Autostart of applications is a process accompanied by the spontaneous loading of an application, or one of its parts, to perform tasks in background. Background mode is the active operation of a process in a closed state. That is, even if you don't use the program, it works. Most programs now work in Android according to this principle.
To make it even clearer, let's give an example from life. For example, any messenger or client you know social network can work in the background, regularly checking for new messages, replies, likes, posts, and so on. Even if your messenger or client is closed, you can receive a notification that a new message has arrived. In order for a client or messenger to find out about a received notification, it has to work in the background, constantly checking for the presence of these same messages. Even if the smartphone screen is turned off and all recently launched processes are closed, the messenger or client will work.
From the article you will learn
What programs are running in the background?
There are two types of applications running in the background, namely:
- With auto start;
- With active work in the background.
Autorun applications. They are activated along with the system and always work in the background. Such programs include clients, instant messengers, utilities for displaying weather, launchers, widgets, and so on. They never turn off and remain in the background.
Applications with active work in the background. These are programs that are in this mode only when actively working. For example, you started installing your favorite game from Google Play. The service will download the file even if you are currently engaged in other processes on the phone. Once the game is installed, Play Market It will unload itself from the background and will not appear there until the user tries to download/reinstall/update something again. Such applications include players, downloaders, torrents, browsers, and so on.
What are the consequences of apps constantly running in the background?
If you have several programs running in this mode, then this is normal. At the same time, it is quite acceptable practice that exactly those processes are launched that, it would seem, are not needed at all now. For example, you should not unload the browser from RAM, since it does not create a high load on the system, but each time it is launched will not “clog” the processor, but will only be unloaded from RAM. Also, do not remove it from autorun Google services, launcher applications, widgets, instant messengers and other programs with push notifications.
The number of processes allowed to run in the background is calculated directly from the amount of RAM and their gluttony. For example, if you have 4GB of RAM, it is quite normal for you to load it at 1GB. If only 1GB is free, then it’s definitely worth turning off several programs from startup.
To calculate the rate for your device, use a simple formula: look at how many applications you have running in the background. All these utilities are shown in the settings, in the “Memory” section and are displayed as running processes. If there are a lot of them, but they all take up about 10-40 MB, then they will not cause much harm. Often such applications hang in autorun for more quick start, to search for updates, send anonymous statistics, try to receive new notifications, and so on.
If there is an application in the background that is used very often, and it takes up a tiny amount of RAM, do not touch it. But if you launch it very rarely, and it still hangs in active tasks, feel free to disable it.
Pay special attention to programs that take up 10% of RAM. They should be turned off as much as possible. But if among them there are instant messengers, Google services and other important processes that you need, then it is better to leave them. The analogy is simple: if you often use a utility or program, then you should not disable it. It is quite normal to have about 10 applications running in the background, of which 5 are not used that often.
How to disable an application from autorun?
Technically, you cannot disable an application from autorun. But you can limit its operation in the background. To do this, follow the steps below.
Instructions for Android 8, 9, 10 and higher
- Go to the “Settings” of your smartphone and find the “Applications and notifications” item and open it.
- Open a list of all applications by clicking on the “Application Details” tab.
- Open the application that you think needs to be turned off in the background, that is, removed from startup. For a more convenient search, you can use the alphabetical slider on the left or the search in the top right.
- After opening the program, click on the “Battery” tab.
- In the “Battery” item, find the “Work in the background” slider and turn it off. We also recommend going to the “Battery” item and setting the application status to “Save battery power”.
This way, you can easily disable applications from startup by simply turning them off from running in the background.
Android is a well-thought-out operating system, so it itself recognizes processes and programs that may be running in the background and allows you to disable them. And if the application cannot work in this mode and launch automatically, this slider will not be provided initially.
Instructions for Android 7 and below
If you have more old version, then you should perform the following steps. They may also be useful for Android Oreo versions:
- Go to the “Settings” of your smartphone and find the “About phone” or “System” item at the very bottom of the list.
- Click on "Build Number" several times until the "Developer Options" tab appears. Then return to home screen settings and open the “For Developers” item there.
- At this point, find the “Inactive applications” tab and use it to easily disable active processes.
Using the All-In-One Toolbox
This is a multifunctional application whose main task is to optimize work operating system Android. Among the available tools, it is possible to stop the startup of some system and most user applications.
- Install All-In-One Toolbox from the official store using the button below.
- After the first launch, you must provide access to multimedia and other files in the device memory. To do this, click the “Allow” button.
Android users often notice that their devices become slower over time. There can be many reasons for this phenomenon, but one of the most common is the work in the background of unused at the moment applications. Here we will look at how you can disable automatic start and what to do if the application annoyingly tries to start again and again.
Why disable automatic start?
Everything running on your device affects the available memory, processor, and battery power. For the most part, this isn't a problem since Android is designed to always have apps in RAM so you can use them quickly. If performance begins to decline, the system itself begins to close the least used ones in order to maintain speed. For this reason, it may be counterproductive to kill applications with third-party task killers, since Android prefers to run in its own environment.But if one of your installed apps insists on launching even when you don't need it, and then sits in the background, you may find that your device starts to feel sluggish, or your battery drains noticeably faster. In this case, it is necessary to check the operation of all unauthorized applications. Sometimes the problem arises due to poor coding or obvious software “bugs”. Battery life may be reduced if the application uses GPS or other location-based features.
A good rule of thumb is to keep only what's provided by Google on your device. The exception is various applications from Google Play (books, movies and TV, press and music), each of which can be stopped without causing any system failures. Android protects itself quite well, so even if you carelessly try to terminate some important process on your device, the system itself will correct you, preventing catastrophic consequences. This is useful to know.
