How to exit/close apps

[dbronstein]

Most of the apps don't have exit or close options, so how do you close them? I have a task killer, but it seems that you wouldn't really need one if the apps had exit or close options so you knew for sure that they were shutting down when you are done.

 

[Backnblack]

Just back out of them...Task Killers are not required with android OS IMHO...lots of threads on that.....

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...-not-worry-about-apps-running-background.html

 

[dbronstein]

Yeah, I've read the discussions on the task killers. It would just be nice if the apps had an exit option so you could be sure you are closing them if you want. Thanks for the reply.

 

[JayMonster]

It is a hard habit to break, but since the OS handles what is know as garbage collection (cleaning out unused memory), it is actually better for the OS to do it. When an app closes itself, it may not report back properly the free space to the OS and thus you may not be getting the actual benefit you believe you are by having an Exit "button"

The same holds true with killing task (and as Backnblack pointed out), they are not only unnecessary, but in some cases can be counter productive since if you kill a process that needs to to some clean up before closing you wind up with corrupt data.

 

[dnvnk]

I have yet to use an app that actually has a "close" feature

 

[dabuda]

Slacker Radio has a close button

 

[metsnfins]

i understand the let the system close it out itself argument, except i find that it eats battery power when you leave them open

 

[Garemlin]

I am finding lately that even backing out is not closing them completely. I made a post yesterday about changes in my battery usage lately. Some apps that aren't even running are eating the battery. Perfect example is Flixter Movies and the browser. My Droid has been off charge for 5 hours and has not even been used at all. Flixter is showing 21% usage. I went in to my task killer and it isn't even showing it running. Another is Beautiful Widgets. A few days ago it ate up 51% of my battery and since unplugged today shows 17%. I know BW runs all of the time but it has never ate up the battery like that. I also had an issue with the browser the other day. I always make sure I back out, close all open windows and kill it with ATK. It had used 92% being off charge for 3 hours.

 

[TimChgo9]

Experiment I ran about a two weeks, or so, ago.

I decided to ditch the ATK and let Android "close" all unused apps. I checked my phone last Tuesday morning, made a phone call, messaged my son, used ATK to close everything, and decided to not use ATK for the remainder of the day.

An hour later: FB, Alarm Clock, Messaging, Browser, You Tube, DigiClock Widget, Corporate Calender, Music Player and SportsTap were all running. I don't know why You Tube, Corporate Calender, Camera and Music player started running, I didn't start those apps, and didn't use them at all. So, I left them open, since Android "closes" all apps that aren't being used. I noted that my battery, which is normally about 80% by noon, was down to 60% by noon, and needed a charge by 3 o'clock. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary with my phone... Oh yeah, when all of those apps are running, after all Android "closes" apps that aren't being used, it causes the phone function to FC when trying to hang up, or when trying to open the phone to make a call, and I had about 20MB of memory available.

Some of the apps, like Slacker, Pandora, SportsTap, FB ,and WeatherBug have to be running in the background because of the associated widgets on my home screens, but, apps that I don't open, should not be resident in memory. Camera is the biggest killer of the battery and it starts automatically.

Is there something in my system, perhaps an application, that is accessing all of this stuff, and doesn't need to? Anyway, the next day, I used ATK when needed, and my battery behaved like it always did, 80% by noon, and not needing a charge until evening, or even, by the time I went to bed. Whenever I use applications, esp, if I use the phone to browse the net, play a game, or use Dex Knows, or something, I always kill the apps after closing.

Say what you want, but, it extends my battery life, and my phone runs better. Apps, after being used, stay resident in memory, and take up space.

 

[hookbill]

Experiment I ran about a two weeks, or so, ago.

I decided to ditch the ATK and let Android "close" all unused apps. I checked my phone last Tuesday morning, made a phone call, messaged my son, used ATK to close everything, and decided to not use ATK for the remainder of the day.

An hour later: FB, Alarm Clock, Messaging, Browser, You Tube, DigiClock Widget, Corporate Calender, Music Player and SportsTap were all running. I don't know why You Tube, Corporate Calender, Camera and Music player started running, I didn't start those apps, and didn't use them at all. So, I left them open, since Android "closes" all apps that aren't being used. I noted that my battery, which is normally about 80% by noon, was down to 60% by noon, and needed a charge by 3 o'clock. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary with my phone... Oh yeah, when all of those apps are running, after all Android "closes" apps that aren't being used, it causes the phone function to FC when trying to hang up, or when trying to open the phone to make a call, and I had about 20MB of memory available.

Some of the apps, like Slacker, Pandora, SportsTap, FB ,and WeatherBug have to be running in the background because of the associated widgets on my home screens, but, apps that I don't open, should not be resident in memory. Camera is the biggest killer of the battery and it starts automatically.

Is there something in my system, perhaps an application, that is accessing all of this stuff, and doesn't need to? Anyway, the next day, I used ATK when needed, and my battery behaved like it always did, 80% by noon, and not needing a charge until evening, or even, by the time I went to bed. Whenever I use applications, esp, if I use the phone to browse the net, play a game, or use Dex Knows, or something, I always kill the apps after closing.

