Android is Silently Killing my Apps - How do I stop it?

[Josiah Bryan]

Specs: Samsung S5 Verizon
Model: SM-G900V
Android Ver: 5.0
Baseband Ver: G900VVRU2BOG5
Kernel: 3.4.0
Build: LRX21T.($baseband)

This has gotten seriously out of hand and it is INCREDIBLY frustrating! It's gotten so bad that I'll literally not be able to leave Google Maps running in the background (e.g. navigating somewhere) because when I start navigation then go to send a text letting them know my ETA, Android silently kills Google Maps! I mean, seriously Android, STOP IT!

This is incredible - this morning, I woke up, started Pandora, then went to open a single webpage to check the time of the church service. As soon as the page loaded, my music stopped - because Pandora was silently killed in the background!

Then just now - I started Spotify, then shut the screen off to go work on my laptop - and seconds later Spotify was killed!

In each of these cases, there is no error message on the screen ("Instagram unexpectedly quit" or whatever) - in each case, the app is in the background, and silently just goes away - no errors, no warnings, nothing. And I certainly don't exit the apps either - I mean, I started Pandora, it's playing, so I go to another app - still playing - load a webpage - and music stops! I checked the title bar - yup, Pandora was not there.

Now, I know this sounds like the rantings of a madman - however, it's a very very real problem. I've taken the following steps to TRY to stop this from happening, all to no avail:

- Checked out the "Running Applications" section and looked for apps using large amounts of RAM. Nothing really stood out - got the usual suspects, such as Messenger and Facebook - both of which I *want* to be running in the background. A lot of misc Samsung bloatware apps, so I went thru my installed apps and "Disable"d a TON of apps - Samsung this and Samsung that.

- I've went thru my installed apps and UNINSTALLED a ton of not-needed apps (Snapchat, anyone? Facebook Pages Manager? All gone.)

- I've moved every app that I can off onto the SD card and put in a larger SD card to compensate

None of these steps has reduced the frequency of the random app shutdowns. In fact, the past few days they've gotten worse and worse. I'd love to change my ROM for something lighter, but I can't find out a way to root this G900V, which seems to be a prereq for ROM change.

So, without changing my ROM, how can I stop Android from silently killing my apps? Ideas / suggestions? Feel free to rant and yell and tell me I'm using my phone like an ***** - anything. I just want to be able to run TWO THINGS AT ONCE - is that so hard to ask? I mean, come on now, Google Maps and sending a text message? Is that too much to ask? Really?

 

[Ian Morgan2]

Maybe it's a sign that the battery is becoming increasingly tired ? Have you got another battery management app installed ? How is your battery behaving.....have you had a look at the stats ?
Maybe taking a look at your apps with a view to optimizing battery use may turn up something.
How to Optimize Your Android Phone’s Battery Life Using Greenify

 

[Josiah Bryan]

I appreciate the suggestion - but my battery seems to be behaving quite admirably. Below is a screenshot of the battery stats since it was last on the charger this morning - as you can see, the biggest user of the battery is Android System - nothing else even comes close. The screen used a paltry 1% compared to Android System's 32%. I still have 64% battery remaining - so it doesn't seem to have anything to do with battery. No "hidden" apps are showing up as running and using a lot of battery either. Not saying I'm right - not saying it DOESN'T have anything to do with battery, just I don't see any evidence of it from these stats.

Other suggestions ...?

 

[ironass]

I as you can see, the biggest user of the battery is Android System - nothing else even comes close.

Try disabling FaceBook and Messenger, which also show up under the heading, Android OS, and see how much difference it makes. Those two apps alone are enough to drain a battery and affect performance. You may have others installed. See, Battery, memory, data hogs... top 10

 

[Josiah Bryan]

You see, FB Messenger and FB are the two apps that I *do* want running in the background so as to get notifications from friends, etc. Are you saying that the S5 can't handle Messenger, FB, Google Maps Navigation and Text Messaging all being in RAM at the same time...?

 

[ironass]

You see, FB Messenger and FB are the two apps that I *do* want running in the background so as to get notifications from friends, etc. Are you saying that the S5 can't handle Messenger, FB, Google Maps Navigation and Text Messaging all being in RAM at the same time...?

Just go to... Settings > Application manager > Running... and see how much more than that is going on.

Try what I suggested. Charge to 100% and disable FaceBook and Messenger for a few hours. See if it makes a difference. What have you got to lose?

 

[Josiah Bryan]

I'll try it. But that's exactly what I did - Settings/App Mgr/Running - and there was a huge load of crud running besides FB/Messenger that I don't give two shakes of a dogs tail about - and I've disabled everything in there that I possibly could. (My Magazine, Flipboard, Samsung Print crap, Samsung Link crap, Samsung Account crap, Samsung Update crap, Samsung Kiss My Whatever crap...I mean seriously, how comes built in that I don't want running???)

And if that DOES stop the random restarts (e.g. disabling FB/Msngr) - what then? That's no answer for the problem - I mean seriously, leaving FB and Messenger off so I can use Google Maps and text? That's back to where we're at - a crippled phone that can only do one thing at once. Android is designed to have services running unobtrusively in the background (vis a vi Pandora / Spotify / etc.) Why can't we stop it from randomly shutting down apps??

