Smart Clean

[belodion]

G3 users will be familiar with that phone's habit of keeping things tidy via Smart Clean. The G4 is the same. You may first notice this when you look for an app icon in the app drawer and find that it's NO LONGER THERE. 'How can that be?' you say. 'I'm sure I had Google Sky Map...and where the hell is Voice Recorder?'
The answer is that they have been classified as Idle Apps through disuse and stowed tidily away by Smart Clean. They can be restored again if wished, and you can also adjust the idle period to something more suitable for those lesser-used apps. But you can't helping feeling that the term IDLE Apps, with its broom-sweeping-dust icon, is judging you, and quite rightly.
Anyway, Jerry's article is a useful read:
http://www.androidcentral.com/smart-cleaning-lg-g4-what-it-and-do-you-need-it

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[B. Diddy]

I've wondered if this is really that useful of a feature, or if it causes more confusion and bewilderment than it's worth.:-\

 

[dpham00]

Idle apps certainly seems like a bad idea,since most people just take the default option clean. Especially because restoring some might require a factory data reset.

Sent from my Verizon LG G4

 

[belodion]

All fair comments (above two posts), but both phones are superb, so it's easy to feel a certain fond and forgiving indulgence for this feature.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[KPMcClave]

When you go to "Clean" idle apps, does it actually remove them from the phone? I see in Jerry's article that pic with apps you can't ordinarily uninstall (i.e. Calculater). If this eventually allows for removal of unused apps we couldn't remove otherwise, I'm all for it.

I figure they just sweep them over in to a dark corner of the phone's storage, though.

 

[belodion]

^^^It doesn't actually uninstall them so far as I know. It's also done slightly different between the G3 and the G4. On the G3, go to the Update Centre app, then App Updates....but note that not all G3s have the Update Centre app. In that case, it's Settings, About Phone, Update Centre, App Updates, which is also how I have to do it on my G4. On the G3, the Idle Apps are shown with a 'Download' option next to them. On the G4, Idle Apps are shown in Smart Clean, with a 'Clean' option next to them, which I guess just moves them to an area of internal storage. Both pre-installed and user-installed apps are treated the same, but they don't seem to be truly uninstalled by Smart Clean, despite the 'Download' option just mentioned.
I'm sorry if that's confusing. It may not even be entirely right. It would indeed be useful to be able to uninstall unwanted apps in that way.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[KPMcClave]

^^^It doesn't actually uninstall them so far as I know. It's also done slightly different between the G3 and the G4. On the G3, go to the Update Centre app, then App Updates....but note that not all G3s have the Update Centre app. In that case, it's Settings, About Phone, Update Centre, App Updates, which is also how I have to do it on my G4. On the G3, the Idle Apps are shown with a 'Download' option next to them. On the G4, Idle Apps are shown in Smart Clean, with a 'Clean' option next to them, which I guess just moves them to an area of internal storage. Both pre-installed and user-installed apps are treated the same, but they don't seem to be truly uninstalled by Smart Clean, despite the 'Download' option just mentioned.
I'm sorry if that's confusing. It may not even be entirely right. It would indeed be useful to be able to uninstall unwanted apps in that way.

Posted via the Android Central App

Thanks. I figured an uninstall was too good to be true. Chances are I will have already disabled the ones I can long before they hit idle status.

 

[belodion]

....Although, thinking about it, where would be the point of Smart Cleaning, unless they were fully uninstalled? Otherwise, they would just be taking up the same storage space, but elsewhere (perhaps) on the phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[KPMcClave]

....Although, thinking about it, where would be the point of Smart Cleaning, unless they were fully uninstalled? Otherwise, they would just be taking up the same storage space, but elsewhere (perhaps) on the phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

Maybe it's some sort of auto-disable feature. What we do with the bloatware we can't uninstall.