[DISCUSSION] Android Task Killers – Are they needed or not?
Let me just start by saying Android is not Windows Mobile. I've seen too many previous Windows Mobile owners treating Android the same way they did WM and this doesn't have to be this way. I've also seen several new smartphone users who went straight to Android from a dumb phone and believe they have to rely on a task killer only because of what they have seen or heard themselves. You may agree or disagree at this point but continue reading to see why I am a firm believer in no task killer at all.
I'd like to point out one of the main reason's most people actually believe a task killer works correctly and why they are being led to believe this. If you are familiar with any Windows Mobile device you know that killing applications were mandatory at times. When you did this it affected the phones performance in several major/minor ways. When you killed application's on a WM phone it's definitely because of some of the same reasons people think they need a task killer on Android. Whether it's because the phone is not responding to one certain application or because of memory availability, task killers are being used and harming some Android phones when they shouldn't be. Android and WM are different but being treated the same. I do agree that task killers can be used for certain reasons but if you don't know how to use one properly, learn how before destroying your devices functionality.
What some people don't know is that there is a process on all Android phones by default that will allow you to kill the program without needing a task killer for what it's being used for. Many will argue that this is a reason not to even need a task killer while others say task killers do the job better. Either way, Android will allow your applications to sleep in the background, not using any battery life. You just have to know where to find this feature to believe it and most people aren't aware. You can always go to settings -> applications -> running services to see for yourself.
You will notice that some programs are mandatory and running. These mainly will be the ones you probably don't have a clue to what they are and also the ones like phone, messages, etc. These are programs that if you had a task killer and chose to kill all applications, could cause some major issues with your device such as loss of text messages, force closing of applications and more. Then you are left wondering what just happened to my phone and don't have a clue what you did wrong.
You will also see programs that are what you have installed and recently used that may be running or not. If you notice, Android has control over this and is doing what task killer's say they do for you, but in reality the genuis' suggest task killers don't do the job the correct way or they are being used for the wrong reasons. Some people will argue that a task killer shows more applications running than the phone does. This I can't explain and have yet to see anyone else. If you can, let us know why you think it happens.
Another reason users are led to believe task killers really are useful is because of the memory increase or free memory they see when they "kill" applications. FYI, this information isn't correct. Unlike WM, Android is Linux based and by being designed to multi-task eats up all the memory it can, storing as much as it can for you so it can be accessed faster at anytime. This will make it appear you have low amounts of free memory when in reality you don't. More on this topic can be found here if you are confused.
Speaking of memory and how it works differently in Android (Linux) than it does in Windows Mobile (Windows) devices, we found another interesting article that breaks down the way memory works. Basically they explain the difference between how each operating system stores memory and has memory available when needed. With Android, if you are running an app that needs 100mb and only 150mb of memory are available, the fine will perform just fine. This isn't the case with a WM phone and is another reason to confuse you and make you depend on a task killer too often. Take a look at this article to learn more here.
What we want to know after you've read this is if you use a task killer, why? Do you depend on yours on a daily basis? If you don't use one, do you agree with this information in the article? This is a great source of information for new Android users and we hope to get some great insight that will be useful to many geeks around the world.
© 2011, GirlGoneGeek. All rights reserved.
I’m not a rom flasher, so i have to deal with sprint bloatware. I use 1 mainly to close sprint nav, nfl mobile, etc. As I’m sure most of you know, as soon as you kill 80% of the apps running, they open right back up again. So….I don’t know…what’s the point ????
Courtney1985 Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 10:07 am
thanks for your input
Those applications are the right ones to be closing! Some others don’t know the proper way to use a task killer.
I agree… It seems that they are not nessesary in Android… When I use my wifes EVO (or her shift) I am always inclined to press the little green android for task killer and it always shows an insane amount of applications open and gives you a false feeling of accomplishment when you tell it to close “All apps”.
I think is the fact that we see that it is doing “something” and as you stated, coming from WM, it seems like this is the thing that needs to be done…
I have to comment that at times, doing this DOES however improve the speed of the phone but most of the time, it behaves thesame weather you do it or not…
@meccadon123 – Even if you flash a custom rom, the task killer will tell you that you have alot of things open even when you havent opened them… and like you stated, once you close them all, within a little, they are all showing as active again…
Maybe its good to have task killers for when we think we need a performance boost but it does appear that Android does not need it… I have to add one more thing though… Maybe is from the false sense that task killers give us but I did notice a bit of a battery improvement on my wifes EVO when she uses these task killers often… But as stated, it could just be in my head…
Just my 2c… jejeje
Courtney1985 Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 10:07 am
You’re .02 is mucho appreciated!
First just a note, I am using Droid Incredible(with stock battery). I have ran multiple ROM’s and every time I always get Advanced Task-killer, it lists only the running apps.
Reason I use a Task-Killer:
I have observed big gains in battery life with having the task-killer. Even though Android does manage the apps OK, I still noticed some apps seem to continuously try and update even when the phone is idle. I am not sure if this has just been something to do with the 5 or 6 Different ROM’s I have ran, but I would assume not since it happened across them all.
