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What does it mean to run in the background. How to enable background mode for programs on PC and mobile devices

The hunt for apps running in the background has begun. Many of these apps do this for a good reason: syncing, providing location data, or whatever they were built for. But not always. If you want to know which applications are running a lot of background processes or want to prevent them from running in the background, then read on to find out how.

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Process statistics and battery usage

If you want to know which apps are running in the background and how power-hungry they are in terms of performance and battery, then Android has the following built-in monitoring options:

  • Activate Developer Options by going to Settings> About device and click on the build number until you see a notification that developer options are enabled.
  • Go to Settings> Developer options> Process statistics to see how long your key apps have been running. Click any program to see how much RAM it takes up.
  • Go to Settings> Battery, then tap on specific apps to see how much battery they are using.


What apps running in the background do I need to stop?

The two main culprits that are wasting memory and battery power are games you don't play, and music players that you are not using. If you don't see a logical reason for the application to run in the background, then you should probably close it.

You should keep most applications or services that start with the word Google. The really important services will still not let you stop them, but you shouldn't close the following applications either: Google Search, Google play services, Google Contacts Sync, Google Keyboard, Google Play Store.


The list of process statistics should give you a pretty good idea of ​​which applications should be left running in the background based on how often you use them. This is a great place to stop unnecessary software or services you may not be using, such as Google Play Music.

Disable, stop, or remove background apps

If you have an application that you think is using an excessive amount of processor power or is running much more in the background than it needs to, then you can:

  • Disable it through the Application Manager by going to Settings> Applications> Application Manager, selecting the app, and then clicking Disable.
  • With Lollipop updated, you can easily close recent apps by tapping the Recent Apps navigation button on your phone (to the right of the home button) and sliding them left or right to close them.
  • You can remove them from your phone by going to Settings> Applications> Application manager, selecting an application, and then clicking Uninstall.
  • To force stop them, go to Settings> Applications> Application manager, swipe right to the Running tab, select the application, and then click Stop.


Remember, if you have no idea what this app or service is, it doesn't use up a lot of RAM or battery, and you don't want to harm your phone, then it probably shouldn't be stopped.

Greenify

Greenify is an app to put them to sleep when you are not using them. In general, this is an automated option to force close or disable applications that fires every time you stop using them, and then brings them back when you need them. But doing it manually is annoying. Therefore, Greenify is one of the best apps on application management.


Non-rooted users, for example, won't be able to automatically put apps to sleep, but they can simply flip a switch in the widget to make them fall asleep (not a bad option if you don't want to root the device). If you are serious about managing background processes, then Greenify is what you need.

Do you follow the processes taking place with your applications? What tools are you using?

Most of the users of smartphones and tablets running on the android operating system, one way or another, have heard about such a feature of these devices as background mode work of programs. It can have a significant impact on the operation of the device, as well as on its performance, so it makes sense to learn more about these features.

What is background mode?

Any applications running on a device with an Android operating system installed can work both in the background and in active mode. Active mode is an explicit operation of an application that requires attention or some action from the user. Answering the question, what is the background mode of android, it should be mentioned about the category of background applications.

Such programs include various programs whose work is suspended, not closed, as well as antivirus applications and other processes. Working in a similar mode allows you to save them during idle time, and not lose them, as happens in the case of restarting the application. This mode has quite a few advantages. These include:

  • Implementation of multitasking. Thanks to the ability to switch applications from active to hidden format, the user is able to work in several applications at the same time.
  • Saving data. If it is necessary to perform any action, the user can pause the application in order to restore it later without losing the entered data (progress in games, etc.).
  • The use of background services that make the smartphone or tablet work correctly and convenient for the user. At the same time, most of these services work imperceptibly for him, in a stealthy mode.


In view of this, the emergence of the possibility of using background programs was a truly important leap forward in the development of devices based on this OS.

Disadvantages of background mode

There is a certain list of disadvantages inherent in applications running in the background. First, they all tend to spend a certain amount of gadget resources, which negatively affects performance. Secondly, a similar situation is observed with the battery charge, which perceives many running applications as similar to a continuous conversation. things to keep in mind, especially when traveling.

If you are struggling with performance issues on your Android device, or trying to track down suspicious battery drain, then you can take a look at the apps in the background.

This guide will show you exactly how to do this and will suggest some nuances on what you can do about it.

Before we get into details, it is important to note that most Android applications will run in the background because they are doing what they have to. The system is good and automatically keeps things running smoothly, so you need to think carefully before intervening.

Check battery usage

First, look at using the battery built into Android.


Go to Settings> Battery> Battery usage.

If you scroll down, you will see that there is a certain percentage in the list next to each entry showing recent battery usage.

On the screen as a list, there will be some Google applications. Take a look at an application or one that seems suspicious and uses a large number of discharge percentages. Perhaps you should disable some programs or uninstall altogether.

Check service activity or process statistics

You can take a look at what works in this moment developer kit on your Android device.


1. Go to Settings> About device and tap on the build number seven times to unlock developer options.

if you have Samsung Galaxy, it could be Settings> About Device> Software Information> Build Number.

2. You will receive a pop-up message stating that you are a developer now.

3. Go to Settings> Developer options and search for Start services or Process statistics (depending on Android version).

4. With the launch of services in Android 6.0 and higher, you should see the RAM status at the top, with a list of applications and related processes and services currently running. By default, it will show services, but you can also click to show cached processes.

5. Using the statistics of processes in older versions of Android, you will see a list. The percentage next to each one tells how often it works, you can click on it to see the RAM usage.

Again, you are looking for apps that are suspicious even if you don't use and there are a lot of them. There are system processes from Google services that you don't want to mess with. If you don't know what they are and what they are for, just enter the name into Google and find out.

