NEWB Question: Background Apps

[Exergy]

I've had my Nexus 4 for a couple of days now and something is bothering me. I came from an iPhone, and although I know this was an issue too, it wasn't as noticeable. How do I keep the apps in the background from constantly running? For instance, I have whatsapp messenger, but I don't use it often, almost every time I got to my task killer it is running. How do I prevent it from running in the background if I haven't activated the app. Maybe this isn't an actual problem I should be concerned about but there are a number of apps that appear to be processing in the background that I would like to terminate.

 

[anon(847090)]

There are two types of apps normal and service(like windows service). whatsapp messenger probably will be a service so that you get the message even if the app is closed.
so even if you close the app it will come right back. most of these apps are cached apps ie, it will be sleeping in the background but still in memory.

if you go to settings-->apps-->Running. (list of running apps)
there will be a button called "cached process". click on it. that will show all cached process. most of that app you see in task manager might be cached process.

i dont think you have to worry about it

 

[gone down south]

Android is now smart enough to manage apps for you, you shouldn't have to worry about it.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[V-Tech]

I've had my Nexus 4 for a couple of days now and something is bothering me. I came from an iPhone, and although I know this was an issue too, it wasn't as noticeable. How do I keep the apps in the background from constantly running? For instance, I have whatsapp messenger, but I don't use it often, almost every time I got to my task killer it is running. How do I prevent it from running in the background if I haven't activated the app. Maybe this isn't an actual problem I should be concerned about but there are a number of apps that appear to be processing in the background that I would like to terminate.

Dont have the N4 yet and i dont know about other apps but i can tell you that Whatsapp is a message service, meaning it works in the background until you get a message. Closing it is basically like closing SMS messages (which i dont think you can), you will never know if you have a new message unless you actually reopen the app to check.

I have a BB now and Whatsapp is always running in the background for this reason.

 

[corance]

Android is totally different than ios or windows. Apps run in the background until they are needed whereas in windows you want as few running as possible. That's why task managers aren't needed and can be bad. You are constantly killing apps that need to be opened which is taking up more memory and processor.

 

[klau25]

yup, we really should just have a sticky in every forum to tell ppl not to use a task killer.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[Exergy]

yup, we really should just have a sticky in every forum to tell ppl not to use a task killer.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

So what is the best memory management procedure?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[corance]

With 2 gigs of it you should be good. Just let it do its thing. As long as it's running fast then you're good.

 

[anon(847090)]

So what is the best memory management procedure?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

Android is the best memory management tool. nexus 4 has 2 Gb RAM and Android handles the memory very well.
2Gb RAM in phone is like 8Gb RAM in the PC world.

 

[mugabuga]

DO NOT use task killers. They don't help your battery/speed at all, and they end up causing lost data and force closes.

 

[Hubertsng]

You have 2GB of ram, I don't think you need to care about keeping your apps open really. I saw this video where this guy opened three graphics intensive game and the third one still played pretty smoothly.

 

[bobjohnson201]

i just uninstalled advanced task killer, thanks guys