Database Users

How do you kill a running app

On my Samsung Gingerbread /Touchwiz Galaxy Phone long touch of the home button brings up recent applications with a task killer button that lists running apps with an exit button each.
The recent apps button on the Nexus doesn't seem to lead to a kill option.
I guess I could go to settings/apps/running and select an app and pick the stop from its page, but thats a lot more complicated.
Is there an easier way?

Press the right button (looks like two windows) then swipe to kill
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

rowanparker said:
Press the right button (looks like two windows) then swipe to kill
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Thanks, I had the right button, but I was trying to kill with a long press instead of a swipe. I thought kill/delete with Swipes was an Apple thing, while Android used long press.
Maybe Apple will sue

Nah, in the iPod touch and iPad it's long press which brings up close buttons

According to the manual the only way to kill a task is in the settings / apps section. "Force Stop"
Swiping away the "recent apps" simply removes it from "recent apps"
Jellybean manages apps / memory automatically. You should never be short on memory.

Hemidroids said:
According to the manual the only way to kill a task is in the settings / apps section. "Force Stop"
Swiping away the "recent apps" simply removes it from "recent apps"
Jellybean manages apps / memory automatically. You should never be short on memory.
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Yea, that isn't killing an app.
You don't need to kill apps as a matter of routine although people always seem to think so. Sometimes it is necessary if the app is behaving badly and there a lots of task-killers available that will do that.
I like "system panel" as it has other uses too.
The "recent apps" button is supposed to be there for your convenience so you can easily go from one app to another, if you are swiping them away you are just nullifying the point of the button.

Actually swiping away from the recent apps does indeed kill the app. You can verify the behavior on apps by swiping them away and opening them again. They will load from the beginning instead of where you left off.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

ok thanks, didn't know that. I think some of the other stuff I said is still kinda valid tho. There is no real need to kill apps.
Sent from my LG-P990 using Tapatalk

kangxi said:
Actually swiping away from the recent apps does indeed kill the app. You can verify the behavior on apps by swiping them away and opening them again. They will load from the beginning instead of where you left off.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
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I would hardly call that proof. It could simply be a signal to refresh instead of "pick up where you left off". After all, if you swipe it away you dont really have an urgent need to go right "back where you left off".

Hemidroids said:
I would hardly call that proof. It could simply be a signal to refresh instead of "pick up where you left off". After all, if you swipe it away you dont really have an urgent need to go right "back where you left off".
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The proof is already out there. I just simplified it. There was a huge debate about it when the Gnex came out and I believe a Googler posted about it on Google+ as well.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Don't most people put a task manager widget (Application Manager) on their home screens anyway for this so you can quit all active apps and clear your RAM? It was a standard app on my Samsung Captivate Glide, and I keep it next to my battery widget so maybe between the two I can make the battery last more than 8 hours.
-Ara

is there a way to delete all the runnings apps at once? It's tiring to swipe them out one by one..
sometimes after a long use you have more than 10 apps running, it would be easier if i can simply swipe them all out with one button

thunder9111 said:
is there a way to delete all the runnings apps at once? It's tiring to swipe them out one by one..
sometimes after a long use you have more than 10 apps running, it would be easier if i can simply swipe them all out with one button
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Again, that's why I like my App Manager widget, you have the option to kill everything in one click (at least until I get the ics update, then it's two clicks for that damn confirmation screen).
-Ara

I've always heard it likened to the backing out of an app with the back button. If I go into G+, go into a room in messenger and skip to home, I can resume the app right where I left off (provided it's soon, hasn't been killed). But if I exit home, swipe the app out, it acts as if I've closed it but it's kept in memory. If I do the same but long press the app in the recent apps list, go to app info and kill the app, then it is forced out of memory. It's essentially killing the app. A good example is a music app; the app continues to play when you've backed out of the app via the back button, even when you swipe the app away as it is still in use. Force stopping the app has a definite result.
Guess it is time for the obligatory "why you shouldn't don't need to use a task killer" with Android. This is an old article, but this was true then and is even more so now. Killing all apps isn't necessary and can have negative effects.
-edit-
Probably should have linked the mentioned article;
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/

AraDreamer said:
Again, that's why I like my App Manager widget, you have the option to kill everything in one click (at least until I get the ics update, then it's two clicks for that damn confirmation screen).
-Ara
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There's no need for task killers. This has been confirmed over and over, even by Google. That's why they made them stop working in Froyo I believe'
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Hemidroids said:
According to the manual the only way to kill a task is in the settings / apps section. "Force Stop"
Swiping away the "recent apps" simply removes it from "recent apps"
Jellybean manages apps / memory automatically. You should never be short on memory.
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Well, actually i use Cool Tool to monitor my available ram, and when I swipe away apps from the recent apps view, i free up lots of ram.

