start a huge game that needs all memory then the game will gets its memory anyway.
So don't worry, be happy with your phone instead
thanks, but its normal that ram that it uses?! you how many ram do you use?!?!?!
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
Hey...not sure if this has been answered before or not but im trying to figure out battery draining issues and one of things ive always used is ram optimizers...I have Android Booster and Android Assisant ....and then i also use the built in task manager to clear memory...shouldbi be using these apps or are they draining the battery by running in the background? They seem to clean up a nice amount of memory....and keep my phone running fast....just dont know much about them...
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I do not think that by cleaning your RAM, you can reduce power consumption by RAM.
Actually, you do increase it. Android itself closes unnecessary applications when needed to clear memory. But, when you clean memory, either by task manager, or some custom tools, you are basically forcing applications to close and restart unnecessarily. I would say, it is additional load on CPU, and thus on battery.
For most applications, exactly startup and finish times are most expensive in terms of CPU load and battery. And most well-designed applications will not drain your battery when paused.
Reminds me of RAM cleaner programs for Windows machines, that would simply trigger excessive page faults.
while i agree with most of what you posted, there are 2 major flaws in your logic:
1. you talk about closing apps that restart on their own, but not many apps actually do that. sure, widgets, services, your launcher, communication apps and syncing apps need to run in the background, but certainly there are other apps eating away the battery, that need to be fully closed, when not needed. kies air or wifi file explorer come to mind. some of those apps don't fully close through the back button and must be killed from a task manager to save battery.
2. you say apps are paused. that is not necessarily true. many apps are capable of fully running in the background, after all, we are talking android and not iOS. we have full multitasking and apps are not generally suspended. say, you want to play a game for the first time and it needs to download more data. you can do whatever you want with your phone, open a dozen other apps, browse and listen to music, that download will continue in the background. this might fill up the ram over time, if you never close an app or apps do not allow direct closing.
there is a reason why samsung supplied the phone with a built-in task manager.
some apps are not well made and don't quit properly and need to be killed that way and killing off unnecessary apps (that won't restart) makes sense.
and let's not forget apps that get stuck but don't force close. they need to be killed as well. what else are you gonna do? restart the phone? certainly that wastes way more power than a restart of a few services.
every time you have a look at the samsung task manager or the "running" panel of "manage applications" and you use 500 something MB of ram and kill all apps, it will go down to something like 200 something, then the services restart and you are back up to maybe close to 300 (all numbers vary on your rom and apps). given that situation permanently saving 40% of ram is certainly a good reason to kill apps before you put the phone in your pocket.
I guess, then, it is best practice to kill all apps from task manager, a few times a day, especially after using several different applications and closing them. Applications that are needed will be restarted automatically.
I am not sure about running so called "RAM optimizers" constantly, though. When you are using your phone, it simply introduces more lags. Otherwise, it does nothing, if you have cleared RAM after heavy usage.
mirbeksm said:
I guess, then, it is best practice to kill all apps from task manager, a few times a day, especially after using several different applications and closing them. Applications that are needed will be restarted automatically.
I am not sure about running so called "RAM optimizers" constantly, though. When you are using your phone, it simply introduces more lags. Otherwise, it does nothing, if you have cleared RAM after heavy usage.
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Click to collapse
killing itself is not necessary in the 1st part.
the more the memory android uses the better the apps behave, thats how android is desinged.
if you people still want to release some memory just use the samsung task manager ot clear memory or "fast reboot" from market.
Thx for the posts...i deleted the 2 android apps for now to see if theres a difference...i will trybusing just the built in task manager for a few days and see how that goes. But for example i mainly use my phone for words with friends...facebook...twitter and instagram....when i run the built in task manager it frees up mabye 200mb of ram....then i would run android booster which would clean up another 200mb and would close stuff like facebook...and tweetcaster and so on....the built in task manager doesnt seem to pick up on and close everything it should...which is why i downloaded the others...my phone has 800+ mb available and i usually find that ots using 500 of those 800 at all times...i wouldbfind myself constantly closing stuff with the optimizers...but like you said...they just open up in the background again anyway. Im rooted and have got rid of all the safe stuff to get rid of and the funny thing is i still dont see much of a difference in ram consumption...i think of ram as important cause it keeps things running smooth with no lag...not sure what to do i guess...ill try it like this without the optimizers and see how things go and download them again if i get bad lag...what i really need is a actual list of my phones internal software so i can get rid of the rest of the unneeded system files...ive found similar lists..but never a list of my actual phone...theres certain stuff running on my phone that isnt in the lists ive found so i left them with the worry that i may have to reinstall the rom if i delete the wrong thing...im also a android noob...only 2 months of using it so far so ive got tons more learning to do...thx for the opinions tho...keep em coming if you got em!
