Why do my apps reload when i swap between apps?

[Insane225]

Hello. I'm running Android 7.1.1 on a ZTE Blade Spark and I'm with at&t. This is a new phone for me.
So this has become aggravating. If I'm on Facebook and swap over to a different app (i.e. text message), when I swap back over to Facebook it will reload the app as if it's the first time I'm opening it. This is frustrating because it reloads my news feed and starts me back at the top.
It must do this with all of my apps because if im using chrome, swap to a different app, then swap back, it will reload my page on chrome which was actually causing some issues with what I was trying to accomplish the other day.
Is there a way to keep my apps from reloading when I switch between my apps?

UPDATE SINCE REPLIES 7/1/18:
I didn't see a reply button so I edited my question. Hopefully it will be seen.
It reloads almost every app, not just Facebook. Like with Chrome. If I'm on a page, swap over to check a text or something, when I swap back to Chrome it reloads the whole page rather than the page already being loaded like it should. With Facebook I'm not confusing it with updating the feed, I mean Facebook actually boots from start every time I swap over. Every single app seems to boot from scratch when it should already be open. I can't foresee it being a RAM issue because it's a brand new phone with free space.. I didn't have this problem with my previous phone, ZTE ZMax2, only with this new phone, ZTE Blade. This question is me trying to work the kinks out of my new phone. Thanks for the replies.

 

[hallux]

This has to do with how much RAM the device has. That device has 2 GB of RAM, which is pretty "weak" these days. With that little RAM, the OS has to aggressively unload apps from memory to make room for the next app you're opening (which then needs to load into RAM). A device with more RAM won't need to do this as much.

 

[Mooncatt]

RAM may be an issue, but you only mentioned Facebook problems. Facebook, by design, reloads itself often. Heck, when I'm browsing it on Chrome (I rarely use the FB app), they hijacked the back button for navigation. Now instead of going to the previous FB page, it'll jump straight to my main news feed. Pressing back again will then take me to what should've been the previous page in the first place. Or if I scroll down my main news feed and hit back to leave the site, it'll jump to the top of my feed and I have to press it again to leave.

So if this is ONLY a problem with Facebook, then it's simply how they programmed it. If other apps are also reloading, then I would agree this could be a RAM issue and you'll want to uninstall apps you don't need (for example, browsing FB on Chrome is almost identical to using the app, or use lightweight alternatives to the main FB app).

 

[Rukbat]

When an app becomes "not the foreground app". Android can kill it if it needs the space. Since all Android apps are required to keep their current state at all times, and to be able to start "in last current state", that's not a problem. You bring the app to the foreground again, Android loads it, telling it "load in last current state" and, to you, the app has been running in the background all the time.

Some apps - Facebook. GEICO, maybe some others, ignore the "load in last current state" argument and always load as if this was the first time. You can complain to Facebook, but I seriously doubt that it will do any good.