Which background programs can be closed? How to disable background applications on Android - optimizing space on your smartphone or tablet

As you know, in computer and mobile operating systems, quite a lot of programs run in the background. In other words, the program in the background consumes system resources in the same way as console applications, but is not visible to the user. Now we will consider several cases of using this mode for Windows and the most popular mobile OS.

What is background mode and what is it for?

So, it is already clear that the user does not see the program itself running in the background. The state of its activity can be determined in two ways. In general, for this purpose in Windows systems, the standard “Task Manager” is used, in which different tabs All running processes are displayed, including active applications in the background. In more specific case, if we are talking about user programs, they can be found minimized in the system tray.

However, not every program can minimize itself so that its console window is not displayed at all. The same “Task Scheduler” or setting autorun at startup Windows required have no effect. The application window opens in any case. WITH mobile devices the situation is simpler, although in most cases, as for Windows, we are talking about system services and processes. However, you can enable background mode for user programs in any of these systems.

How to run a program in the background on Windows 10

Unfortunately, the possibility of such a launch for desktop PCs and laptops appeared only in the tenth Windows versions. We will consider it.

Background mode for user programs is enabled in two stages, one of which is optional (why will be explained later). The first step is to go to the settings section, which is called up from the Start menu, and then go to the privacy settings.

At the bottom left there is a line background programs, and on the right is a list of the most frequently used applications. Opposite each program there is a special slider. By selecting the right application, you just need to turn on the background mode by setting the switch to the appropriate position. After granting permission to run in the background, the program will be minimized to tray when launched, and you will have to use this panel to maximize the window or close the application.

In order to enable the application to launch at system startup, the main executable file programs should be included in the startup list either in the “Task Manager” or in the configuration settings called by the msconfig command in the “Run” console (Win + R). After this, both autostart and background mode will be activated. Just don’t forget about the running application, because consumption system resources may increase unnecessarily. And you can add your program only using special utilities or place the program shortcut in the startup folder manually.

How to enable background mode for apps on iPhone?

Now a few words about “apple” mobile gadgets. You can also enable background mode in them. Let's take the iPhone as an example (although by and large it doesn't matter which device will be used).

First you need to download a small free utility called Backgrounder (you can do this on your computer through the Sydia service, since this application is not available in the “native” storage). Next, you should download the installer to your device via iTunes and install the program. It is advisable to create the desired directory manually, copy the installation file into it and install the application there.

Please note: after installation, the application icon will not be created in the list of applets, so it makes no sense to look for it among the installed programs. In addition, in file manager It is strictly forbidden to delete or move the installation folder, since after this the application will not be recognized by the system.

As for turning on the background mode, everything is simple. When starting a program, when it opens completely, you need to click on Home button and hold it for about 3 seconds. After this, a message about activating the Backgrounder utility will appear and the application will be minimized. For recovery initial state The program again uses the same button with a hold, but after this a message appears about deactivating the utility, which will be followed by the application exiting the background mode.

Using background work for Google Play

In Android systems, the background mode is usually used not only for system or built-in services, but also for the service Google Play.

If suddenly for some reason the user receives a notification that background data sharing is disabled, you need to use the settings where the menu is selected wireless networks. Here we use the data transfer line and click on the icon with three dashes, after which in the new menu we activate auto-sync and the background data line.

The path may differ on some devices. Sometimes you will need to use the battery settings and delivery section, where the background mode is located. In Android 5.0 and above you need to use the resolution background transmission data.

Instead of a total

That's it for using background mode. How appropriate this is for Windows is up to everyone to decide for themselves. However for mobile devices, in particular for Apple devices, activating the background mode is truly a godsend, because you can run several applications at the same time and minimize them all when you launch other programs.

What could be more exciting than getting to know a new smartphone you just bought? Alas, over time it loses its luster and gradually begins to work more and more slowly. You have to charge your smartphone more often, applications open more and more slowly. If this is your case, there are a few tips you can use to inhale into the device new life and improve the situation. Among other things, you need to control which programs are running in the background.

Managing background processes

The best option to regain control over processes is to use the monitoring tools included with Android itself. What the process view screen looks like, how to access it, and what it is called depends on the specific version of Android and the shell from the manufacturer. Sometimes, before you start looking, you need to enable developer settings.

In versions before Android Marshmallow for this you need to open Settings > About phone and click on the build number seven times. You will receive a notification that developer settings have been unlocked.
On many devices you need to look for the option "Processes" or "Process statistics" at the address Settings > For Developers > Processes. Here you will get a list of currently running processes and find out how much memory each of them is using.
Naturally, you need to stop the processes that consume the most memory. This should not be done thoughtlessly; you need to understand what you are stopping. Stopping some applications may crash operating system.

If you have modern smartphone, like, open Settings > For Developers > Running services and find a list of applications using RAM. You can also click on the settings section in the menu Services/Processes to switch between running and cached processes.

Some smartphones, like , do not allow you to access developer settings by clicking on the build number and have special methods. In this case, it is best to search on the Internet for an option to unlock developer settings on your smartphone model. You need to dial in the dialer ##6961## and look at the address Settings > Accessibility> For developers > Process statistics.

