How do I keep apps from reactivating in the background?

King Bengals

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Moto Z-Force Android 7.0

Ok I just got back from a trip. I used the Map app a lot & took a lot of pictures. It just seems like I was getting a lot better battery life when I 1st got the phone in Dec. I know there must be a lot running on the background so I did some research. I followed the instruction to allow developer mode in my setting. I go to settings/ developer options/running services/ & I get a list of what I assume is running in the active pages of the phone & the background. I did it right after a complete restart. I have some issues with the Running Services page.

#1-I see some apps I don't want to be running & I hit "Stop" just like task manager on a PC. The app disappears from the list but a few minutes to just a few moments its back on the list. These are apps that are definitely not system apps. The are Pandora, iHeart, Facebook, facebook messenger etc..
Why do they keep coming back even after I stop them in the Running Services list & in the Settings/Apps- force stop? Is there a way to stop them from reactivating themselves?

#2-I know I have some apps that must be running in the background like ESPN, Fire fan & others because I get sports update notifications on my screen but nothing about ESPN or Fire fan is on the Running Services List. How can that be?

#3-What are the several "Google Play services" on the list actually doing? I have 3 of them & sometime a 4th comes & goes from the list. Is there anyway to tell what they are doing? I'm afraid to stop anything that says Google in case its a systems thing, but Google Play is just the place you get your apps from, right? Why is it taking up over 120 MB of memory?

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-Any reviews or feedback on apps like Greenify? It came up a lot in my research.
Thanks!
 

Sajo

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If you want to disable apps that came preinstalled on your phone go to Settings > Apps > tap the app name and then Disable. That will permanently disabled that app until you manually Enable it again on the same screen. I have many of the preinstalled apps disabled on my phone (ESPN, almost all Verizon apps, etc). If you use Facebook you might not want to disable it. I would not recommend disabling any of the Google Play Services processes since Android needs those to function.

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King Bengals

King Bengals

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Thanks for getting back to me. I figured out how to disable pre-loaded apps but the ones that keep coming back are ones from the Play Store like Facebook Messenger, iHeart App & Pandora. I like & use those apps but I want them to be dead & gone & not lurking in the background until I manually start them again. I noticed on my trip over the weekend (this has happened several time before) I'd pull my phone out of my pocket because I could hear it playing music. Pandora & iHeart have not only restarted themselves on my "Running Services List" but actually launched & started playing the app!! I recently had the same thing happen with my kindle playing Pandora hours after I stopped using it! (talk about a Ghost in the Machine). Why are these apps restarting & how can I stop them in the future?
 

Sajo

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Well that's odd. I'm not sure why they would start like that all by themselves, or how to stop it. Other than uninstalling them, but if you like & use them that's not an option.

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TisMyDroid

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You could try uninstalling them and re-installing them to see if it changes. Is it possible that iHeart & Pandora are triggered by a Bluetooth connection? There are some Bluetooth devices that have settings where it will automatically start music apps.

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albertfuller

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Moto Z-Force Android 7.0

Ok I just got back from a trip. I used the Map app a lot & took a lot of pictures. It just seems like I was getting a lot better battery life when I 1st got the phone in Dec. I know there must be a lot running on the background so I did some research. I followed the instruction to allow developer mode in my setting. I go to settings/ developer options/running services/ & I get a list of what I assume is running in the active pages of the phone & the background. I did it right after a complete restart. I have some issues with the Running Services page.

#1-I see some apps I don't want to be running & I hit "Stop" just like task manager on a PC. The app disappears from the list but a few minutes to just a few moments its back on the list. These are apps that are definitely not system apps. The are Pandora, iHeart, Facebook, facebook messenger etc..
Why do they keep coming back even after I stop them in the Running Services list & in the Settings/Apps- force stop? Is there a way to stop them from reactivating themselves?

#2-I know I have some apps that must be running in the background like ESPN, Fire fan & others because I get sports update notifications on my screen but nothing about ESPN or Fire fan is on the Running Services List. How can that be?

To really be able to control apps in the background you need a rooted phone. Then the two apps I use for the job is greenify (to hibernate apps) and Titanium Backup (to freeze apps first and if no impact on phone, I then delete them from my phone).

Don't touch google services. Check Settings - Battery to see battery consumption by app.

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