I have my task killer set to end any apps after I put the phone on stand-by. Having the task-killer my phones battery went from half a day usage to about a day and a half, so about 3 times the battery life.
So that there is the reason I use a task-killer, because I notice a rather drastic battery life increase.
On memory usage. I have had absolutely no issue with memory because of apps being open. Only thing is just battery usage.
P.S.:
I have Toggle Settings Pro, it comes with a built in task killer. It list all the “services” running as well as apps. I think that is what people refer to as “more applications then the phone is running”. Well those arn’t technically Apps… those are phone services that are used by the OS, so if you kill those you can be in an interesting area…
Oh yeah and mine never re-open after killing unless I actually open them.
They will re-open if they are set as a constant thing like a widget… my screebl and Facebook widget would always show back up but that is it. So I added those to the ignore list.
Asphyx Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 10:15 am
They will however reopen if you reboot. If you use something like Titanium Backup to freeze them you won’t have to re-kill on every reboot.
Also many OTA carrier updates check to see if all the apps that should be in a stock rom are there before they update.
With Titanium you can unfreeze them, update a re freeze them when your done.
I’m a cell phone tech for Sprint and I believe a task manager can help depending on which one you get. Advanced Task Killer and Auto Memory Manager do justice when installed after a fresh flash. If your device has a custom rom it might handle the memory better. It’s not necessary to have one, but I think it helps. Stay away from the Lookout app. It’s harmful.
Courtney1985 Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 10:08 am
Thanks for your input!
KIOWA69 Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 11:08 am
How can you say that Lookout is harmful and not explain your reasoning behind it, I would be interested to hear why you say that because I use it and it never causes any issues or have I heard of anyone else saying anything bad about it, so please explain further so us Noobs can be enlightened, thanks.
Mike G. Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
When we get Android phones in the store for software repairs the common bond between most the device’s that power cycle, have connection errors, and and force closes are that about 80% of them have the Lookout app on them. There is another app from TEP(Total Equipment Protection) that is much better and I haven’t seen any issues from it. It seems like it the lower end Android device’s that really act funny after a while of running it.
Mike G. Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
One more thing about the Task Managers. If the phone uses HTC Sense, Advanced Task Killer is better. Auto Memory Manager messes with Sense. But Auto Memory Manager is better on non HTC phones.
You don’t really need a task killer in Android. Like someone else said it is a multitasking OS and it will kill any proccess it needs to if it needs the memory.
That doesn’t mean though that it isn’t a good idea to have one installed for those few times when you have installed a bad APK that needs to be closed.
But there are stock options that let you do that.
Where the Task Killer can be a bad thing is when you have it set to kill off tasks automatically.
Folks like Meccadon should look for an App entitled Titanium Backup.
It will be able to freeze the carrier bloatware which will save you some battery life, but to clarify, it isn’t the App or service running that is eating up the battery it is the fact that the app or service is usually doing things like background data transfer like a news and social networking updates that use the radio and burn the battery.
Killing stock bloatware tasks by themselves don’t save the battery it is shutting off those tasks that use the radio that saves you!
There are however some services and apps that do eat the battery up because they require the proccessor to scale up on speed. Battery Monitors are notorious for eating up battery because it constantly keeps the proc going to monitor the unit status.
Best way to save battery power is to keep the Proc as idle as possible unless your actually using th device which is why SetCPU is your friend as it can get you a ton of hours in extended battery life just by dialing down the proc speed when the screen is off or when Battery drops below a certain level.
So in a way the task killer is a poor tool for extending battery life.
It requires you to stop a bunch of services you want before any battery extention is seen and in many cases will come right back. But if you limit the amount of proc power they can use that battery will show some extra life.
I never have to kill tasks unless I just installed it and it is written poorly, I think many people coming from WM are just so used to finding a good task manager that that is usually the first app they install.
Android is a very different world than WM. It is a true multitasking OS and there is no need to kill things after using them.
Just hit the home button and it’s gone. Whatever ram it uses will be recycled when needed.
its all about the hardware rather than OS. if your device has alot of RAM then u can leave apps open and let the OS manage them. but if it does not then u will need a task manager and this is the situation that many WM,early Android and BB device users are in. and on a side note task killers/managers in WM do not let u kill the required services well at least the ones ive used dont,and if u manage to find one that does and end up killing it, the device will either freeze or auto restart.
I use one as I do believe that it helps in keeping the phone running a little smoother by freeing up some ram and closing programs that might be using the processor, it might be in my head that I’m thinking it’s working, but I do know that I don’t have any issues so it’s apparently not hurting either, plus I use SetCPU to help by setting it to lower the processor speed when the phones charging, screens off, and when the battery is getting to hot, so between those two programs and my Sprint OEM 2600 mAH extended battery I go to bed with a decent amount of battery left at the end of a moderate use day, haven’t ran out of battery yet with the way I set everything up.
I mainly run the task killer to kill programs that I’m not using or don’t plan to use or programs that like to start up on there own like maps, I also set it up to do this on a schedule although I do find myself checking to see what’s running and how much ram it’s showing that I have available, guess it’s just a habit.
