Apps that are always running

[michaelp68]

<--- Evo Shift, non-rooted

I know there are apps routinely that run in the background. I get it.

But two that always seem to run, even if I'm not using them, and even if I've exited/closed/stopped them, are Skype and TeleNav GPS Navigator.

Any reason for this?
(Are they necessary? They doing anything? How to prevent this?)

Thank you.

 

[Moscow Desire]

If you have looked at the settings for the apps themselves, and can find no options for setting them to manual or otherwise, I can only suspect, they are Branded apps. Apps that shipped with the phone from the carrier. If you can't uninstall them, the only option is to root. I suggest you check the specific app settings first.

 

[koopakid08]

<--- Evo Shift, non-rooted

I know there are apps routinely that run in the background. I get it.

But two that always seem to run, even if I'm not using them, and even if I've exited/closed/stopped them, are Skype and TeleNav GPS Navigator.

Any reason for this?
(Are they necessary? They doing anything? How to prevent this?)

Thank you.

I develop Android apps so I though I'd explain why a task killer isn't needed on an Android system.

Activities
Android apps use activites to preform tasks. For example, if you use a file manager to send a picture via email, the file manager calls the send activity within an email app, passes the file name to it and the email app sends the picture.. not the file manager. This will result in seeing the email app as "running" even though the user didn't actually launch that email app.

Smaller apps
Using activites helps developers design smaller apps. A file manager app that contains every bit of code needed to do everything a file manager does would likely be so large that no one would want to install it. Developers know that an android phone more than likely has an email app so there is no need for the developer to include email code in his/her file manager to send a picture when he/she can call an activity in an existing email app to do the job. This results in a smaller file manager app since there is no need to include email code or any other code for an activity that can be done via an app that is already present on the phone. This also alleviates redundant code. When you install an app outside of the android market, also known as sideloading, the file manager app calls the package installer (already present in Android) to install the requested app.

Running apps vs. cached apps
The "Manage Applications" list included in many android devices lists running apps as well as cached apps. Cached apps don't use any CPU or battery, they're cached so they will load faster the next time you need them. Killing cached apps results in those apps requiring more time to load the next time they are launched.

System management
By default, every android application runs in its own Linux process. Android starts the process when any of the application’s code (activities) needs to be executed, and shuts down the process when it’s no longer needed and system resources are required by other applications.

* Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when more memory is needed.
* Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when it’s done doing what it needs to do.
* Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when you haven’t returned to it in a long time.
* Most services (while possibly running in the background) use very little memory when not actively doing something.
* A content provider is only doing something when there is a notification for it to give. Otherwise it uses very little memory.
* Killing a process when it isn’t ready only causes it to have to reload itself and start from scratch when it’s needed again.
* Because a task is likely running in the background for a reason, killing it will only cause it to re-spawn as soon as the activity that was using it looks for it again. And it will just have to start over again.
* Killing certain processes can have undesirable side effects. Not receiving text messages, alarms not going off, and force closes just to name a few.
* The only true way to prevent something from running at all on your phone would be to uninstall the .apk.
* Most applications will exit themselves if you get out of it by hitting “back” until it closes rather than hitting the “home” button. But even with hitting home, Android will eventually kill it once it’s been in the background for a while.

If you see an app running that you didn't launch, it's most likely because an activity within that app was called by another app to perform a task. If you kill the app you didn't launch, the system has to relaunch that app in order to complete its task. This is why some people kill a task and then see it immediately running again. Constantly killing that app creates a situation where the user is battling the system resulting in wasted system resources.

Android is Linux
Android is not a Windows-based OS, it is based on Linux. Many of the apps you think are running aren't actually running, they're cached, this is typical with a Linux operating system and is much more efficient than other systems. Cached apps don't use any CPU or battery, they're cached and will load faster the next time they're needed.

Let the system manage resources.

 

[pianomanss87]

Thanks. Great info

Piano Man

 

[michaelp68]

Koop, great information. Thank you.

I'm specifically referring to Skype and to TeleNav.

Both are displayed in the phone as 'running' and not 'cached'.

TeleNav comes on the phone, pre-installed. So from your explanation, I understand that something in the app itself or some other app has it up and running. It's using 5.6 mb of RAM.