 

[ironass]

I am on the very latest, OH4, stock Samsung Galaxy S5 firmware for unbranded U.K. phones and stock battery and do not use the FaceBook or Messenger apps. Have just taken this screenshot of my battery usage today, so far, and Android O.S. is at 2%.

 

[dgcamero]

I'll try it. But that's exactly what I did - Settings/App Mgr/Running - and there was a huge load of crud running besides FB/Messenger that I don't give two shakes of a dogs tail about - and I've disabled everything in there that I possibly could. (My Magazine, Flipboard, Samsung Print crap, Samsung Link crap, Samsung Account crap, Samsung Update crap, Samsung Kiss My Whatever crap...I mean seriously, how comes built in that I don't want running???)

And if that DOES stop the random restarts (e.g. disabling FB/Msngr) - what then? That's no answer for the problem - I mean seriously, leaving FB and Messenger off so I can use Google Maps and text? That's back to where we're at - a crippled phone that can only do one thing at once. Android is designed to have services running unobtrusively in the background (vis a vi Pandora / Spotify / etc.) Why can't we stop it from randomly shutting down apps??

I find that moving apps that I frequently use onto the SD card slows my phone down pretty badly, and the phone seems to kill apps more frequently. The infrequent apps, fair game for movement to SD. YMMV.

Have you cleared all app caches? Cleared Android cache partition by powering off, and holding home, volume up, and power button? Disabled Picasa photo sync in the gallery? Do note that the phone will be a battery pig and seem slow for a couple of days after doing all that.

Another thing, Android, in my experience, seems to handle huge quantities of SMS and MMS messages extremely poorly. It seems to cause all sorts of sluggish behavior, and is Android's most major flaw imo. Best to back them up, delete all threads, and only restore the ones less than a few months old?

If all else fails, backup everything and reset your phone. Ugh.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[jdeuce2450]

thank you for validating my fury! i need at least three apps running while i'm at work, all the time, for hours. this horrible phone is becoming a liability. i stopped to type this before i read through the replies. i'm praying like hell the solution is in here somewhere. the phone isn't "getting tired" it's only a couple weeks old doesn't actually work as hard as i make it sound like it does.

 

[jdeuce2450]

it's not

 

[amar7]

thank you for validating my fury! i need at least three apps running while i'm at work, all the time, for hours. this horrible phone is becoming a liability. i stopped to type this before i read through the replies. i'm praying like hell the solution is in here somewhere. the phone isn't "getting tired" it's only a couple weeks old doesn't actually work as hard as i make it sound like it does.

I got the same issue since updating to Android 5.0 with the ******* smart manager I never asked for. It doesn't work properly on my phone and I can't change it's settings to exclude apps I don't want to be killed.

 

[Oahnay14]

Try this:

go into settings, then developer options, (if you don't know what that is, Google "how to unlock Developer Options") scroll down until you find "don't keep activities", make sure that's off. Also make sure the "background process limit" is set to "standard limit"

That should do it ☺

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[GapDragon60]

I have tried all of this and it is still killing my background apps.

 

[Rockzfi8er]

Always keep free more than 200mb ram memory. Use ur smart manger. And change permissions of apps.

 

[malik taleb]

have you got a solution for that ? i got the same Problem i tried everything but it still not working att all i dont not know what to do . thank u

 

[Psycho244344]

I recently got a coolpad modena 2 smartphone. Android version 6.0 with Cool UI 8.0
After setting it up, and istalling the apps i need (whatsapp, viber, skype, mail, ets) i have encountered the same issue like you guys. Apps in background were not working, and i wasnt getting any notifications unless the apps are running. Im not an android expert, and im not familiar with the Cool UI 8.0 that i got with this phone, but after doing research (thats what brought me here ), and trying everything that i can think of, i think i have found the solution that works for me.

Settings>System Settings>Smart services> Autorun Manager

Add the apps you need in the list.

 

[Guillermo Leon Betancourt]

I have a Moto G4 Plus and have the same issue. My Deezer app stops arbitrarily, and if I pause it using the notification bar thing, it closes. It does this with every app if I switch to a different one too (Pokemon GO, Facebook, Youtube, even Chrome.) I was typing this reply listening to music, it stopped, i went and resumed it, and went back to Chrome to see that it refreshed and had to start typing again!

I don't know if this happens with iOS, but if this keeps going, i'll have to switch sides.

 

[Subash Chandran1]

May be due to collision. Because I have also faced similar kind of issue in my Sony mobile, which I bought couple of years back. Try to stop all the background processes that are running using an special app or through settings if you can. I guess this problem could be fixed.]

 

[dotdavid]

I've had this problem for a while on my LG G3 running LineageOS (so no LG bloatware active) but I think I've managed to solve it. Turns out in my case it was to do with Marshmallow/Nougat's "Battery optimisation" feature

Go to Settings -> Battery and press the three dot menu on the top right to select Battery optimisation. Select "All apps" from the drop-down menu and set Maps and whatever other programs you want to run at the same time to "Not optimised"

Hope this helps!