One thing I do know my task killer helps with: GPS locks. For some reason, when the GPS fails to get a lock after many minutes, I will hit the task killer icon and a lock will be found within seconds.
I am rooted and I also use ATK but I will admit that I usually have it ignore about 90% of whatever usually runs in the background anyway. The main reason I use it is to make sure that my browser isn’t running in the background after I finish browsing the web, that alone has improved my battery life considerably.
KIOWA69 Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Yeah I agree with the browser, I have seen it usually use about 30mb ram after I have got done using it.
I use advanced task killer and kill them all the time cause sometimes it helps speed up my phone sometime as well saves battery life.
Also i use it to switch between applications that are running, cause some applications when launched in the app drawer restart the application and dont resume what you were doing in them..
Thats what i use one for and i love it, helps me a lot..
Also i ignore certain apps that give me notifications or widgets that need updating like clock on beutiful widgets.
You can add my name to the list of task killing supporters, though NOT for the benefit of more memory. I understand and agree with the rationale behind how Android is designed to operate.
I support them because a) I’m a control freak and I don’t want your garbage running when I’m done, and b) your application doesn’t need to keep sucking up my data plan and battery life just because you want to incessantly run.
i’ve used various task managers when i first got my EVO because i came from a touch and touch diamond running WM. after hearing about the dilemma of using them, i tried not using them and noticed that it didn’t really affect my battery life. what i’ve learned to do instead is uninstall the bloatware using titanium backup. things such as the useless sprint apps, footprints, twitter, friendstream and of course their respective widgets. i never tried the “freeze” option so i don’t know if that helps any or not.
when i use a MIUI ROM, there’s a built in app killer (just hold the home button) and if my phone does get a little sluggish (probably due to 1000+ texts a day) it does seem to help SOMETIMES…but half of the time i’m just restarting my phone anyway
one thing i did like about the task manager is that you can access all the running apps from the pull down menu versus going through all the android settings. they also usually give you the option to switch to other apps which is more than the 8 listed in the recent apps list when you hold the home key on a Sense rom.
in the end, i’ve learned not to rely on task killers. to really increase your battery life you should use some sort of power control widget or get the one that has power icons on your pull down menu and make sure to turn off things when you’re not using them (like gps, data, and sync)
it doesn’t matter what this guy is saying about winmo and Android,,, Android is the new winmo period…..you all cam say what you want Android will be sluggish and slower than any os out there.
Majority of people doesn’t know about Android, they buy the phones because of how the phone looks, minority android owners are the one bloggging blah blah….
Windows phones are on there way, it will take over Android in any way you look at it.
Task killer or not, its still a winmo copy cat, CRAPDROID!!!
KIOWA69 Reply:
March 1st, 2011 at 10:29 am
LOL your so dilusional, please push yourself away from the computer and take a break because you obviously don’t know what your talking about.
Yeah I’m on android now, but like most people I had the TP1 and TP2 and loved them at the time, now I’ve moved onto something that works better for me, does that mean it works for everyone, no, so if you don’t like it don’t use it, if you feel that WP7 is better go and pre order one and be happy. Can’t understand why people come on here and try to bash another phone, at least we have options on what we want to use and not just stuck with one phone on one carrier.
Asphyx Reply:
March 4th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
@ejlee072006,
spoken like a guy who has never run android and is still probably still running WM6.
my unit is not sluggish at all and I have a ton of widgets running on multiple screens.
Maybe the HTC stuff is sluggish but HTC is know for underpowered low RAM devices trying to run Sense which is a pig on any operating system it is available.
If your android is sluggish get rid of Sense and try something else and you will see what the problem actually is!
I’m a former WinMo user and admit to being addicted to “OTK – Obsessive Task Killing”. I am on a 12 step program, which includes reading everything I can about task killing in Android to break myself of this horrible habit in Linux. I even once removed Advanced Task Killer for a few days, but late one night I got up and, shame of shames, reinstalled it. I admit I like the feeling of power and control that task killing provides, though presumably there are few advantages and presumably more disadvantages. When no one is looking I sneak into the corner and run ATK several times a day. Maybe it really is like chocolate, in that some at the right time is quite beneficial.
86shelby Reply:
March 2nd, 2011 at 1:23 pm
LMAO…. ATK AKA Crack
I kicked my OTK habit and feel much better.
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/general-android-discussion/134602-awesome-article-about-task-killers-use-not-use-question.html
http://lifehacker.com/#!5650894/android-task-killers-explained-what-they-do-and-why-you-shouldnt-use-them
I tried to Bring all this to every ones attention back in Sept/ begining. of Oct..
I used to use one constantly on my DInc and my wife’s Droid. The incredibly sucky battery life got much better after I quit using it. (New kernel helped too) Frankly, I don’t know if it would be possible for this thing to be any faster. That was not the case when I used a task killer.
at all.
The droid was pretty unstable all the time until I told her to quit using it. Now I don’t hear her complain (about her phone)