Database Users

Alternatives To Task/App/Ram Killers????

Many people say it's harmful using app killers, especially on android as it may interfere with important system resources or close important system files and can do harmful damage in the longrun such as errors, things not working, etc...
When you open various programs such as file manager, picture gallery, etc you then see a list of all running programs in system/task manager.
Many of these running programs are ones you have recently used and are draining ram/cpu/battery.
Is there not ANY safe app to use that will ONLY close apps that YOU have used?
There must be some app out there that closes/kills open apps, not system or phone apps but only the ones you have installed and used?
This could be a ram killer or maybe a simple app which is not dangerous and will safely close running apps not needed.
Looking forwards to seeing what others recommend.
Thanks in advance guys,,,

kanej2006 said:
There must be some app out there that closes/kills open apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, there are, but android just restarts them after they have been closed (froyo only)

panyan said:
yes, there are, but android just restarts them after they have been closed (froyo only)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Names please of a good app that kills ONLY programs you open, not system files.
What if I was to install an appkiller, but instead of having it on autokill, I was to manually click apps I opened and kill them?
Surely this way there is no danger as I'm only closing selected apps, not system files?

kanej2006 said:
Names please of a good app that kills ONLY programs you open, not system files.
What if I was to install an appkiller, but instead of having it on autokill, I was to manually click apps I opened and kill them?
Surely this way there is no danger as I'm only closing selected apps, not system files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The point is, even after killing your own apps, most of the time froyo will restart them
I very much like ES' offerings - ES File Explorer and ES Task Manager. They're both free, give em a birl.

You can install Advanced Task Killer (free) and there you can perfectly select which apps to close and which not... still I rarely use it
for example your homescreen widgets are always unchecked when killing tasks, so unless you check them, they won't be killed...

Hmmm, ok.
What is the BEST way to preserve & save battery/cpu & free up as much ram as possible without harming/interfering with the phone??
When I used to use the task killer app it would consistently give me around 400-424mb free ram.
Without the app killer I would only have around 100mb of free ram since all the programs are running in the backround.
So to all you experts out there, what can I do or what options do I have in which I can safely free up as much ram as possible and safely close running apps not needed when not using the phone?
I just want the best and most effective way to make my battery last longer.
I'm having to charge my phone every day, it struggles to get through the day even when hardly used.
Looking forwards to hearing some expert opinions based on the above.

kanej2006 said:
I'm having to charge my phone every day, it struggles to get through the day even when hardly used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's definitely a problem there but you're not going to find it chasing free ram. I have approx 20Mb free ram at the moment, the phone hasn't been rebooted for at least a week but I'm easily getting through 2 days with light use. Task killers / app killers are not the answer, (in froyo at least) free ram is wasted ram.
The programs that are 'running' in the background are not actually using CPU resources unless they have a service running (see the eBay app/service for an example). Your best bet is to check the running services (settings/applications/running services) and battery usage to work out what process is hogging the CPU time. Also check your sync settings, though I'd imagine you've already tried that.

christonabike said:
There's definitely a problem there but you're not going to find it chasing free ram. I have approx 20Mb free ram at the moment, the phone hasn't been rebooted for at least a week but I'm easily getting through 2 days with light use. Task killers / app killers are not the answer, (in froyo at least) free ram is wasted ram.
The programs that are 'running' in the background are not actually using CPU resources unless they have a service running (see the eBay app/service for an example). Your best bet is to check the running services (settings/applications/running services) and battery usage to work out what process is hogging the CPU time. Also check your sync settings, though I'd imagine you've already tried that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it's the anipet fish aquarium live screensaver...