Skype is installed via the Market and, likewise, I understand that something within Skype itself or some other app has it up and running. It's using 4.6 mb of RAM.

So, I can't figure out what app has them running, or why they are running themselves continuously. But it's 10.2 mb of RAM being used and I was trying to figure out the reason since it doesn't seem to make sense to me that they'd be running.

And my inquiry has nothing to do with using task killers. I'm just wondering about these two particular apps.

Also, upon further examination, when I tap on the app in 'Running Services' it states, "This service was started by its application."

So, if I'm not using the app, I'm not sure why these two apps are always running in the background with 10+ mb of RAM being used.

Sorry for the ramble. Just trying to understand it.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

Koop, great information. Thank you.

I'm specifically referring to Skype and to TeleNav.

Both are displayed in the phone as 'running' and not 'cached'.

TeleNav comes on the phone, pre-installed. So from your explanation, I understand that something in the app itself or some other app has it up and running. It's using 5.6 mb of RAM.

Skype is installed via the Market and, likewise, I understand that something within Skype itself or some other app has it up and running. It's using 4.6 mb of RAM.

So, I can't figure out what app has them running, or why they are running themselves continuously. But it's 10.2 mb of RAM being used and I was trying to figure out the reason since it doesn't seem to make sense to me that they'd be running.

And my inquiry has nothing to do with using task killers. I'm just wondering about these two particular apps.

Also, upon further examination, when I tap on the app in 'Running Services' it states, "This service was started by its application."

So, if I'm not using the app, I'm not sure why these two apps are always running in the background with 10+ mb of RAM being used.

Sorry for the ramble. Just trying to understand it.

Thats not a ramble, just bringing the question back in focus. I too, have had the same question about how to stop Facebook and Twitter from running constantly. I do not and have not used either of these two apps on my phone, even placed them in the 'hidden' list so not to make a mistake on clicking on the icons. Yet, when i go to 'Running Services" there they are, autostarted on their on, even after I have manually forced them to close.

Cant locate an answer online asking how to find out if some other installed app from the market could be 'tapping' into these two apps, causing them to activate in the background. If so, I would remove the market installed app. My phone is not rooted so i cant delete the app, so, only want to know how to at least stop them from starting up.

 

[PvilleComp]

Koop, great information. Thank you.

I'm specifically referring to Skype and to TeleNav.

For Skype - it is most likely starting a "listener" process so it can receive inbound calls from fellow Skypers.

For Telenav... Most likely a dormant process to help the app start faster.

In either case - if the phone needs the memory - it will garbage collect what it needs.

I too, have had the same question about how to stop Facebook and Twitter from running constantly.

I'm going to assume you have an HTC phone since both Twitter and Facebook are integrated into Sense and are used by the HTC messaging/contact/email apps to provide a unified messaging experience. That would explain why they are running even when you are not using the services.

Frankly I think the Carrier bloatware issue has gotten way out of hand. And I think it's insulting that we as users don't have an easy way to remove them. But unless and until the average user complains (and let's face it we are a vocal minority, but a minority nonetheless) they will continue to cram our devices with this junk.

@koop - Great write up on how apps use memory - I'll refer people to that post often.

 

[srkmagnus]

I've never used a task manager and see no need to. Android handles the system great right out of the box.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Skype is running so you can receive calls. It has to have a small bit of code active to listen when incoming data is received.
Telenav is running because it's tied to your contacts. It's using RAM that would otherwise be empty. A perfect system, running on a perfectly built Linux kernel would have 0 free RAM at all times, and swap processes loaded in RAM to the foreground as needed.

If you close/kill either of these, they're going to come back -- because they are supposed to. If you feel something is slowing your system down, look at what processes are eating CPU time, not RAM.

 

[GregDavis11009]

Great explanations! So why is my Walmart app turning itself on? It does not need to listen for something until I launch it to scan in a receipt or check my balance. Just what is it looking for when I am not using it? This is good stuff for conspiracy nuts. :-\

 

[Char Fox]

GregDavis,

Walmart keeps a check on your location to inform you of in-store offers. GO into Walmart settings and uncheck in-store features.

Another method that works on some apps is to
install App Ops Starter from the Playstore and turn off certain permissions. Even that didn't stop the email app from constantly running for me though.