Database Users

Apps always opening themselves

I'll shut down all apps in the task manager and then a little later I'll open it again and there will be a bunch of apps that just started themselves and ran in the background (apps that I didn't open myself). Dildroid would open itself every few minutes so I uninstalled it. "HTC Checkin Service" opens itself all the time too. I think there are a couple more that do it but I can't remember off the top of my head. Why is this happening and is there any way to stop it?

It is part of the design of Android.
When you install an app, it registers itself with the system and one of the options it has is to automatically start. There are several apps in the market (one is called AutoStarts IIRC) which can override this behaviour.
Note that Android is quite adept at managing resources, and will start kill unnecessary processes/tasks when it needs to. Some people (myself included!), believe that it is better to allow Android to manage itself, rather than using a task killer, but others absolutely swear by the efficacy of task killers.
Regards,
Dave

Is there any benefit to allowing apps to auto start? I don't understand why they would need to, or why they would even want to start by themselves?

foxmeister said:
It is part of the design of Android.
When you install an app, it registers itself with the system and one of the options it has is to automatically start. There are several apps in the market (one is called AutoStarts IIRC) which can override this behaviour.
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is "AutoStarts IIRC" a paid application? Because I can't find it on my HTC Hero in Europe. Are there any alternatives? I would very much like to be able to manage the autostarts, since I have 3-4 applications that I haven't even launched yet, that always run in the background and hog about 50MB of RAM. Thanks

MapleDouglas said:
Is "AutoStarts IIRC" a paid application?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just called AutoStarts.
"IIRC" is short for "If I Recall Correctly"
Regards,
Dave.

foxmeister said:
It's just called AutoStarts.
"IIRC" is short for "If I Recall Correctly"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes it clearer Thought it was an acronym, even though I didn't recognize it, so I excluded it from my Market search. So I still can't find it there, I'm afraid. And the QR code on Androlib led to an invalid Market address... Hmm. Do you know of any alternatives?

Well, it is in fact a paid application like I asked. No wonder it didn't show up

you also need to be Root so you can disable/enable components!

T-Mobile Device Tune-up Beta

Hey guys, T-Mobile is implementing a new program with their My Device program for Android devices called Device Tune-up, in beta form. From reading everything, I guess it's essentially another task-killer. I'm going to give it a shot. Anybody else willing to try?
From T-Mo:
Background:
T-Mobile is continually looking for ways to bring new innovation to our customers. Within the My Account application, we are adding new functionality in the My Device section called Device Tune-up. Device Tune-up is built to run in the background at all times and ‘tune-up’ the device by closing unused services that are running.
Device Tune-up is different from most task killers because it does not require you to do anything. Device Tune-up will default to 'on'. While on, Device Tune-up proactively closes services to help the device and battery perform at their best. Most pre-loaded applications will not be affected by Device Tune-up. For our non-technical users, this may mean you never even realize Device Tune-up is running; your device may simply run better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download & instructions here

I installed as soon as I saw them tweet it, and I must say I'm pretty impressed, it works very well. More people should try it though, I would like to see what others think of it.
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well they pulled the link before i got a chance to dl. says it'll be up again tomorrow.
are you seeing any of the said improvements?

Does anyone have the APK? They pulled the download for the night.

http://www.4shared.com/file/lhr3ePUm/My_Account___Beta.html

how can i run this in a non TM devices?and also not a t-mobile user........?

I downloaded this, but it does not allow you to turn off pre-installed apps. That's a major loss and pretty much renders the thing useless. Advanced Task Killer works much better in this department.

I'm going to give it a shot and see if it works okay. I don't use a lot of the apps that are req to stay on and not kill so it may work great for me. I'll see in a day or two.

