How to limit the number of apps running in the background of your Android
So you upgraded your Android and now you have the latest model. It’s shining, it’s beautiful and it’s so much quicker than you ever remember a phone being. The trouble comes in a few months when it starts to feel a bit sluggish, slowly transitioning from one app to another whereas it used to take half a second.
Obviously as you download and install new apps to your Android, it’ll start to become slower as the RAM is being used by other things. Your battery will also start to become depleted quicker and quicker and you’ll soon be looking forward to your next new phone…in 15 months…
To remedy this problem though, there are some things you can do in order to improve the performance of your Android and get it running a little bit quicker, and the answer is to limit the number of apps that are running in the background of your Android.
Manage Your Background Processes
A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes of your Android, and the best way to rectify things is to start by poking around behind these scenes. Navigating to the screen that’s dedicated to helping you will vary depending on all sorts of different factors. (What version of Android you’re running, the model of your device etc.)
- You may have to enable the developer options before you can begin. If your device is running on a version of Android that is before Marshmallow, you’ll want to go to “Settings” –> and then tap “Build Number” exactly 7 times. This will unlock a whole new world for you to explore…well maybe that’s a slight exaggeration.
Now you’re ready to party. So go to “Settings” –> “Developer Tools” –> “Processes”. Depending on your device, the term processes may be worded differently. Next it’s time to start killing some app processes, however you’ll want to be careful that you don’t stop something which is part of the system keeping your device operational, as killing it may crash your phone.
- If it has something to do with Google in the name, then it’s a tool that should be left well alone.
If you’re running a version of Marshmallow or higher, then you can simply just go to “Settings” –> “Memory” –> “Memory Used By Apps”. The model of your device and everything else that factors into the availability of developer options could mean that you’re still not able to manage the apps using your memory. If this is the case then simple do a Google search of your device model along with the term developer options and it should help you figure out how to enable the feature.
So now what? What should I destroy and what do I give mercy to?
Here comes the fun part. I’m using the word fun very lightly, as it might not be at all entertaining for you. Deciding what to terminate and what to keep will depend on what you have installed on your device. As mentioned above, if it is related to Google (Google Play Services, Google Play Store etc, then leave it be).
On the other hand, your photography apps and messenger services can happily be stopped without fear that your device will crash. Even then, there is the chance that the pesky app you’ve tried to stop simply brings itself back to life. Some apps don’t like to be stopped, and in these instances you’ll have to go to “Settings” –> “Apps” –> App name —> “Force Stop”.
All you need to do now is work your way through the list of processes and terminate any that aren’t imperative to the running of your device. This should help improve the performance of your Android as well as preserve some of your battery life too (as there is one less process leeching on it).
If you’re finding that your device is still running slow, then check out this post on how to fix your Android when it starts slowing down, and if you have any other handy tips then let us know in the comments!
