Question about Force stop...

[cadre.9]

When I go to Settings/Applications/Manage Apps/Running and select Force stop for some apps, then come back later, many of the apps are still showing under the Running tab. Am I missing the concept of Force stop? Why does an app start running again in the background after I've stopped it? Am I doing something wrong or is there something wrong with my phone?

I know, a lot of questions...

cadre

 

[cadre.9]

I got an answer from the VZW forum that clears up some of the confusion concerning Force stop:

"Because this is meant to stop an app that is freezing or locking up instead of having to reboot to fix the issue. This isn't meant to keep the app off because every time the system accesses files related to that app it has to rub the app.... You can not stop any app completely."

cadre

 

[pool_shark]

That's the reason most Android users say using task killers is a bad thing.
The OS will restart those or other apps in their place, which means your task killer is working quite a bit, which is hurting your battery, plus the power it takes for the OS to restart them.

 

[Lex_Luthor]

Yeah you can't kill alot of apps especially system/stock/bloat apps. Most downloaded apps are usually "kill-able"

 

[kevinkar]

Just remember that an application "running" doesn't necessarily mean it's using CPU cycles and more likely means it's just got pieces loaded into memory just waiting for use if necessary. Having them partially loaded greatly reduces the load time when you want to use them.

 

[pool_shark]

Just remember that an application "running" doesn't necessarily mean it's using CPU cycles and more likely means it's just got pieces loaded into memory just waiting for use if necessary. Having them partially loaded greatly reduces the load time when you want to use them.

This is true. Unfortunately there are publications telling users to kill their apps because they running and hurting your battery life. But I have yet to see any of those publications state that the apps restart and that killing them isn't helping.
So people getting bad information.

 

[kevinkar]

I just read that in PC World, I believe, and couldn't believe I read that in a "respected" publication. Good thing we have reasonably sane forums like this one to set the record straight.

I don't have proof but I bet older PDAs operated similarly such as the Palm Pilot which didn't really multitask but appeared to because it was so fast switching between apps and back again. Android learned from that, I think.

 

[modisch]

Yup.

The way Android multitasks is to keep things loaded in memory, even when not in use... So that it is already there when it is needed. But simply being idle in memory doesn't consume battery.

Stopping an app is only for when the app is unresponsive or causing some other problem.

Some apps are poorly designed and don't consider the way android works... these apps will continue doing something like reading a sensor or processing something when you are not actively using them. You can kill them but they'll just come back and keep running and burning power. If you find an app is behaving this way, uninstall it and rate and comment it in the market appropriately.

However, I've find very few apps do this.

I hope this helps.

-m

{ DroidX «» Liberty 2.0.1 «» TapaTalk }

 

[modisch]

Also, get am app like "Android System Info". It is an easy way to see what is running, what is using cpu, and from there you can kill anything that is a problem.

Unlike an automatic task killer, this won't kill apps on its own, wasting battery. It also gives a lot more information than apps like Advanced Task Killer. I used to use ATK but I face long since removed it. Android System Info gives you so much more and won't kill apps automatically.

-m

{ DroidX «» Liberty 2.0.1 «» TapaTalk }

 

[pool_shark]

I prefer to use the command line and run top.

I used that to prove to the masses that lookout security doesn't consume battery life as they thought.

 

[cadre.9]

Thanks for the info about the running apps. I had assumed anything running was draining battery power.

pool_shark- What is "run top" and how do I access a command line?

cadre