That's weird I installed it but I don't see the device tune up part anywhere and I'm not on wifi. Also I read this on the download page:
If, after installing the beta, you do not see Device Tune-up on the Quick Tools menu, it means that your device was placed into a control group experience. To opt out of the control group experience and be able to see Device Tune-up, long click on the Phone Info line under Quick Tools tab and choose to ‘opt-out’ of the control group. You will then see Device Tune-up.
I followed the instructions and I long press on the phone info part under quick tools and nothing happens or I don't get any option to opt-out. Anyone else having this issue? Does this app work on nexus one running froyo?

gmonterrosa82 said:
That's weird I installed it but I don't see the device tune up part anywhere and I'm not on wifi. Also I read this on the download page:
If, after installing the beta, you do not see Device Tune-up on the Quick Tools menu, it means that your device was placed into a control group experience. To opt out of the control group experience and be able to see Device Tune-up, long click on the Phone Info line under Quick Tools tab and choose to ‘opt-out’ of the control group. You will then see Device Tune-up.
I followed the instructions and I long press on the phone info part under quick tools and nothing happens or I don't get any option to opt-out. Anyone else having this issue? Does this app work on nexus one running froyo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try installing apk manager from the market then install it from there thats what i had to do to get mine to work

gmonterrosa82 said:
That's weird I installed it but I don't see the device tune up part anywhere and I'm not on wifi. Also I read this on the download page:
If, after installing the beta, you do not see Device Tune-up on the Quick Tools menu, it means that your device was placed into a control group experience. To opt out of the control group experience and be able to see Device Tune-up, long click on the Phone Info line under Quick Tools tab and choose to ‘opt-out’ of the control group. You will then see Device Tune-up.
I followed the instructions and I long press on the phone info part under quick tools and nothing happens or I don't get any option to opt-out. Anyone else having this issue? Does this app work on nexus one running froyo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jriv said:
try installing apk manager from the market then install it from there thats what i had to do to get mine to work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean? I installed apk manager and all it does is show me all my apps installed. And I do see the myaccount app in installed but there's nothing else to do....did I miss a step?...... Thanks

I got it and installed it through the apk manager as you stated and installed the app but it still doesn't show device tune up or holding long pressing the phone info doesn't give me the option to opt-out....

after you install it open up my device go to quick tools and press and hold on phone info then you get a pop up asking about the control group thing

Yeah I've tried this like 100 times today, nothing happens I hold "phone info" it highlights green I hold it nothings pop ups asking me to opt out. I've installed and reinstalled the app through the apk manager and without it and it just isn't working. I have nexus one running froyo (latest update) am I missing something????

Its for 2.1 devices only
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Ah....well then there you go. Thanks

This app is so completely pointless. Except for the percentage meter, which I am testing to see if I get battery battery life with no percentage widget running. I don't like the 1-10 scale the settings menu has.
This is basically how it works for me. Since I know how to end programs using the back button method , I go to my "My device beta", go to end tasks, and every task I would like to kill says "cannot kill pre-installed app".
Facebook, twitter, all sorts of dumb S*** has to be left running. Personally I hate the mail app because it lags and the gmail app is better, so I would like to close mail along with FB and many others. Would it be so terrible if T-mobile made these things optional.
Any one agree/disagree? care to argue?

I agree that this is useless. I have tried it for a few days now and it has done nothing. I still (out of habbit) go and click my task killer and it constantly is still killing apps that this beta is missing. I purposely opened some and let them run in the background for several hours unused and it still did not kill them and they were not stock apps so it should kill them just fine. Anyway, I still use my task killer to save battery so nothing has changed except I lost a few min of my life tinkering with this. Not worth the time.

I've gotten about 2 extra hours (from 10 to 12 hours) of battery life after installing this. There are plenty of articles explaining how advanced task killer is actually a battery drain, and is really only used by people with a microsoft windows mindset. TMOs app runs a bit differently and actually kills tasks that are running in the background, not just holding memory (I'm not going to explain the differnce, as its been done 100x already).
I give the app a good rating.

[Help] Apps keep starting after killed

I am having a SGS asia version with latest firmware.
i have rooted it with su access and using process manager to kill those unwanted application (google map, double clock, and others....) running from behind.
but after certain time (range from 1 hour to 2 hours), those unwanted application will load back and take up the memory again. I have to manually killed them again and the remaining RAM is reduced in the process.
Is anyone facing similar problem ?
anyone know how to permanently stop this ? is there any program in the Samsung that keep summoning those application ?
Thank you.

Ya, I've this problem too, but mine is the stock firmware.I've no idea what causes those applications to launch themselves.

yes, a few of my friend also facing this problem. that is why i am thinking is some professional here can help us on this question.
Thanks

If you have rooted your phone, download this app called startup manager from market place, then disable these apps from the start up process. Viola, no more.

