# What applications are still running?



## SheilaJ (Apr 10, 2011)

One of my gripes about many apps is there is no way to exit except by just using the big arrow or the home button.  Does that mean these apps are still running?  Is there some place to see what is still running?  Today I thought I had everything off and was just sitting on the home screen but then a couple of hours later I only had 2 percent battery left so obviously something was still zapping the battery.


----------



## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

I know, I hate that too. Only some apps have an Exit command, and even with most of those you have to tap the Back arrow to get to it.  I guess they expect you to just hit Home and leave things running.  Maybe some of them quit automatically if you do that?

Anyway, if you go into Settings / More / Applications, you can see a list of Running Applications (you may have to select the correct option from the drop down list).


----------



## ktylman (Jan 7, 2013)

For most apps, they are indeed still running when you "close" them. Google's view is that Android should manage system resources and most developers stick with that view even if they shouldn't for their specific apps. One reason is that a lot of developers are lazy or just don't know better. Another reason is that users expect to be able to jump in and out of apps seamlessly as they do things like check email or take calls. When you kill an app completely, the user has to wait for it to reinitialize and that can provice a bad use experience. Some developers should realize that users would rather wait 10 seconds to relaunch an app instead of spending hours recharging their battery.

Many developers write apps that work fine but when put in the background, the apps continue to run full tilt. Some apps need to do intensive things in the background like navigation apps or audio apps, but most don't. The problem is that there are lots of examples for developers on how to suspend an app but not many on how to do it right. Doing it right is a matter of context and that's hard to give developers a general guideline on what they should do and not do. Some developers don't care and just respond to the deactivate event without doing any real "deactivation". It's an easy and lazy way to handle things.

In my games, I try to stop all of the processing that I can when they are suspended. This results in minimal impact but also nearly instantaneous relaunch. There are some things out of my control like how Android handles deactivating apps when the lock screen comes up but I do my best. I've had my games running in the background on a device for days without much impact at all.

There are some apps out there that will help a user identify badly behaving apps that are draining battery or hogging resources. I can't really recommend any because I haven't used them but they are there. The built in solution is to go to Running Apps as Dragle mentioned and kill the offending apps. Google has been working on the problem for a while and hopefully a better solution will arise eventually.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

If you use a battery monitor app like GSam Battery Monitor (Kindle Tablet Edition) or Battery HD there will usually be a way to look at what apps are running and see how much of the battery their using. I am happy with GSam; others here prefer Battery HD (there's also an ad-free version of that for a couple of bucks.)


----------



## ginaf20697 (Jan 31, 2009)

Gemini App Manager is a good app to use to closing down apps and clearing cache and stuff.


----------



## SheilaJ (Apr 10, 2011)

I got gemini but still don't see a place where it shows what is running.


----------



## ginaf20697 (Jan 31, 2009)

Go to task killer. It shows all running apps there.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I don't believe there's a resident 'task killer' but there are apps available at Amazon and show as compatible with the Fires.  Basically, you can use them to see what's running, and shut anything down from one place rather than having to do each one separately.


----------



## chatman (Dec 30, 2012)

I use "free advanced task manager" app, got this from the 1mobile site.. shows you what apps are draining the battery and running.. then stop them or clear cache as well.. 

Also found re-booting the kindle cleared some off as well, so all afresh start-up.....

Sent from my KFHD viaTapatalk


----------