Say what you want, but, it extends my battery life, and my phone runs better. Apps, after being used, stay resident in memory, and take up space.

The problem doesn't seem to be using a task killer itself, it's your choice of a task killer. ATK is suspect of being a possible problem app.

I use Task Panel, and never have had an issue with it. I rarely use it, I doubt if I've used it in a week and usually it's just to kill my browser so the browser resets.

Just something to keep in mind should you start developing some problems on your Droid.

 

[CoolBreeze]

Unless the developer explicitly provides for a way of closing the application by calling finish() on the activity the Android OS will handle it. Most developers it seems prefer to just let Android handle the cleanup, which will happen when memory starts to get low and there are activities that have been sitting idle for a while.

It seems that even though Android will automatically handle the cleanup, that it's just good programming practice to offer users the ability to explicitly close down apps on demand.

 

[TimChgo9]

Experiment I ran about a two weeks, or so, ago.

I decided to ditch the ATK and let Android "close" all unused apps. I checked my phone last Tuesday morning, made a phone call, messaged my son, used ATK to close everything, and decided to not use ATK for the remainder of the day.

An hour later: FB, Alarm Clock, Messaging, Browser, You Tube, DigiClock Widget, Corporate Calender, Music Player and SportsTap were all running. I don't know why You Tube, Corporate Calender, Camera and Music player started running, I didn't start those apps, and didn't use them at all. So, I left them open, since Android "closes" all apps that aren't being used. I noted that my battery, which is normally about 80% by noon, was down to 60% by noon, and needed a charge by 3 o'clock. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary with my phone... Oh yeah, when all of those apps are running, after all Android "closes" apps that aren't being used, it causes the phone function to FC when trying to hang up, or when trying to open the phone to make a call, and I had about 20MB of memory available.

Some of the apps, like Slacker, Pandora, SportsTap, FB ,and WeatherBug have to be running in the background because of the associated widgets on my home screens, but, apps that I don't open, should not be resident in memory. Camera is the biggest killer of the battery and it starts automatically.

Is there something in my system, perhaps an application, that is accessing all of this stuff, and doesn't need to? Anyway, the next day, I used ATK when needed, and my battery behaved like it always did, 80% by noon, and not needing a charge until evening, or even, by the time I went to bed. Whenever I use applications, esp, if I use the phone to browse the net, play a game, or use Dex Knows, or something, I always kill the apps after closing.

Say what you want, but, it extends my battery life, and my phone runs better. Apps, after being used, stay resident in memory, and take up space.

The problem doesn't seem to be using a task killer itself, it's your choice of a task killer. ATK is suspect of being a possible problem app.

I use Task Panel, and never have had an issue with it. I rarely use it, I doubt if I've used it in a week and usually it's just to kill my browser so the browser resets.

Just something to keep in mind should you start developing some problems on your Droid.

Maybe I will give Task Panel a go.. I am on my second Droid, (got it replaced last night) and not happy about it right at the moment. I don't think ATK has given me any problems, but, I'll try Task Panel, and see if there is a difference....

 

[Sleeve]

Unless you have a privacy/logoff type concern with apps like Personal Assistant, there is no need to close an app.

Apps in memory do not "take up space." They are a specific pattern of ones and zeroes rather than a random pattern. It takes no more power to have an idle app in memory than not. A one does not cost more power than a zero. Just because an app is loaded does not mean it is using resources. They don't have heartbeats.

The impact to battery life of needing to kill an app when the Android OS feels like it rather than when you feel like it with a task killer is no different.

There are a few reasons for apps to load themselves and stay loaded. First, they are state-aware. The phone app needs to be running so you get your calls, bluetooth so you can use a headset, alarm clock to notify you, calendar to remind you about appointments, etc... Second, the app takes a long time to load and it wants to be partially ready. Every Windows computer that has Quicktime installed is an example of this: there is a stub process hanging around waiting to load QT quickly when you want to use it. You may use QT once a month, but it's there every time you boot and always. Camera would be an example of this. When you want to take a picture, you want to take it right now. Some would say the Droid camera already takes time. The fact that it partially loads itself reduces that time.

On the 80% versus 60% usage, from the battery usage screen, which items on that list were lower by a total of 20%? Specifically, between a day that you make it to noon at 80% and a day you drop to 60%, what are the battery usage differences on the display and the phone categories?

I know my daily usage of my Droid varies too much for a one day test to affect whether I would return to using a task killer. Some days, it'll sit on the table most of the day. The next, I'll sit in the car while waiting for others and play Nintaii and Space Physics.

 

[NOLAsailing]

My issue is the music players that don't have a quick way to close the app. You can't leave a program running if it's making noise! To me, this is a major shortcoming.

 

[eliassami5]

My issue is the music players that don't have a quick way to close the app. You can't leave a program running if it's making noise! To me, this is a major shortcoming.

what are you talking about? just hit the pause button and that effectively closes the app. In Pandora it has a Quit button so that it starts a whole new song when you load it up again.