Once the problematic applications have been identified, you have several different options to decide what to do with them.

How do I stop background apps temporarily?

Exists different ways to stop the application from running in the background right now, that might be enough to stop the immediate problem. You just need to know that the next time you open the application again, this background process will start working again.

  • Tap Recent Apps on your phone, then the X next to an open app, or swipe right or left to close them.
  • If you have a device under Android 6.0 or higher, go to Settings> Developer Options> Start Services, click on the active app and select Stop. You will see a warning if the application cannot be safely stopped.
  • For older versions of Android (up to 6.0), in Settings> Developer options> Process statistics, click on the active application and select “stop”.
  • In any version of Android, you can also go to Settings> Apps or Settings> Apps> Application manager and hit stop. Older versions of Android do not have a "Launch" tab in the Apps list, so you can easily see what works, but this no longer appears in Android 6.0.
  • How to stop background apps permanently

    If you want to stop the application in the background, then you still have a few options.

    The easiest way to permanently stop apps running in the background is to uninstall it. Go to Settings> Apps on your Android device, or Settings> Apps> Application manager on Samsung Galaxy, tap on an app and then tap Uninstall.

    If the application was preinstalled, you will not be able to "uninstall", but there is an option to "Disable". Disabling it will also stop it running in the background.

    WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO?

    There are several other options to help you deal with problematic applications.

    Go to Settings> Data transfer> in background, it is possible to prevent apps from using mobile data to sync in the background, although they will use Wi-Fi when available.

  • If you have Android 6.0 or higher, you can go to Settings> Privacy & Security> App Permissions. Take a look at the permissions, decide if all of these applications are really needed. Removing some permissions can reduce background activity for some apps, but in other cases it can stop the app from running or cause it to crash.
  • We do not recommend using the application task manager. They can cause more problems than solutions and rarely deliver the promised performance gains. Android does this automatically when needed, as mentioned above, you can do it quite easily and on your own.
  • We've come to the end of our guide on how to disable background apps and stop them.

    We hope these tips help you. Just remember to proceed with caution!

    Let us know how you did it?

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    Hello, friends! In this short tutorial, I want to talk about the background mode and why you need it at all. Most programs launched by a user on a computer run in active mode. This means that they appear in the Windows taskbar and in the Task Manager under the Applications tab. If you look at the "Processes" tab, you will find a much larger number of entries there than in the application tab that are currently running. You can read more about the task manager and how to use it in my article "".

    If you open any program, then in the task manager in the "Processes" tab you can see this running program. For example, if you open Opera browser then you will see the running process "Opera.exe". If you open the task manager, go to the "Processes" tab and check the box "Show processes of all users". With this action, you will display the processes running on the computer under other users, as well as the system processes that are necessary for normal operation.


    All processes that do not need user interaction usually run in the background. The work of the program in the background assumes the independent execution of the tasks assigned to it, without the participation (or almost without participation) of the user.

    Programs that run in this way consume computer resources in the same way as applications that appear on the taskbar. Therefore, the launch of a large number of programs that hide their icon in the tray or do not remind of themselves at all can greatly affect the performance of the computer.

    Regular programs can run in the background, for which the appropriate settings are set. In this case, the application icon is usually displayed in the notification area (system tray or in English system tray - part of the taskbar between the clock and active tasks). The most typical representative of this group is antivirus. If you close the main antivirus window by clicking on the "cross", the window will disappear, but your antivirus will continue to protect your computer by moving to the tray. Some programs can be configured in such a way that when you click on the "Close" button, they stop their work completely, and when you click on the "Minimize" button, they disappear from the taskbar, but show their tray icon, thus going into the background mode. This setting is usually called "Minimize to tray".

    Also, programs that are part of the operating system run in the background. In particular, these are system services, as well as other applications. Some of them are necessary for the system to work and cannot be stopped. Others are needed only for some specific functions that are not really used by the user. Stopping such components can be very useful to save computer resources, but requires knowledge, the description of which is beyond the scope of this article.

    Viruses, spyware, and other malicious objects also run in the background. Which is quite understandable, because the attacker needs the user not to know about their activity and tries to hide from the user's eyes.

    In order to terminate processes, you need to know a little about the system programs that are commonly used to run.

    Probably, many people know and from time to time they release RAM by disabling applications running in the background.

    Of course, not everyone knows this, so I will show them how to do it easily, quickly and why.

    If you've logged into Facebook, YouTube or played a game, then just went to the home screen, not everyone knows that these applications will not be disabled.

    They will run in the background and slow down operating system android.

    Disabling the involved applications completely will definitely improve the performance of your phone (smartphone) or tablet, especially in the case of devices with 512 or 1 GB of RAM.

    In android, you have to disable them manually or with a program that quickly does the job automatically.

    I will show in the future all three methods that can be used, and choose the favorite yourself.

    Disable background apps in android by button action

    Most phones have two or three buttons below the display screen (some even have four).

    If you hold down the Home button for 2 seconds, background applications appear and you can turn them off.

    Depending on the model, smartphone or tablet, you can turn off everything at once by pulling the screen or one at a time, in turn.

    NOTE: on some phones or tablets, this function may be replaced by another - enable popular applications.

    Disable background applications in android by task manager

    Enter the store Google applications Play and install the Task Manager program.

    Together with it, the widget will be installed, but you can configure the program itself so that it frees up memory automatically when the screen is turned off (Figure above).


    This program is named as in Windows system, but they function a little differently, although the purpose is the same - forcibly closing processes.

    The widget can display the home screen, although when correct setting"Task manager", applications running in the background will turn off automatically, which will undoubtedly refresh your smartphone or tablet. Good luck.