How to close ALL recent apps at once?

[scottk52]

Looked around and did not see this.....can you open up the recent apps in ICS and instead of swiping each one away just swipe them all at once?

 

[Run L1ke H3LL]

not familiar with any way to close them all at once

 

[dimsdale]

I was thinking about this too. Then I started to think that maybe the "recent apps" aren't actually running?

Is it kind of like an apps history? If so, then there is no "closing" them because they aren't running.

Kind of goes to the whole questions of how processes are handled in android. Can anyone chime in?

 

[Spacemaker24]

An "app killer" app?

 

[DJCBlue]

From what I've observed with the 'recent apps' button, this list is only the recent apps that you've had open. Most apps (if I've been in them and just hit the home key or switched to a different app) seem to take me back to where I left it if I go back to it within a few minutes. However, if it's been longer than 10m or so, it seems to have closed out and opens like it is starting fresh. So even if you have 20 apps in the recent apps list, not all of them are actually running and taking up resources.

I don't know if it's an app specific setting or Android setting. Games seem to close faster than something like GVoice or GMail.

 

[DJCBlue]

I just tested something else to prove my theory of it being an app 'history' rather than a 'task manager' list.

I opened Puffle Launcher and then hit back and confirmed that I wanted to exit the application. Went to my recent apps and it was still listed there. Clicked on it and it booted up just like it had never been open.

 

[BSG75]

I'm pretty sure you are just removing the app state. It's not a "running" process, but app state is being saved. When you return to it, it resumes where it left off. Not all apps support this.

A few weeks ago I plugged my GNex into Eclipse to do some dev work. I noticed the process for some apps was still running. That is normal. When I swiped away the app in the recent list, this process died. I didn't test apps with session state, but it sounds like you already did.

 

[yosteve]

I dislike this more than anything.

Here's the scenario, I'm watching something online then I get a text. I check the text then go back to what I'm watching and it had to refresh the video, effectively making me have to start over and now I have to hunt for the spot I was last watching. :banghead:

Here's the kicker on my brother's Sony android he can do this flawlessly. My sisters htc android can do this too. And now we can't?