How Do I Stop Apps From Running in the Background on Android?
Your battery and memory usage is being depleted by background apps running games and services that constantly refresh their content, such as games and social media apps with backend processes that update them automatically.
There are various methods available to you on Windows and iOS to detect and stop them, with apps also offering support that can reduce resource use on your device.
1. Go to Settings
If your phone battery seems to drain faster than usual or doesn’t last all day on one full charge, the problem may lie with apps running in the background. While running apps in the background is normal for most apps, if they aren’t optimized or necessary it may cause your device to run slower or consume additional resources than necessary.
There are ways to stop apps running in the background, and they are usually fairly straightforward. On Android phones, tapping on the square icon in recent apps or on Samsung devices to close any app can easily do this – though note that this only temporarily closes it for current sessions without stopping its background processes or services from continuing their operation.
On older Android phones, to temporarily suspend apps you can navigate to Settings > Developer options > Process statistics and select an application before choosing to “force stop” it – this will only last during your current session but should relaunch after rebooting your phone; for permanent suspension of an application uninstalling is the only solution.
On some Windows phones, you have the power to manage some apps’ background usage with the Settings app. Clicking the three-dot menu at the upper right corner of an application and choosing More will reveal more options; under Power Optimized you can decide whether the app runs continuously in the background or not.
On Android phones, you can manage how many background processes an app runs in the background by visiting Settings > Battery and device care > Apps. Here, you can select which apps can run in the background as well as their RAM usage allowances. If an app is using too much resource, you can even restrict its background activity further – this won’t completely stop its work in the background, but will reduce battery consumption significantly while saving battery power; though doing this does reduce functionality – such as GPS tracking functionality being affected.
2. Go to Developer Options
If you own an Android device and are experiencing poor performance or battery drain, this could be caused by apps running in the background and using resources or power. There are ways to stop these from running as background apps: you can either use App Overview or Settings menus; otherwise you could try entering Developer Mode; however this option could help disable apps which cause your phone to lag or run slower than usual.
To gain access to Developer Options on your device, navigate to its Settings and tap “About Phone”. Scroll down until you find ‘Build number’ and tap it seven times; this will unlock Developer Options and notify you that you have now become a developer. After being designated a developer, head back into Settings, click System then Advanced then Developer options before viewing a list of running applications consuming the most power; force stop any unnecessary apps running in the background that relaunch when rebooted automatically or force stop them completely for good!
Use this page to monitor all apps that are running in your system, including their Disk, Memory, CPU and Network usage. You can close any app by clicking its name – but be careful not to do this with system apps as this could lead to device malfunction.
Starting with Android Pie (9), you can enable the Adaptive Battery feature. This monitors how you’re using your phone and blocks apps that aren’t being utilized often from running in the background – potentially increasing battery life significantly. Just be careful not to delete any documents in apps as doing so would erase saved work and force you to redownload everything again.
3. Go to Running Services
Android phones are designed to give users control over background apps that consume memory and battery resources, known as “Running Services.” You can view, restrict, or view memory usage by each app running at once – this feature makes sure no unnecessary third-party applications or bloatware use your device unnecessarily. Android warns that disabling system processes or Google services could result in problems on your device which may hinder its proper function.
Many apps that you download from Microsoft Store run in the background to take advantage of features like downloading data, updating Live Tiles, or showing notifications – but this can drain your battery, bandwidth and system resources. Luckily, if an update-intensive app is no longer required you can easily stop it running in the background by going into Settings, selecting three dots in upper right corner and choosing More options with “Never let this app run in background.”
If you want to go the extra step and prevent apps from running in the background, there are third-party apps on the Play Store which can identify high resource consuming applications and disable them until needed again. Greenify is one such app which helps foreground apps run lag-free by moving background applications into hibernation, saving system resources, and prolonging battery life significantly – with all this free functionality, give it a try now and see if it helps your own situation! Asurion Experts are available around the clock to assist with everything related to tech, appliances, connections — including helping extend battery life! Asurion experts are available 24/7 to offer advice that will extend phone battery life considerably!
4. Go to Apps
Apps designed for mobile phones tend to work without much input from you, meaning they may run in the background using up power from your device. If this occurs frequently, battery may drain too fast or performance may deteriorate rapidly – in such instances it is wise to check which apps are running in the background – Android offers multiple methods of doing this.
One way is to use the recent apps button or swipe up manually to close an app manually, though this won’t stop it running in the background unless it’s uninstalled or disabled altogether. Another approach would be using an app designed specifically to close apps or limit background activity – these may help enhance smartphone performance or battery life but they might install additional apps and take time before starting work properly.
Change app permissions individually as well. On older Android versions, this can be accomplished by accessing Settings > Privacy > Permission Manager and reviewing each application’s settings individually. Here you have options such as disallowing running in the background or optimizing power use; with root privileges you may even go as far as to freeze problem apps to stop their drain on battery or performance impacting.
Developer Options’ background process limit feature offers another effective method for controlling the number of apps running in the background and saving battery power. While this feature may help prevent background processes from using system resources and saving battery power, it should only ever be used as an absolute last resort as this could potentially cause complications with your device.