The sad truth is that if an app has an auto-run feature, it can be quite difficult to rein it in. Let's look at the different options.
How to disable auto-start applications: if you have Marshmallow installed
If you notice problems with your device's performance, you need to look at what apps are running. The procedure is slightly different depending on which Android version you use. If you upgraded to (Android 6.0.1), you need to enable developer mode before you can access the information.To do this, go to “Settings> About Phone” and click on the “Build Number” section several times until the message “You are now a developer!” appears. (You are now a Developer!). After that, return to “Settings”, where you will see new section"Developer options"
Open this section and select " Running services» (Running services). You will see a detailed list of active applications, indicating how long they have been running since launch and their impact on system operation.
Select any of them and you will be given the option to stop the application or get a report. If you click Stop, the program should close. In some cases, it is necessary to stop several different processes running by the same application, after which the program will safely close.
Sometimes it happens that after closing the application automatically starts again. Therefore, it is worth checking this section periodically. If this happens, it might be the best option will remove it completely, as preventing apps with AutoPlay feature from restarting can be a difficult task.
How to disable auto-start applications: Doze function
Android Marshmallow's Doze feature allows you to minimize the impact background applications. Essentially, it “freezes” the launch of applications when the smartphone is in your pocket, lying on a table or in a bag, and, in general, when it is not connected anywhere and the screen is off.To check if Doze is enabled for your smart apps, go to Settings > Battery and tap the three dots in the top right corner. After this, additional options will appear, including “Battery Saver” and “Battery Optimization”. Select the latter and you'll see a list of apps that haven't been optimized. If you find your “naughty” application there, tap on it, select “Optimize” and click “Done”. Now Android will control it more tightly throughout the day.
Apart from the settings described, there are practically no other ways to stop applications from automatically launching, unless you use solutions from third-party developers (task killer). However, this is far from best solution, since these programs interfere in many ways Android work. Therefore, if the application does not want to obey you, you should delete it and find a more acceptable alternative. Fortunately, their choice is huge.
How to disable autorun applications: if you are using outdated versions of Android
In Android 4.0 and above, there are a couple of different options for killing an application. To find out which ones are sucking up your resources, go to Settings > Applications and scroll down to the Running section. Find the application you are looking for there, select it and simply click the “Force Stop” button. The same result can be achieved by “tapping” the “Recent Apps” button on the home screen (the square usually located to the right of the Home button) and then using a finger movement (“swipe”) to remove the unnecessary program.Unfortunately, none of these methods will prevent the application from restarting on its own. Therefore, if you really need it and want to keep it on your smartphone, you will have to use a third-party task manager to disable autorun.
How to disable autorun applications: third-party solutions
The most popular task managers/killers are Greenify, Purify and Doze, each of which works on the same principle as the Doze function in Android Marshmallow, i.e. Pauses applications when you are not using the device. Each of the listed programs has many additional functions, but they usually require root access, which is an additional headache. Rooting your smartphone gives you a deeper level of control over it, but it comes with risks. Therefore, if you are not confident in your technical abilities, it is better not to resort to this option.2 years later we can already see how much has changed Android system and how seriously Google has improved it, making it convenient, fast, with a smooth interface, and with enormous capabilities. Now we can confidently say that Android is in no way inferior to its main competitor iOS.
However, sometimes you can notice that an Android smartphone or tablet starts to work slower. This happens especially often if you work with the device for a long time. If you compare the operation of the device immediately after purchase and after a few months, you will be unpleasantly surprised to admit that the difference is obvious. Switch between running applications is already slow, launching the application makes you wait a few seconds, which was not the case before. Everything can be hidden in a very simple reason - too many applications are launched when the device is turned on and then they continue to work in the background, clogging up memory.
This can often be seen on Android smartphones and tablets with 1GB of RAM or even less, since this becomes the minimum required for Android for normal operation. Don't worry, as there is a simple solution to the problem. There are many applications from independent developers who actively promote their own solutions to optimize the operation of the operating system.
We decided to choose as an example the very useful BootManager application, the name of which already speaks for itself. We can manage all applications that are loaded together with the system itself at startup. In BootManager, you can manually set the selection on those applications that really need to be loaded, and which ones simply take up additional memory and resources. Editing the list of applications automatic download This can be a good way to unload the system and improve performance.
Don't be afraid to work with BootManager. First you need to install the Xposed framework, which can be downloaded from this link. You will also need root rights to install. It's worth worrying about this in advance.
Once you have everything installed, run the BootManager program and you will see full list applications that automatically download when you turn on your Android device. It is worth noting that in free version BootManager does not display system applications and you can edit the startup list only of those applications that you installed yourself.
It’s very easy to remove an application from the automatic download list - click on the application name and that’s it, it will no longer download when you turn on your Android smartphone/tablet. All disabled startup applications will be highlighted in red in the list.
The above method offers a tool available to many for disabling unnecessary applications from startup, which will help significantly improve the performance situation; there will be more free RAM, which is more needed for multitasking and for working with really the necessary applications.
You can download the BootManager application from Google Play store via this link.
Updated 2015.02.29: alternative program to turn off system applications is Autostarts. Also, with its help, you can monitor the resource consumption of all processes and decide which ones should be disabled and which ones should be left.
It is worth noting that you carry out all actions at your own peril and risk, and the consequences of insufficient knowledge or inattention may be the following: unstable system operation, application errors, application crashes.
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