If you have a clean version or more modern, look for options at Settings > Memory >, there is an option to stop processes manually.

Which applications to stop

So, if you don't want programs or your smartphone in general to crash, you need to be careful. An application called " Google Services"and any other with the word Google in the name should not be stopped manually.

IN in this example there was no need for Kik applications, Facebook Pages Manager and a number of other services. In some cases, services are automatically restarted. If you click on the "Advanced" button, you can see the amount of memory used by cached processes. Here the stopping rules are the same as for applications.

For those applications that do not want to leave (if you kill Kik through the processes tab, it will start again), you need to open Settings > Applications > Application Manager and force stop or delete the application.

To stop an application manually through the process list, open Settings > For Developers > Processes and click on the button "Stop".
To force stop or remove an application manually through the application list, Open Settings > Applications > Application Manager and select the desired program. Don't delete apps that appear when you select the option "Show system applications."
To force an application to stop in clean version Android Marshmallow or more modern open Settings > Memory > Memory used by applications.

What uses up battery power

If you looked around carefully when you followed the steps above, you could see information regarding energy consumption in each application. However, going into each application and seeing how much energy it consumes is not the best method work.

Open instead Settings > Battery and see what options are available here on your smartphone. On different models they differ, but at least there should be a list of all installed applications, which have consumed energy since the last recharge. You can then decide which applications you will stop.

The rules for stopping and deleting applications apply here too, you need to be careful. Some smartphones separate applications in the section "Battery" into system and non-system, others into hardware and software applications.

Theoretically, every new version Android adds more useful features work with the battery, resulting in the number of required manual settings is shrinking. In Android Marshmallow, the most useful new option is Doze, which puts the smartphone into hibernation mode when it is not moving. There is a Doze 2.0 function, which also works when the smartphone moves, if you do not turn on its screen.

Samsung and other manufacturers offer their own options for battery and RAM functions, so there is no advice for all occasions. Some believe that Doze mode harms duration battery life, but you can check it yourself.

Applications for completing tasks and optimizing RAM

Android and devices are constantly improving, so many people believe that optimization apps do more harm than good to your battery life. They are trying to solve the problem of running apps in the background that waste resources. Since such applications run constantly, optimizers become one of them, increasing the load on the battery and RAM.

Task completion applications constantly force applications to stop in the background, resulting in increased energy consumption due to the constant startup and termination of processes. You may waste less energy by allowing apps to run in the background.

Some believe that if you root your device, you will gain more control over it. Many programs require root to close processes. If you decide to go this route, try the Greenify app; This automatic program for hibernation, which also works on devices without root.

True, without root it will not be possible to automatically put applications into hibernation and some other functions, but it will be possible to add a widget to home screen to hibernate manually with one click. There is also useful options to expand the capabilities of the Doze function, which also does not require root.

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

Contents of the article

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, Android has the following built-in monitoring options:

Activate Developer Options by going to Settings > About Device and tap 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 are running. Click any program to see how much RAM she occupies.
Go to Settings > Battery, then tap on certain applications to see how much battery they are using.

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

The two main culprits that take up memory and drain battery power are games you don't play and music players that you don't use. If you don't see a logical reason for an app to run in the background, then you should probably close it.

You should keep most apps or services that start with Google words. Truly important services still won't allow you to stop them, but following applications do not close: 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 apps are worth leaving running in the background based on how often you use them. This is a great place to stop unnecessary things. software or services you may not use, such as Google Play Music.

How to disable, stop or remove background apps

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

Disable it through the Application Manager by going to Settings > Applications > Application Manager, selecting the application, and then tapping Disable.
Since the Lollipop update, it's now possible to 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 the application, and then clicking Remove.
To force them to stop, 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 an app or service is, it doesn't use a lot of RAM or battery, and you don't want to harm your phone, then it's probably not worth stopping.

Greenify

Greenify is an app sleep app that lets you put them to sleep when you're not using them. Overall this is an automated option. forced closure or disabling apps, which 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 best apps for application management.

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

Do you monitor the processes happening with your applications? What tools do you use?

operating room Android system always considered more “advanced” mobile platform compared to iOS due to greater freedom for third party applications. After all, this “freedom” allows programs to perform more tasks while running in the background. However, as we know, the coin has two sides: background processes can also negatively affect battery life.

It's one thing to load your phone with apps that run in the background and provide some real benefit, but for that you're willing to sacrifice some of your battery life. It’s another matter if these are unoptimized applications that constantly hang in the background and waste precious battery percentages. Android Developers are trying to solve this problem by placing more and more restrictions on what apps can do in the background, and the Android O release uses maximum limits on background processes.

However, the vast majority of users won't see Android O on their devices for at least a few more months (if at all). But if you're running Android 7.0 or Android 7.1, there's a simple solution to prevent programs from running in the background without root privileges and using third party utilities(which can also eat away at the battery). And in today's guide, we'll show you how to manually prevent a particular power-hungry app (hello, Facebook!) from running in the background - they will only work when actively used.