Seifer1975 said:
If you have rooted your phone, download this app called startup manager from market place, then disable these apps from the start up process. Viola, no more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this startup manager for choosing which applications to auto start during soft reset only though?

You might also want to give "automatic task killer" from the market a go too, first app I would install after flashing roms.

Seifer1975 said:
If you have rooted your phone, download this app called startup manager from market place, then disable these apps from the start up process. Viola, no more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have installed startup manager application and already disable them at the startup. But they still coming back once a while when the phone is running......
I have successfully stop them from launch at the starting but after a while, it keep coming back. What is more irritating is once i kill them, they launch again 1-2 hours later....
i am thinking , is there any application running underground which keep "calling" them ?

After reading the help section on the system panel I installed, apparently the way android works is by loading up apps that it thinks you might need, so that when you do open them, they're already sitting there ready. system panel shows you a list of apps that are open on your phone and running, open but in the background, and those that on standby. Most task killers only show all these as being open, when they actually all aren't. The maker of the app strongly advises against continually killing all apps, unless any of them have a problem. Anyway, that's just what I read.

Nicolopolus; said:
After reading the help section on the system panel I installed, apparently the way android works is by loading up apps that it thinks you might need, so that when you do open them, they're already sitting there ready. system panel shows you a list of apps that are open on your phone and running, open but in the background, and those that on standby. Most task killers only show all these as being open, when they actually all aren't. The maker of the app strongly advises against continually killing all apps, unless any of them have a problem. Anyway, that's just what I read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. Now it does explains everything. Sounds factual to me, if you've read it in the help section of the system panel. Thank you.
Facts are so important in problem solving.

Can you tell us which apps are started every hours like that ??
On my side I would like to know if the following app can be killed :
* Device management
* DRM protected content storage
* SNS
*com.sec.android.app.samsungapps.una
* com.sec.android.providers.downloads
*mobile AP settings
* Mobile Tracker settings
* Log provider
* My upload
* Settings
thanks

Apps randomly keep starting up in background

So ill go into my system panel and kill all apps. Ill have about 160mb of memory free. Then the launcher obviously restarts and system panel and my widgets all start back up, but what i dint hnderstand is why do thi gs like google voice or the music player start up in the background if i havent even used them? They start up almost instantly....
How can i make sure **** stays off?
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Start up manager or similar from the market. Take care though, if you block something that system wants to be launched, it may keep attempting to launch it, leading to high battery consumption

Some app include a service, which they are executed in background. If the service is maually stopped, android can launch it again.
There are many application on the market which stop periodically these app. The point is that if it has a service, there is a reason, and by stopping it, you can obtain a strange comportment.
By example, in the first version of Android, gtalk was used for the authentification on android market, it is very strange but it was like that. The user was not informed of this link which was a kind of transparent. So if you stopped gtalk, you were not able to go on the market.
Do you need a lot of RAM? If yes uninstall the application you don t use, but I advise you to not stop mannually or automatically the application on your phone.

I guess thats how android functions as such. I tried stopping these programs so many times using apps from the market, but it starts again n few minutes. So its like we are wasting our time trying to kill apps.

Autostarts and/or Android Optimizer will stop any unwanted apps from running constantly. Works for me but just make sure you know what you are doing so you don't stop something you need (as described above)..

Apps that runs on startup/background

I hate it when an app runs in the startup specially if the app is not that important. Is there any way of disabling those apps that run in the startup? As well as those apps that runs in the background even if you don't need em to? They eat up RAM and make the NC slow! I wish I can manage them.

Let them be android takes care of itself.
Read this: http://forums.androidcentral.com/general-help-how/102171-apps-always-running.html#post1088042
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les02jen17 said:
I hate it when an app runs in the startup specially if the app is not that important. Is there any way of disabling those apps that run in the startup? As well as those apps that runs in the background even if you don't need em to? They eat up RAM and make the NC slow! I wish I can manage them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes...get an app in the market called Android Optimizer, it is free. In the menu hit the startup manager icon. Disable the app (s) you don't want to run at start up or background.