Systempanel is good, I use it to stop a bad app thats using to much memory..you should never kill your apps with froyo, the OS wasn't designed like that, thats the whole point of Android, it looks after the apps perfectly well by itself, systempanel is just there as a....just in case method.
Saving battery power is a common misconception, Task killers actually get in the way of Android handling memory management as intended.....a pointless app to have with 2.2 which actually drains you battery quicker.
The LCD screen is the biggest drain on battery power, turning the brightness down, stop using a live wallpaper, turn off wifi, bluetooth, GPS ect....
With all that said the 1250mah battery is just not powerful enough to run this device period...but then most of us knew this before we bought the phone..we needed a 2000mah battery really, its just a lipo battery and can be easily increased, maybe next year we will see an improvement in the new smartphones.

kanej2006 said:
Maybe it's the anipet fish aquarium live screensaver...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you're joking

Black1982 said:
I hope you're joking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, well some people do say that live wallpaper kills battery...

running services taking too much ram

hi all
i am on juwe's rom and semaphore's kernel
i use tw launcher 4.5 and this tends to crash loads! i think its the ram in the running services
apps like whatsapp, live profile, skype take up unnecessary space
is there a way to stop these for good and for it to only update me upon request?
i just dont want the launcher to crash everytime

uninstall them ?
these apps must stay in memory, thats the hole point with them.

Try a different launcher, TW is heavy and buggy, try zeam, its lightweight and fast
Edit
If you aren't bothered about 720p recording, you could also use semaphore big mem kernel
Sent using geek power

Thanks for the reply is there that much of a difference by semaphores big mem to the normal? I didnt know 720p would take so much space!
The thing is I like tw launcher aswell but hey somethimes change benefits is zeam the one? Hows go launcher any good or should I use launcher pro?
There are soo many out there!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

You get another 19MB of RAM if you use the bigmem version of Semaphore but you can't use HD 720p video (which I don't use anyway as it takes up too much space!)
I like Zeam because it so fast and lightweight (doesn;t take much memory).
I also use folder organiser as I got fed up scrolling for pages and pages looking for apps.
Folder organiser lets you create your own folders on the screen and place whatever apps
you want in there with whatever icon you want. I only have 2 screens now

How to minimize applications

I was wondering if i could minimize applications on my phone and make them run as there are running normally . So that when i return to them they do not have to reload or anything . Something like the backgroundr application on iphone . Is something like that available on android ?
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

hah are you kidding me? You're about to start a flame war lol.
Android has proper multitasking. When you hit the home button in an app, the app continues to run. Effectively "minimizing" the app. The only reason why it would close is to open up memory for a newer app that demands it. Switching between apps is as easy as holding down the 'home' button to see a recent apps list, and selecting which you want.
The iPhone is the one that actually doesn't do true multitasking. For most apps on iOS, they freeze the app rather than letting it continue to run. Things like streaming music, etc. will continue to play, but minimizing an app like a game etc. something will freeze the app till you return to it.
Some light reading on the subject that may give you a little insight: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html
After you understand that, I find this video explains it as well: http://developer.android.com/videos/index.html#v=fL6gSd4ugSI (from a developer POV, but still shows how it works).

+1, home button to "minimize" the app, and longpress home to return to it.

Well I was gonna say, just hit home and it stays running but his post is epic lol.

Okay thanks and sorry for the dumb question but i still have a few inquisitions .. if i am browsing the web and i go to the messaging app to send a text then when i go back to the internet browser the web page reloads . As i have a slow mobile internet connection that annoys me . Secondly if i am watching a video and again have to send a text when i go back to the video it starts from the beginning . Is tht how its suppose to be or am i doing something wrong ?
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

talha92 said:
Okay thanks and sorry for the dumb question but i still have a few inquisitions .. if i am browsing the web and i go to the messaging app to send a text then when i go back to the internet browser the web page reloads . As i have a slow mobile internet connection that annoys me . Secondly if i am watching a video and again have to send a text when i go back to the video it starts from the beginning . Is tht how its suppose to be or am i doing something wrong ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it more than likely means there wasn't enough free RAM available to run both applications (along with all other background applications) so it closes the previous app so that the current one can operate freely.
So what I'm expressing is that Android isn't closing the app because you switched apps, its closing in order to keep the other apps running properly when the system is low on RAM, rather than the phone freezing up.
Are you running stock HTC Sense? Because on MIUI I just loaded a page, then read a text, followed a link to the youtube app, watched a video, then toggled back to the browser and the page was still there...
If you're on stock HTC Sense I'm assuming thats why you're having RAM problems.