AraDreamer said:
Again, that's why I like my App Manager widget, you have the option to kill everything in one click (at least until I get the ics update, then it's two clicks for that damn confirmation screen).
-Ara
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It works, but it ruins the the running tasks page. After you killed everything, bring up the running apps, and they are all still there. It doesn't get rid of the apps there, so that's still annoying

Proper way to close an application?

Is it the back button all the way out of the application or pressing the Home button? I can't seem to find a concrete answer!

ojai00 said:
Is it the back button all the way out of the application or pressing the Home button?
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Those do the same thing, which is either leave the app running or leave it in a nearly running state. To actually close an app, you press the multitasking button (the button to the right of home) and swipe the app off the screen.
BUT, you generally don't need to do that in Android -- The OS manages most well behaving apps fine.

jaybeeunix said:
Those do the same thing, which is either leave the app running or leave it in a nearly running state. To actually close an app, you press the multitasking button (the button to the right of home) and swipe the app off the screen.
BUT, you generally don't need to do that in Android -- The OS manages most well behaving apps fine.
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Swiping an app out of recents does the same thing as pressing the back button actually. To answer the first question, the back button exits an app properly, the home button just suspends the app

jaybeeunix said:
Those do the same thing, which is either leave the app running or leave it in a nearly running state. To actually close an app, you press the multitasking button (the button to the right of home) and swipe the app off the screen.
BUT, you generally don't need to do that in Android -- The OS manages most well behaving apps fine.
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The back button actually does a better job closing the app, and usually the app has a close button when after jamming the back button. This is how you close (not force close/stop) the app.
If you are using an app and tap the home button, do other stuff and go back, you will be exactly where you were before. This is how you multitask (with the home button).
The multitask menu is like the one on iOS 4 and above. It is a menu of RECENTLY USED APPLICATIONS and is there just for quick switching. Swiping will not close the app, it will delete it off your "history."
Sent from my DROID2 using xda premium

jacklebott said:
Swiping an app out of recents does the same thing as pressing the back button actually. To answer the first question, the back button exits an app properly, the home button just suspends the app
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http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity.html#ActivityLifecycle
Swiping gets you to the "activity shut down" phase (onStop and onDestroy are called, assuming your app is nice, it'll shut down).
Home-ing gets you to the onPause phase (from the things I tested, they usually then go to onStop (cached phase)).
Backing out gets you to the onStop (cached) phase.
(You can verify this by looking at Settings>Apps>Running. When I back or home out of an app, the app is shown with the same state (cached). When I swipe an app away, it's gone from both of those task lists.)

jaybeeunix said:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity.html#ActivityLifecycle
Home-ing gets you to the onPause phase (from the things I tested, they usually then go to onStop (cached phase)).
Backing out gets you to the onStop (cached) phase.
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Although that is native Android behavior, developers almost always make it so the app will nicely shut itself off when pushing the back button.
For example, when I open Root Explorer, it starts of with a black screen, and only after Root Access is granted my files show up. If I tap back and open it again, bam! Same process.
If I tap home after opening and open it again, bam! Takes me right to the / file directory, no inital "startup" of app
Sent from my DROID2 using xda premium

Why can't developers just put an exit button in the app menu?

donec said:
Why can't developers just put an exit button in the app menu?
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They can, some do, some don't *shrugs*
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donec said:
Why can't developers just put an exit button in the app menu?
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Generally speaking, there isn't a need for it -- The OS closes and restarts apps as needed to manage resources optimally. Additionally, as gagdude said, most apps save and restore their state beyond the OS cached state, so it isn't always obvious that an app was ever "gone".

Enabling On-Screen Buttons

Is there any way I can enable the on-screen buttons on the stock GS4 ROM. I'm trying to reduce the usage of the home button because I'm scared it might break/stop working anytime :/ The tutorial in the dev section doesnt seem to apply for me.

CrazyXperiaA said:
Is there any way I can enable the on-screen buttons on the stock GS4 ROM. I'm trying to reduce the usage of the home button because I'm scared it might break/stop working anytime :/ The tutorial in the dev section doesnt seem to apply for me.
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I think this is non sense. You will loose a part of screen for the on screen buttons. The home button will not break/stop working. You don't need to worry about this. And in the worst case if this will ever happen you can bring it back for free repair or replace it yourself (very cheap).
Personally i highly doubt that something like this will happen.