StarlahRain said:
Yes...get an app in the market called Android Optimizer, it is free. In the menu hit the startup manager icon. Disable the app (s) you don't want to run at start up or background.
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Click to collapse
You sure of that name? I did a search in the market and do not see it.

StarlahRain said:
Yes...get an app in the market called Android Optimizer, it is free. In the menu hit the startup manager icon. Disable the app (s) you don't want to run at start up or background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do not need an app like this. People use task killers and startup blockers and then complain about how crappy and slow stuff is because THEY ARE NOT ACTUALLY RUNNING IN THE BACKGROUND. They are cached for faster start up next time. They do not take up any battery or CPU power. Android is linex not windows.
--------------------------------------------------
Here is the post i linked to earlier:
I develop Android apps so I though I'd explain why a task killer isn't needed on an Android system.
Activities
Android apps use activites to preform tasks. For example, if you use a file manager to send a picture via email, the file manager calls the send activity within an email app, passes the file name to it and the email app sends the picture.. not the file manager. This will result in seeing the email app as "running" even though the user didn't actually launch that email app.
Smaller apps
Using activites helps developers design smaller apps. A file manager app that contains every bit of code needed to do everything a file manager does would likely be so large that no one would want to install it. Developers know that an android phone more than likely has an email app so there is no need for the developer to include email code in his/her file manager to send a picture when he/she can call an activity in an existing email app to do the job. This results in a smaller file manager app since there is no need to include email code or any other code for an activity that can be done via an app that is already present on the phone. This also alleviates redundant code. When you install an app outside of the android market, also known as sideloading, the file manager app calls the package installer (already present in Android) to install the requested app.
Running apps vs. cached apps
The "Manage Applications" list included in many android devices lists running apps as well as cached apps. Cached apps don't use any CPU or battery, they're cached so they will load faster the next time you need them. Killing cached apps results in those apps requiring more time to load the next time they are launched.
System management
By default, every android application runs in its own Linux process. Android starts the process when any of the application’s code (activities) needs to be executed, and shuts down the process when it’s no longer needed and system resources are required by other applications.
* Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when more memory is needed.
* Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when it’s done doing what it needs to do.
* Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when you haven’t returned to it in a long time.
* Most services (while possibly running in the background) use very little memory when not actively doing something.
* A content provider is only doing something when there is a notification for it to give. Otherwise it uses very little memory.
* Killing a process when it isn’t ready only causes it to have to reload itself and start from scratch when it’s needed again.
* Because a task is likely running in the background for a reason, killing it will only cause it to re-spawn as soon as the activity that was using it looks for it again. And it will just have to start over again.
* Killing certain processes can have undesirable side effects. Not receiving text messages, alarms not going off, and force closes just to name a few.
* The only true way to prevent something from running at all on your phone would be to uninstall the .apk.
* Most applications will exit themselves if you get out of it by hitting “back” until it closes rather than hitting the “home” button. But even with hitting home, Android will eventually kill it once it’s been in the background for a while.
If you see an app running that you didn't launch, it's most likely because an activity within that app was called by another app to perform a task. If you kill the app you didn't launch, the system has to relaunch that app in order to complete its task. This is why some people kill a task and then see it immediately running again. Constantly killing that app creates a situation where the user is battling the system resulting in wasted system resources.
Android is Linux
Android is not a Windows-based OS, it is based on Linux. Many of the apps you think are running aren't actually running, they're cached, this is typical with a Linux operating system and is much more efficient than other systems. Cached apps don't use any CPU or battery, they're cached and will load faster the next time they're needed.
Let the system manage resources.
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patruns said:
You sure of that name? I did a search in the market and do not see it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologize ..it is called Optimize Tool Box...lite version(free)...

