How to close an application in Android. How to disable background programs on Android

For those who are starting to use an Android device for the first time, it is not clear how to close running applications. Indeed, unlike the Windows OS, to which everyone is accustomed, there is no window of a running program directly on the screen of a smartphone (tablet) with a button to close it, as in Windows. In this material we will tell you how to close an application on Android.

This is the main and fastest way to close an application on Android. To view the list of running programs, you need to touch the button located next to the “Home” sensor on the right.

Some smartphone models may not have such a button; in this case, you need to touch and hold the “Home” button itself. A list of running applications will open in the form of a series of miniature windows.

Select the desired program, touch its window and, without releasing your finger, simply point to the right or left side of the screen. The application will be closed and disappear from the list.

Or another option is to long-tap on an application window in the list to bring up the context menu. Select the menu item " Remove from list" and the application will be closed.

How to close an application through Android settings

You can also close applications in Android settings, although this method is less convenient.

Go to the settings of your smartphone/tablet, find the item “ Applications"and on it.
A list of programs available on the device will open. Go to the " Working"to see a list of running software.
Touch the name of the desired application to open its information window, where the button to close the program is located.
Tap on the button " Stop» to close the application.

We looked at the standard methods provided in the Android operating system. Applications can also be closed by third-party programs, so-called task killers or task managers. This method is useful in cases where the standard method fails to close the application.

How to close an application in Android using task manager

Consider closing an application using a popular program ES Task Manager, which can be installed from Google Play.

Run ES Task Manager and go to the tab Task Manager, where find the application or several applications that need to be stopped and click opposite the icon with a diagonal cross, then click the “ Kill Selected" The selected programs will be closed.

In this article, we will figure out what background applications are on Android, what they are for, and how to disable them.

What are background applications on Android

Background programs run background processes that are invisible to the device owner. The application seems to be closed, but it still consumes system resources, takes up space in RAM and reduces the device's battery life. Such processes start without your knowledge and run in the background - hence their name. There are generally good reasons for running these processes - it could be synchronization, retrieving location data, or other activity related to the purpose of the application.

But not all background processes are necessary. For example, we use some applications extremely rarely, and unnecessary background processes only unnecessarily load the device. The Android system has built-in tools with which you can always see what applications are running in the background, how much memory they consume and how they affect the battery charge.

To see which background processes are currently running, you need to:

Enable in settings developer mode
Select menu item " Process statistics»
Select application

In the window that opens, you will see all the information on the selected background application.

You can also see which programs and how much they affect the battery consumption of your device. To do this, go to the battery settings and select the menu item " Battery usage" You will receive a list in which, in descending order, there are applications that negatively affect the battery level.

What background programs on Android can be disabled

The two main types of apps that you probably don't want running in the background are games when you're not playing them, and music players when you're not listening to music. Look at other background processes too. If you don’t need this application at the moment, then you can safely close the process.

The applications necessary for the operation of the device themselves will not allow you to close their background processes, this is how the Android system works. But do not close system background applications and those that you constantly use. If, for example, you close the processes of social networks and instant messengers, you will stop receiving notifications about new messages. Most applications and services whose names begin with “Google” should not be closed either. Here are the most important Google processes:

Google Search
Google Play services
Google Contacts Sync
Google Keyboard
Google Play Store

You can either disable the background process or force close the app completely.

To disable a background process, you need to go to the menu " Process statistics» select the required one and click « Stop»
To forcefully stop the application, you need to go to the " Application Manager» select what you need and click « Stop»

Some applications themselves automatically launch in the background even after closing. To “put them to sleep” you can use Greenify . This utility prevents applications from starting automatically. If your device has ROOT rights, you can completely remove unnecessary applications from startup. You can read how to get ROOT rights in our other article.

What to do if you have disabled background programs on Android that you need?

If you accidentally disabled system processes or background processes you simply need, simply enable them again or reboot the device - the system itself will enable everything necessary for work.

This option is missing for a number of reasons - it is literally impossible to close the application, and after a conditional exit it will still continue to work in the background. And yet, there are options for solving this problem, and we will talk about them further.

Regardless of which Android device you're using, a smartphone or a tablet, there are several options for closing mobile apps, but before we dive into them, let's look at the traditional way to quit.

In most applications available on Android devices, you just need to press a button to exit "Back", if you are on the so-called welcome screen, or "Home" at all.

The first action will take you to where the program was launched from, the second will take you to the desktop.

And if the button "Home" works flawlessly, minimizing any application, then "Back" is not always so effective. The thing is that in some cases, you can exit by double-clicking this button, which is usually indicated by a pop-up notification.

This is the simplest, traditional option for the Android OS to exit, but still not completely close the application. In fact, it will continue to work in the background, creating a small load on the RAM and CPU, and also gradually consuming battery power. So how do you close it completely?

Method 1: Menu

Some developers provide their mobile products with a useful option - the ability to exit through the menu or with a confirmation request when trying to do this in the usual way (pressing "Back" on the main screen). In the case of most applications, this option is no different from the traditional button exit, which we outlined in the introduction, but for some reason, many users find it more effective. Perhaps because the action itself is supposedly carried out correctly.

Once on the welcome screen of such an application, simply press the button "Back", and then select a confirmation response in the window asking about your intention to leave.