I like the htc sense look on my phone so i am using virtuous unity v1.31 that has sense 3.0 ..And i have the task manager application installed i have never seen my phones free ram lower then 65 mb . Its usually around 70-75.. so i wonder why my phone is closing apps by itself . :s
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

I just checked 'running services' in the phone settings under applications . There the free ram.is ranging from 185mb to 165mb . :s
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

Do you have a ''how-to'' to disable or uninstall services that we dont need?
In the same way as msconfig on windows.

talha92 said:
I like the htc sense look on my phone so i am using virtuous unity v1.31 that has sense 3.0 ..And i have the task manager application installed i have never seen my phones free ram lower then 65 mb . Its usually around 70-75.. so i wonder why my phone is closing apps by itself . :s
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This "Task Manager" you have running. Is it some app that kills other apps? If so, uninstall it. It is causing your problems and making your phone run poorly.

If you search around (maybe even on the Unity thread, if my memory serves me correctly . . . which it often doesn't!) there are some tweaks posted that are claimed to help memory management by slightly adjusting the parameters by which Android kills processes. I haven't personally tried them, so make a nandroid before changing anything, just in case.

talha92 said:
I like the htc sense look on my phone so i am using virtuous unity v1.31 that has sense 3.0 ..And i have the task manager application installed i have never seen my phones free ram lower then 65 mb . Its usually around 70-75.. so i wonder why my phone is closing apps by itself . :s
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What 'task manager application' do you have running? If its killing processes prematurely then that can be a problem...

GinoAMelone said:
This "Task Manager" you have running. Is it some app that kills other apps? If so, uninstall it. It is causing your problems and making your phone run poorly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the task manager app is the app already installed in the virtuous unity rom .. and i cant seem to uninstall it . and i dont think it would cause problems as it is packaged in the rom. would it ? .
---------- Post added at 08:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:50 PM ----------
redpoint73 said:
If you search around (maybe even on the Unity thread, if my memory serves me correctly . . . which it often doesn't!) there are some tweaks posted that are claimed to help memory management by slightly adjusting the parameters by which Android kills processes. I haven't personally tried them, so make a nandroid before changing anything, just in case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks i am going to search for it in the virtuous unity thread and see if i am able to solve the problem .recently i noticed if i am playing music in the background and i open the messaging app or a big site like the desktop version of facebook on my browser the music application crashes so there is definately an issue with memory management in my phone

The main issue is that Sense 3.0 is not really meant to run on our phone, due to lack of memory. Sense 3.0 takes a huge chunk of memory, so it doesn't take much more to push the system over the edge. The tweaks I've read about won't be a huge change in memory management. But people on here swear they are helpful.

redpoint73 said:
The main issue is that Sense 3.0 is not really meant to run on our phone, due to lack of memory. Sense 3.0 takes a huge chunk of memory, so it doesn't take much more to push the system over the edge. The tweaks I've read about won't be a huge change in memory management. But people on here swear they are helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the new virtuous unity 2.37.0 (sense 3.0) I have an average of 130 mb of free memory. I use temp+cpu widget to monitoring.
Is it not enough?
I read an article about memory managing (auto killer apps) on GB roms, an apparently it wont give a faster speed or better battery life.

oVeRdOsE. said:
With the new virtuous unity 2.37.0 (sense 3.0) I have an average of 130 mb of free memory. I use temp+cpu widget to monitoring.
Is it not enough?
I read an article about memory managing (auto killer apps) on GB roms, an apparently it wont give a faster speed or better battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the latest version of Unity uses less memory, updating to that version might help the OP with his particular issue. I'm personally on 1.29. I tried every version after that (with the exception of 2.37), and they all resulted in my battery life being cut in half, so I'm back on 1.29.
The memory management tweaks I spoke of are simply adjustments to the parameters by which Android's built-in task manager kills tasks when memory is needed, not a separate auto killer app. Android inherently kills idle tasks when memory gets low. The adjustment I've seen, if I remember properly, actually raises the threshold for how full memory is before it starts killing tasks.
I agree that 3rd party auto killer apps will not increase performance, except in pretty isolated cases (like a rogue app, badly coded app with a memory leak).