CrazyXperiaA said:
Is there any way I can enable the on-screen buttons on the stock GS4 ROM. I'm trying to reduce the usage of the home button because I'm scared it might break/stop working anytime :/ The tutorial in the dev section doesnt seem to apply for me.
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You can try downloading an app called EasyTouch, that wont take screen space. Its similar to the accesibility mode on the iphone.

Zoddex said:
You can try downloading an app called EasyTouch, that wont take screen space. Its similar to the accesibility mode on the iphone.
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You don't even need that, as this is built in, just look in the accessibility settings.
But... You can always do that IF the button fails. For now, don't worry about the hypothetical failure you may experience one day, just use the hard button
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

fstorm said:
You don't even need that, as this is built in, just look in the accessibility settings.
But... You can always do that IF the button fails. For now, don't worry about the hypothetical failure you may experience one day, just use the hard button
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app
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Wow did know it was there! I'll stick to the app as is more customizable. But thanks for letting us know

CloudyG3 1.0

Is it possible to set the setting button on this rom? There is no option for it.

yerodinek said:
Is it possible to set the setting button on this rom? There is no option for it.
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Can you clarify a little? I don't get what exactly you want to do.

I think he means the menu button on navbar.. Long press latest button for menu
Sent from my LG-D802 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Its redundant now since nearly every app has the 3 dots menu on top right

I personally like it on the bottom and I'm sure a bunch of others do too.

Keep pressed the recent button and you will have menu settings.

Art Vanderlay said:
Its redundant now since nearly every app has the 3 dots menu on top right
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What if you want to quickly change settings in Nova, or one of many other apps? Long pressing the recents button is very convenient.

I still like to have the good old menu button there, I got used to it and I don't want to move my finger all the way to the top and have to grip the phone differently to hit menu..
So my order of buttons is this(from the left) - recent - back - home - menu -
I use g2 xposed to do that... So untill I can modify this on the g3 rom i will keep using the cloudyflex rom.
Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk

G2 Xposed is the best way to do this, but won't work with that ROM. Also I wouldn't get used to having that button. Google will likely pull the code in the next version or two so even ROM developers couldn't effectively make a consistent experience. It's only in there for backwards compatibility now for phones with the physical menu button.

Navigation Buttons Mod?

Call me a bit old fashioned, but I have a specific set of "keybinds" that I always work to achieve one way or another on my android devices.
The "Menu" button of old is more important to me than a "Recents" button - really just hoping to achieve inverted behavior of the square button: short press for menu, long press for recents.
Long pressing the "Back" button should kill the foreground app.
Any other bind to quickly toggle the torch light.
Using the menus in OxygenOS, I can't seem to achieve this. Any suggestions or secrets I've yet to find out about?

In Oxygen os you can set LONG PRESS RECENT BUTTON to perform MENU Action. I use it all the time.
About long press back button to kill app, I think this feature was removed in PIE.
Me too was looking for it but didn't find a solution.
Anyway I quickly realized that I don't need it. Op6t can keep a lot of app in memory so there's no need to kill.
When i want to kill one or all i use Recents.
Not a big deal for me.

Yep that's how I'm using everything now. It gets the job done, though I find myself reverting to old habits absent-mindedly. I'm sure I'll be perfectly adapted in a matter of days.

bigcc32 said:
Call me a bit old fashioned, but I have a specific set of "keybinds" that I always work to achieve one way or another on my android devices.
The "Menu" button of old is more important to me than a "Recents" button - really just hoping to achieve inverted behavior of the square button: short press for menu, long press for recents.
Long pressing the "Back" button should kill the foreground app.
Any other bind to quickly toggle the torch light.
Using the menus in OxygenOS, I can't seem to achieve this. Any suggestions or secrets I've yet to find out about?
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Click to collapse
Try this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.paphonb.systemuituner

dannejanne said:
Try this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.paphonb.systemuituner
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Permissions granted using root. It won't get past the compatibility check (The screen says "If you don't see anything your device is incompatible," and I certainly dont see anything). Thanks for the suggestion, though.

bigcc32 said:
Permissions granted using root. It won't get past the compatibility check (The screen says "If you don't see anything your device is incompatible," and I certainly dont see anything). Thanks for the suggestion, though.
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It can be granted access with ADB (PC). It should work I've had it work even on LG phones and such.

dannejanne said:
It can be granted access with ADB (PC). It should work I've had it work even on LG phones and such.
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I don't think the permissions are the problem. The app doesn't complain about that, it just doesn't do anything to the nav bar during setup, and according to the app that's indicative of incompatibility.