Instead of a warning

Apps like Facebook or any other instant messenger will stop syncing in the background completely. And if that's what you're aiming for, I'm sure you won't mind. But don't be surprised if messages won't arrive on time (if at all) until this app is open.

Guide to restricting any app from running in the background

Create a folder named Android in the root of the C:\ drive.
Install USB drivers for your device (you can find links to universal drivers for some devices).
In some cases, installing drivers will require you to disable authentication.
- For Windows 7:
  When you turn on the computer, after BIOS boot, you must press the F8 key. In the menu that appears " Additional options downloads" select "Disable mandatory signature drivers." This method may not work the first time, so you should repeat the action or open a command prompt as an administrator and enter two commands:
  "bcdedit.exe /set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS";
  "bcdedit.exe /set TESTSIGNING ON."
- For Windows 8:
  You need to press the key combination Win + I, hold down Shift key and select “Shutdown” > “Reboot”. When you turn on your computer, select Diagnostics > Additional options» > Boot Options > Restart. When loading, select the “Disable” mode mandatory check driver signatures" by pressing F7.
- For Windows 10:
  You must hold down the Shift key and select the Start menu > Shutdown > Restart. After booting, select Troubleshooting > Advanced Options > Boot Options > Restart. Then select “Disable mandatory driver signature verification” by pressing F7.
Download the archive and unpack the files into Android folder.
Install the App Inspector application on your smartphone.
Activate the “USB Debugging” item on your smartphone.
This can be done in the “For Developers” section. You can find out how to open it.
Connect your phone to your computer via a USB cable.
It is recommended to use the original or cable good quality, and also USB port 2.0, located on motherboard(for PC).
Change the connection type from “Charging only” to “File transfer (MTP)”.
This is not required on every device, but many manufacturers require it as a security measure before allowing ADB to work.
Open a command prompt and go to the created folder Android team“cd c:\Android\” (commands are written without quotes).
Make sure that the computer finds the device via ADB.
To do this, you need to enter “adb devices” into the command line. When a request appears on the phone for permission to debug via ADB on this computer You must click “Ok” and select “Always allow from this computer.” If the device is visible, the text “List of devices attached” and a list of all devices (for example, xxxxxxx device) will be displayed. If instead of “device” it says “offline” or the list is empty, then you need to update ADB, check the drivers/cord, change the USB port/computer.
Launch the App Inspector utility and select App List (Ordered by name). Find and select the application that you want to restrict from running in the background. The package name and version will be displayed below the program name.
Enter “adb shell” at the command line.
Then enter “cmd appops set name.of.package RUN_IN_BACKGROUND ignore”, where name.of.package is the package name that was previously recognized in the App Inspector.
If after entering the command no errors are displayed and new line for input, it means everything worked correctly.
To revert the changes and allow background app processes again, you need to enter “cmd appops set name.of.package RUN_IN_BACKGROUND allow”.

If the commands in steps 13 and 14 don't work, try running them without "cmd". This may be required for some devices. Android control 6.0 Marshmallow or lower.

How does this work?

This command allows you to enable a hidden permission that is usually not available to the user in the Settings application - "RUN_IN_BACKGROUND". AND the only way its modifications are to use "cmd appops" which is the interface command line for "App Ops" - Google's user rights management system.

Google added this hidden adb command, which allows you to prevent any application from receiving implicit broadcasts (i.e. waking up in the background), and also prevent those applications from scheduling background services without using JobScheduler (i.e. waking up at inappropriate times, thereby draining the battery). This option is really only intended to be used by developers who want to simulate how their application will perform under low memory conditions, but fortunately we can also use it at our own discretion.

By removing dependencies on background services application developers can optimize their program so that it works better on devices with a small amount of RAM. Google says apps optimized for such devices can improve both performance and the overall user experience. At Google I/O this year, the company announced a modified Android version called Android Go, which will be used for smartphones with very little RAM, so we can assume that this command will be relevant for developers aimed at new platform. In any case, it can be quite useful for the average user as well.

Let me know in the comments below if this guide helped you and which app you blocked from running in the background.

Hello friends! In this short lesson I want to talk about the background mode and why it is needed at all. Most programs that a user runs on a computer run in active mode. This means that they are displayed on the panel Windows tasks and in the task manager on the Applications tab. If you look at the “Processes” tab, you will find much more more entries than in the application tab that is 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 running process"Opera.exe". If you open the task manager, go to the “Processes” tab and check the “Display processes of all users” checkbox. With this action you will display processes running on the computer under other users, as well as system processes that are necessary for normal operation.

All processes that do not require user interaction usually run in the background. The program running in the background requires self-execution tasks assigned to it, without the participation (or almost without the participation) of the user.

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

Can run in the background regular programs, 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). Antivirus can be considered the most typical representative of this group. 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 so that when you click on the “Close” button, they stop working completely, and when you click on the “Minimize” button, they disappear from the taskbar, but show their icon in the tray, thus moving into the background. This setting is usually called “Minimize to tray”.

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

There are also viruses running in the background, spyware and other malicious objects. Which is quite understandable, because the attacker wants the user not to know about their activity and tries to hide it from the user’s eyes.

To terminate processes, you need to know a little about system programs, which are usually used for work.