Yes i was thinking of updating to v 2.37 nd see if tht solves my problem . And i was wondering if there was a simple way to stop android automatically closing applications till its down to more like 20-25mbs . But it will never go tht low will it ?
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

Minimalizing RAM usage / footprint

Hi folks. I'm sorry to trouble everyone again.
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A DEV and I AM NOT A COOK.
I want to know, is there a way, where I can say take a custom ROM, and then modify the existing parts so that i can reduce the RAM footprint.
I have no experience using any ROMS except Ilyaa's CM10.1 custom ROM which he cooked up. Even on stock gingerbread i only toyed for it for a day after i bought it and immediately followed the instructions and did a custom firmware (I even had a thread about it because the first time i did it i accidently deleted /boot)
What I had in mind is to somehow replace bloated apps with apps that uses FAR lesser RAM footprint.
For example, the Trebuchet launcher is fine, but I wanted something more minimalistic so i went for Lightning Launcher and also Zeam Launcher (TagHome launcher is not available for 4.2, sadly)
What i discovered was Smart Launcher uses about 16MB of RAM. Lightning initially only used 3.1MB, (then somehow bloated up to 20MB even when i did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING) and ZEAM launcher is hovering around 15MB.
I am not sure if this is ROM related issue, but I want to ask users of other ROMS (especially the custom ICS ROMs like MIUI and DZO AURORA since its considered the best of all U8800 custom ROMs) if you can reduce the footprint?
Truthfully, I have tried GREENIFY and also another memory app that another forumer has recommnded for setting minimum values, but i still keep getting ONLY 20-40MB free RAM. I have replaced the super bloatware Facebook for Android by Facebook and Twitter and replaced them with SCOPE (far lesser RAM used than both app combined)
Does anybody have any idea of what we can do?

As far as i know when u are connected to the internet most of the apps run in the background and thus u have less available ram. Widgets also drain a lot, try to avoid them. U can tweak some kernel values so that the system will make more available free ram , like minfree values.
Sent from my U8800

AceDroidX said:
As far as i know when u are connected to the internet most of the apps run in the background and thus u have less available ram. Widgets also drain a lot, try to avoid them. U can tweak some kernel values so that the system will make more available free ram , like minfree values.
Sent from my U8800
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THis is what i did. However the it does not affect my memory, and i suspect it was the ROM because of the previous versions was better. I have not tried ICS though.

Have you tried using an app called Greenify?

Mendacio said:
Have you tried using an app called Greenify?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read the OP for God's sake -.-'

Mendacio said:
Have you tried using an app called Greenify?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I have. I have also stated that very explicitly.
Sent from my U8800 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Try the app memory manager and on presets choose the option Strict....
Enviado do meu U8800, usando o Tapatalk 2.

Djuganight said:
Try the app memory manager and on presets choose the option Strict....
Enviado do meu U8800, usando o Tapatalk 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that did not helped much, actually. I'm not sure what is the real issue behind it, but I'm still tinkering with some of the ROMs and installing what I perceive as low-RAM-usage apps.
Currently i'm running GREENIFY and MEMORY MANAGER (that sets the minfree values) and hopefully by later i'll come out with something useful.
I'm not that of a poweruser, so using another custom kernel then doing some adjustments not specified by the dev is a little too much to me, unless I know i can follow through with the steps.