Some application menus literally have an exit option. True, often this action not only closes the application, but also logs out of the account, that is, for the next use you will need to re-authorize with your username and password (or phone number). You can most often find this option in instant messengers and social networking clients; it is no less typical for many other applications, the use of which requires an account.

All that is required to close, or rather, to exit such applications, is to find the corresponding item in the menu (sometimes it is hidden in the settings or in the user profile information section) and confirm your intentions.

And yet, it is worth understanding that even after logging out of your account, the application will still remain active, although this will no longer have a noticeable impact on system performance.

Method 2: Unloading from memory

You can forcefully close an application by simply unloading it from RAM. However, here you should take into account the fact that when you try to restart, more system resources will be consumed than usual. This, of course, is a trifle, but if you constantly close programs in this way, you may encounter not only slow startup and start-up, but also increased energy consumption.

So, to close completely, first press the button to call up the recent applications menu (multitasking menu), and then find the one you need in the list that appears. Swipe it to the side by swiping from left to right across the screen (or from bottom to top on Xiaomi), or close it by clicking on the cross in the upper right corner. Additionally, it is possible "Clear all", that is, forcefully close all applications.

Note: On older smartphones that have a mechanical key "Home"(for example, early Samsung models), to call up the multitasking menu you need to hold it down, since the other button is responsible for calling up the regular options menu.

Method 3: Forced Stop

If for some reason the method of closing through the multitasking menu does not suit you, you can do something more radical - completely stop the application. This is done as follows:

The application will be closed and unloaded from RAM. By the way, this method is the most effective when you need to get rid of a notification that cannot be brushed away; just such a software product was shown in our example.

Conclusion

Now you know about all the possible ways to close applications on Android. However, it is worth understanding that there is very little effectiveness in such actions - while on weak and old smartphones and tablets this can give at least some (but still temporary) increase in performance, then on relatively modern, even mid-budget devices, it is unlikely that you will be able to notice any - positive changes. Still, we hope that this material was useful to you and helped you get a comprehensive answer to such a pressing question.

There are no difficulties closing programs on a computer. You simply click on the “cross” in the upper right corner, and that’s where your actions end. But the Android operating system is inherently single-window, so there are no “crosses” here. And even if you go to the desktop, the application will continue to work, now in the background. If you launched something simple, like the “Calculator”, then you don’t have to worry. But if you have launched a program that, in theory, can perform some actions even in the background, then it is better to close it. Our article today will tell you how to do this.

Android received multitasking almost from the first days of its existence. And if several programs can run simultaneously, then the user should be able to close some of them. Or even turn it off, but we’ll talk about that below. Closing an application means unloading it from RAM; at the same time, the program will stop loading the processor. To close a program in Android, the simplest method has been used for quite some time. It consists of the following actions:

Step 1. Press the " Latest apps" It usually looks like two overlapping rectangles, although there are exceptions - sometimes it's just one square. This button can be physical or touch - it doesn’t matter at all. On many devices, this key is virtual - it is displayed on the screen itself.

Step 2. Here you will see thumbnails of all running applications. When you reboot the smartphone, the list is reset, with the exception of devices running Android 6.0 or a newer version of the operating system. If you want to close running applications, simply swipe their thumbnails from left to right or right to left. On a tablet in landscape orientation, you need to swipe your finger from top to bottom.

Step 3. In new versions of the operating system, you can close all applications at once. To do this, use the corresponding button located under the column with thumbnails.

If you have a device with a very old version of Android, the swipe gesture may not work. In this case, you need to click on the “cross” located on the thumbnail of the application you do not need. If it’s not there, try holding your finger on the thumbnail for a couple of seconds - in this case, a context menu may appear in which the item “ Close application" or " Remove from list».

Other ways

How to close open applications on Android without using the corresponding button? Is there another way? This question can be answered both affirmatively and negatively. It all depends on the implementation of a specific program. Some developers have made sure that their creation does not hang in RAM when you are away from it. In this case, closure can be implemented in the following ways:

Sometimes in the main menu of the program you can see the button " Exit" Clicking on it will take you to the desktop and actually close the application.
In some cases, it is enough to press the " Back" In this case, you need to be on the main screen of the application. In most cases, you will need to further confirm your actions by clicking the " Yes».

Some devices (for example, HTC One M7) offer to press the “ button twice Home" After that, all you have to do is swipe up on the application, after which it will close.

Disabling applications

Many programs on Android are implemented in such a way that they will run in the background anyway. For example, Facebook It constantly collects all kinds of information about you, it is virtually impossible to close it. But if you are not going to use some applications for a long time, then you can disable them. Then they definitely won’t work in the background, consuming device resources. You can close background applications using the shutdown method using the following steps:

Step 1. Go to " Settings».

Step 2. Go to the section " Applications" It may also be called " Application Manager».

Step 3. Move to the " All" Although this is an optional step, the necessary programs may also be found in the “ Third party", opened by default.

Step 4. Click on the application you want to disable.

Step 5. Click the button Disable" or " Stop" If it is not active, then this program cannot be disabled - it is possible that it is a system one.

Carefully! If you disable the program, you will no longer find it on the desktop or in the menu. To use it you need to visit again " Application Manager", you will find the program you need in the " Disabled" or " Stopped».