koopakid08 said:
You do not need an app like this. People use task killers and startup blockers and then complain about how crappy and slow stuff is because THEY ARE NOT ACTUALLY RUNNING IN THE BACKGROUND. They are cached for faster start up next time. They do not take up any battery or CPU power. Android is linex not windows.
--------------------------------------------------
Here is the post i linked to earlier:
I develop Android apps so I though I'd explain why a task killer isn't needed on an Android system.
Activities
Android apps use activites to preform tasks. For example, if you use a file manager to send a picture via email, the file manager calls the send activity within an email app, passes the file name to it and the email app sends the picture.. not the file manager. This will result in seeing the email app as "running" even though the user didn't actually launch that email app.
Smaller apps
Using activites helps developers design smaller apps. A file manager app that contains every bit of code needed to do everything a file manager does would likely be so large that no one would want to install it. Developers know that an android phone more than likely has an email app so there is no need for the developer to include email code in his/her file manager to send a picture when he/she can call an activity in an existing email app to do the job. This results in a smaller file manager app since there is no need to include email code or any other code for an activity that can be done via an app that is already present on the phone. This also alleviates redundant code. When you install an app outside of the android market, also known as sideloading, the file manager app calls the package installer (already present in Android) to install the requested app.
Running apps vs. cached apps
The "Manage Applications" list included in many android devices lists running apps as well as cached apps. Cached apps don't use any CPU or battery, they're cached so they will load faster the next time you need them. Killing cached apps results in those apps requiring more time to load the next time they are launched.
System management
By default, every android application runs in its own Linux process. Android starts the process when any of the application’s code (activities) needs to be executed, and shuts down the process when it’s no longer needed and system resources are required by other applications.
* Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when more memory is needed.
* Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when it’s done doing what it needs to do.
* Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when you haven’t returned to it in a long time.
* Most services (while possibly running in the background) use very little memory when not actively doing something.
* A content provider is only doing something when there is a notification for it to give. Otherwise it uses very little memory.
* Killing a process when it isn’t ready only causes it to have to reload itself and start from scratch when it’s needed again.
* Because a task is likely running in the background for a reason, killing it will only cause it to re-spawn as soon as the activity that was using it looks for it again. And it will just have to start over again.
* Killing certain processes can have undesirable side effects. Not receiving text messages, alarms not going off, and force closes just to name a few.
* The only true way to prevent something from running at all on your phone would be to uninstall the .apk.
* Most applications will exit themselves if you get out of it by hitting “back” until it closes rather than hitting the “home” button. But even with hitting home, Android will eventually kill it once it’s been in the background for a while.
If you see an app running that you didn't launch, it's most likely because an activity within that app was called by another app to perform a task. If you kill the app you didn't launch, the system has to relaunch that app in order to complete its task. This is why some people kill a task and then see it immediately running again. Constantly killing that app creates a situation where the user is battling the system resulting in wasted system resources.
Android is Linux
Android is not a Windows-based OS, it is based on Linux. Many of the apps you think are running aren't actually running, they're cached, this is typical with a Linux operating system and is much more efficient than other systems. Cached apps don't use any CPU or battery, they're cached and will load faster the next time they're needed.
Let the system manage resources.
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- Sent from my LG Optimus V using Tapatalk
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Yes..I have noticed some side effects.alarms and what not. I guess ur right the only real way is to completely uninstall the apk ..would u happen to know why my adw launcher keeps forceclosing each time boot my nook? I am not running any icon packages..so what other source (or app) could be calling on it to run at startup?

StarlahRain said:
Yes..I have noticed some side effects.alarms and what not. I guess ur right the only real way is to completely uninstall the apk ..would u happen to know why my adw launcher keeps forceclosing each time boot my nook? I am not running any icon packages..so what other source (or app) could be calling on it to run at startup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not familiar with adw. Is there an option to save it in memory I know that many replacement launchers do so you might want to make sure that is checked.
Also if you are using a task killer, it is probably trying to kill it and that could cause it to force close.
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StarlahRain said:
Yes..I have noticed some side effects.alarms and what not. I guess ur right the only real way is to completely uninstall the apk ..would u happen to know why my adw launcher keeps forceclosing each time boot my nook? I am not running any icon packages..so what other source (or app) could be calling on it to run at startup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have Titanium Backup installed? You can clear data and uninstall apps with that as well.

auto starts kills those apps... i run it on my NC>.......i dont need dialer /voicemail...etc.....

Just a thought but if you continue to have force close issues with apps, try running fix permissions. This usually ends the issues. I run adw ex and have no problems. Those few times I have had issues, fix permissions has solved the problem. Just sayin.....
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