update:
Some of the apps that I have perceived as low RAM usage and downright functional (not beautiful, but gets things done)
Launcher:
- Smart Launcher
- Zeam Launcher
- Lightning Launcher
Facebook:
- Atrium
- Scope (Twitter and Facebook)
Twitter:
- Twicca
- Scope
- Echofon
Google +
(no alternative)
Media:
- Quickpix (gallery alternative)
- Hiki Player (music player alternative)
- Nano player (music player alternative, bare bones)
- MX Player (video player)
- Tubemate (at least you can greenify this over the stupid Youtube App)
E-Mail:
- default email client
- K9 email client
Contacts and messaging:
- Contacts + (this one does a lot)
- pansi sms (sms alternative)
File Managers:
- Root Browser Lite
- ES File Explorer.
That's about it for the time being.
At this time 3rd June 2013, Google is updating the core apps. I am unable to uninstall the email apk and gmail apk.

Is there any way to improve ram management on miui v7?

So yeah, I've been using nexus 5 prior I got this phone. It had 2 gigs of ram too. When I was getting RN2 I thought I won't face any ram related problems, but I was wrong. It feels like I have 1 gig of ram judging on phone's ability to keep apps in memory. Chrome is capable of keeping only 1 tab in memory, and not for a long time. I'm sick of seeing everything being reloaded every time I go back to it. Any thoughts on this?
PS
No need to tell me about 'lock' feature in recents, it's just useless.

I set up my own battery profile using the security app. Security - Battery - Battery Profiles. In here I changed the Clean Memory to never.
Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk

I use the default profile, and it already has 'never' option picked. And as far as I can judge, this features is meant to be an automatic task killer sorta. The device's problem is in poor ram management, 2 gigs of ram is simply not enough for it, which is kinda 'wtf', considering my nexus experience.

Try freeze build in apps, root first, then use titanium backup or link2sd

If you're using MIUI, there's nothing you can do to lower RAM used by the system and get more RAM available for your apps. I personally clear my apps before use, but the apps I got start fast and are mainly utilities. The only app I lock is School Assistant because it warns me of my classes and exams at University.

sxeMonster said:
So yeah, I've been using nexus 5 prior I got this phone. It had 2 gigs of ram too. When I was getting RN2 I thought I won't face any ram related problems, but I was wrong. It feels like I have 1 gig of ram judging on phone's ability to keep apps in memory. Chrome is capable of keeping only 1 tab in memory, and not for a long time. I'm sick of seeing everything being reloaded every time I go back to it. Any thoughts on this?
PS
No need to tell me about 'lock' feature in recents, it's just useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi.
Im on Xiaomi.eu 5.10.16 with Google Now launcher. No problem having a lot of tabs open in Chrome.
Its smooth and stable. No ram issues. No better or worse than my Nexus 5.
My experience is that using task killers etc only making things worse. We better leave ram management to the os alone
Thanks
Knievel.

Well, I don't use any task killer or something. I just experience ram shortage symptoms.

Kinda late, but eh...
It's not really RAM shortage, but MIUI's asinine memory "optimization". It basically kicks any apps (even active ones!) from RAM after a while. I've been foaming at the mouth blaming my media player for simply disappearing mid-song randomly without any error messages, when I stumbled over the "memory optimization" setting in developer options. Looking around on the net brought me here. Disabled that sucker, rebooted, no disappearing apps anymore. The phone feels as smooth as it did before, so the usual low memory killer settings work. Tweaked them a bit using kernel adiutor and I'm more than happy. You could also try this in addition, but I wasn't able to get it to run smoothly - apparently an exception. Idle RAM usage fell significantly, though.

Crim Soukyuu said:
Kinda late, but eh...
It's not really RAM shortage, but MIUI's asinine memory "optimization". It basically kicks any apps (even active ones!) from RAM after a while. I've been foaming at the mouth blaming my media player for simply disappearing mid-song randomly without any error messages, when I stumbled over the "memory optimization" setting in developer options. Looking around on the net brought me here. Disabled that sucker, rebooted, no disappearing apps anymore. The phone feels as smooth as it did before, so the usual low memory killer settings work. Tweaked them a bit using kernel adiutor and I'm more than happy. You could also try this in addition, but I wasn't able to get it to run smoothly - apparently an exception. Idle RAM usage fell significantly, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're talking about 1 or 2 ?

