Question about launchers

[bewpy]

Okay well, I just dont like using stock launcher or whatever you wanna call it, I've come accustomed to using third party launchers.. My question is.. if im using Apex or something.. does the stock launcher continue to run in the background and drain more battery then if I were to just use stock? Is there anyway to disable something if my phone is rooted so I can continue to use Apex but stop the default launcher from running as well? Or does android not work like that and if I have apex it cancels out the default launcher?

 

[Aquila]

The default in Android is that only one is running as a launcher at a time... however, if you reboot and load Apex and then manually switch to Nova, Apex is still "running" (basically frozen in memory) and when you hit home, it is still in memory similarly to the way that recent apps are handled. If you do not manually switch, only the "default" launcher is called on reboot, home press, etc so it will not load the "stock" launcher unless you specifically tell it to.

 

[bewpy]

So if I set apex to default.. And reboot my phone do I have to do anything special to close default launcher? Or.. I'm still a bit confused.. Sorry. Basically if I only have apex launcher and set my home button to open it by default.. Do I have to ever bother with closing or force stopping anything?

 

[Aquila]

So if I set apex to default.. And reboot my phone do I have to do anything special to close default launcher? Or.. I'm still a bit confused.. Sorry. Basically if I only have apex launcher and set my home button to open it by default.. Do I have to ever bother with closing or force stopping anything?

Correct, if you only have one running (so every boot other than when you manually enable another either by uninstalling or installing a launcher or by opening it up from the app drawer, etc) then you do not have to take any action to only have one running. Even if you do switch from one to another, the one that you are not viewing is not actually "active", rather it is just frozen in memory. Widgets on those screens are not updating (although the apps behind them may be, depending on settings) and no actions that you take on home screens of other launchers are being mirrored directly on any others.

 

[bewpy]

Okay, thanks for the help.. One more question.. does have a launcher like Apex(I've heard its really good on battery).. does having that use less battery then if I were to use no launcher at all? Basically, does Apex use less battery than stock?

 

[srkmagnus]

Okay, thanks for the help.. One more question.. does have a launcher like Apex(I've heard its really good on battery).. does having that use less battery then if I were to use no launcher at all? Basically, does Apex use less battery than stock?

If it does provide an improvement in battery it's likely not a whole lot. What does start consuming battery (again, likely not a noticeable difference) might be the various animation customizations such as 3d fly in effects, scrolling on the home screen and menus.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Rukbat]

The difference in battery usage between one launcher and another (aside from animation effects, which eat a lot of battery) is a TINY percentage of what the screen itself uses.

As far as running one launcher and having another one still in memory - Android isn't Windows. It will usually keep RAM as full as possible. If you run Apex, then run the stock launcher (from the app drawer), Apex is still in memory, but it's not using battery. If you then hit the Home button, Apex will just start running.

If running the stock launcher got Apex out of memory (you can't really "remove" an app from memory, you can only overwrite its code with some other code, like the stock launcher), then pressing the Home key would require loading Apex again - which would use more battery.

People worry about apps staying in memory in Android because that's a bad thing in Windows. But that's like worrying about a corroded tiller post in your car because it's dangerous in a boat. Android keeps apps in memory to SAVE battery (and time). You don't care if your desktop has to load Excel from the hard drive every time you run it - the drive is running anyway. In Android it costs battery to load an app from storage to RAM. (And even worse is those "RAM optimizers" that "delete" any app not actually running. That can take a pretty bad hit on the battery.)

Your best bet is to just not worry about things like that - Android has a great memory manager, and will force-kill any app that needs to be gotten out of the way. Multitasking the Android Way | Android Developers Blog is a great explanation by one of the people involved.

 

[bewpy]

Okay, thanks guys!

 

[srkmagnus]

You're welcome. Let us know if you have further questions.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app