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I have a 0.5GB ZTE Cheapo Android JB phone. I kill apps using Advanced task Killer and then they start a few seconds later. As a result, I have constant low memory notifications. I've us d Manage Apps to look at the apps in question e.g. Viber, Line. I've moved the apps, when I can, to the SD card. I notice that there is a 'Launch by default' parameter, but it's grayed out for the 'naughty' apps. Why do these apps keep re-appearing and what can I do bout it? PS I've tried rebooting but no improvement.
I use my Z Ultra mostly for playing games, especially Summoners War. And because I'm a guild leader, I use LINE to coordinate attacks with my guildmates so I switch between the game and LINE in certain occasions. The moment I updated to Lollipop, I noticed that I can't do that totally anymore. Once I press home to minimize my game, write a message in LINE then get back to the game, it's already gone and it restarts. It also happens in Kitkat but not only when I have too many background processes running (Email app, Facebook, Messenger, etc.).
I heard there's some memory leak issue with Android 5.0, is that the case here? Is there a way to prevent my game from closing?
If you are using the stock ROM it isn't about the memory leak because Sony has fixed it, it is about Sony services and apps are very resource hungry and they are eating the RAM. You can disable some apps or services (be careful!) which you don't use and thus save some memory. There is a guide in Themes & Apps section with apps that can be disabled, you can follow it to free some RAM.
Regards
teddy74eva said:
Sony services and apps are very resource hungry and they are eating the RAM.
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Click to collapse
... which ones and how much? Because i see here >800 MB reported as free. I suspect neither the game and the messaging software do not use that much.
It's just lollipop being aggressive about killing processes whenever it feels like it>
Also, where did you hear that sony fixed the memory leak?
The memory leak issue is being discussed here.
tsiros said:
... which ones and how much? Because i see here >800 MB reported as free. I suspect neither the game and the messaging software do not use that much.
It's just lollipop being aggressive about killing processes whenever it feels like it>
Also, where did you hear that sony fixed the memory leak?
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Click to collapse
I don't know exactly which apps and how much RAM they use because I don't use stock anymore but facebook and messenger combined can use about 300 MB, not mentioning the game. That 800 MB (although I don't believe it, hard to achieve even on AOSP) is "free" only by its name. More than half of it consists of cached apps which can be closed to free more memory, but it is still being used. You can see it when you go into settings > apps > running and switch the view. And about the memory leak, it is somewhere in Cross-dev section, a thread by Iagucool I think, he had compared some smali files and Sony apparently had fixed the leak in their firmware.
Regards
neither facebook nor messenger are sony's apps.
cached memory is free memory in the sense that it is not used at the moment the system is asked about it, much like any other kind of free memory. That part of memory that is cached, as per android's own description, is available for new processes that ask for memory.
tsiros said:
neither facebook nor messenger are sony's apps.
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Click to collapse
Thanks capitain obvious for pointing it out, I didn't say that they are.
cached memory is free memory in the sense that it is not used at the moment the system is asked about it, much like any other kind of free memory. That part of memory that is cached, as per android's own description, is available for new processes that ask for memory.
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Click to collapse
Erm sorry but no, cached memory is used memory but it can be freed when system is running out of the really free one, so it has an ability to be freed whenever system wants to, thus labeled as "free".
Regards
you said "sony services and apps" eat memory... i asked you which ones... and you said facebook and messenger. Neither of those are sony services or apps.
mind you, "sony services and apps" does not mean the same thing as "apps and sony services"