One, memory optimization. Disabling two, MIUI optimization, is a bit overkill, since it also removes the recent tasks management.

Crim Soukyuu said:
... since it also removes the recent tasks management.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a thousand and one apps that do that.

@Crim Soukyuu Task manager doesn't dissappear - it can be re-assigned to any button by going into Settings - Additional Settings - Buttons

DarthJabba9 said:
There are a thousand and one apps that do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But why would you want to use them instead of the built-in one? If you disable MIUI optimizations, you might as well use an un-mutilated AOSP/CM ROM.
jajk said:
@Crim Soukyuu Task manager doesn't dissappear - it can be re-assigned to any button by going into Settings - Additional Settings - Buttons
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I based my statement on what DarthJabba9 said in the Skinny Pro thread:
DarthJabba9 said:
Disable "Turn on MIUI optimization" in the developer options (if you have enabled developer options). After this, you will have to close down recent apps manually (I use "RecentTask" from the Play Store).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In any case, to get rid off the symptoms @sxeMonster was having, it's enough to disable "Memory optimization" in the developer options.

maow425 said:
I set up my own battery profile using the security app. Security - Battery - Battery Profiles. In here I changed the Clean Memory to never.
Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm the clean memory setting is a major reason for poor battery life,
I've set it to never and my battery life is much better.
Regards
---------- Post added at 05:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:57 PM ----------
Crim Soukyuu said:
One, memory optimization. Disabling two, MIUI optimization, is a bit overkill, since it also removes the recent tasks management.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's correct, no need to disable MIUI optimisation.
Memory optimisation option is basically Zram,
I've got it disabled, too.
Haven't had any ram issues and it can still keep a dozen or so apps on the background before android starts killing them.
Regards

Crim Soukyuu said:
But why would you want to use them instead of the built-in one? If you disable MIUI optimizations, you might as well use an un-mutilated AOSP/CM ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Non sequitur. MIUI optimizations are not the only (or even the main) difference between MIUI ROMS and AOSP/CM ROMs.

Sequitur or non sequitur, you haven't answered my question - why would I want to disable MIUI optimization instead of only memory optimization?

Crim Soukyuu said:
Sequitur or non sequitur, you haven't answered my question - why would I want to disable MIUI optimization instead of only memory optimization?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your question was "But why would you want to use them instead of the built-in one?" The answer is "This is a very small price to pay for removing MIUI optimization". Disabling memory optimisation may do the deal for you - but it did not solve all my problems.

I will refer you to the following which is in response to issues that have been raised here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-note-2/development/b-skinny-pro-t3347906/page9#post66369078

I disabled a few things given by @jajk , I think the most important one for multi tasking is the battery saver, it closes apps and restricts backgroud activity.
Not only that but too much crap is held in memory by miui.
Get disable service and disable:
InCallUI - CallRecordingRemoteService
Security - SecurityCenterAnalyticsService + SecurityCenterService + PowerSaveService --- it still works just not held in memory
Settings - MiuiWifiService + ObserverService ---- Wifi still works
GooglePlayServices - I disabled a few things I don't need and everything works for me except Gmail account sms verification, I had to put in the code manually.
Default SMS app stays in memory for some reason, I disabled it and using google messenger, just gotta disable wearable service
If disabled it breaks SMS, just disable SmsReportService, SMS works that way. Also in settings disable auto download MMS.
I'm getting 600-700 free ram and apps stay in cache much longer. Outside of settings it reaches 800 Free memory + all apps still in cache
Screenshots: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a7lq8k5jzo2htcc/AAByd8UBFR4AKAiS9Rcg-dWTa?dl=0

I would prefer better memory management than High Free Memory, because Linux is good already with Memory Management.
Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using XDA-Developers mobile app