How To Tell What Apps Are Running In The Background Android

Having your battery bleed faster than expected is one of the biggest headaches with any Android phone. Tracking down a charger and plugging in presently after a total charge overnight is always a sad feeling. If you're ready to thwart your bombardment woes, a simple culprit may exist to blame. Hither'south what you lot need to know to conquer background apps.

These apps can sap your battery and precious resource, but there may be a few different causes for your issues. Some apps might not be well optimized, some might be malware, or some might be buggy. All yous need now is a niggling know-how, and we'll accept you lot living the charged life shortly.

Editor's notation: Some of the steps in this commodity were put together using a Google Pixel 4a with 5G running Android 12. Keep in mind steps may differ, depending on your hardware and software.

Update your device!

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Android updates often include battery improvements, issues fixes, and performance upgrades. All of these make for a more efficient device, which in turn can amend the way your handset handles background apps. This is why y'all should e'er keep your device updated to the latest Android version bachelor.

How to cheque for Android updates:

Open the Settings app.
Go into Organisation.
Tap on System update.
This page will let you know if at that place's an update available. Y'all can also Cheque for updates.
If there's an update available, follow on-screen instructions to install the update.

More: When will your phone get Android 12?

Similarly, app updates can as well bring improvements, and so e'er make certain you're running the latest version of all your applications.

How to check for app updates:

Open the Google Play Shop.
Tap on your contour moving-picture show in the top-right corner.
Select Manage apps & device.
Get into Updates available.
Striking Update all (if available).

Take reward of Adaptive Battery, if you can

Many phones are yet running on Android 10, even though Android 11 has been out for a while, and the latest devices now sport Android 12. Luckily, that's proficient news for everyone. Android 10 introduced excellent power management features that limit groundwork apps and extend your phone'due south battery life.

I of them is called Adaptive Battery, which uses car learning to figure out which apps y'all'll utilise in the side by side few hours, and which ones y'all won't apply until after, if at all, that mean solar day. Based on your usage patterns, it places each app into i of the v App Standby Buckets: "Active," "Working set," "Frequent," "Rare," and "Never." Each of these buckets has its limitations for how many resources the apps it contains can use.

Related: How to extend your Android phone'due south battery life

To put information technology but, an app placed in the "Never" bucket is hardly ever used, which is why the system will limit its admission to resource like the CPU. This means it will use less battery. On the other mitt, apps in buckets like "Active" are the ones you use the about and will get full access to the system's resources, so yous can expect to get all your notifications on fourth dimension.

The process is automated and dynamic, which means the arrangement learns your usage pattern over fourth dimension and moves the apps from 1 bucket to the other appropriately.

How to plow on Adaptive Bombardment:

Open up the Settings app.
Select Battery.
Go into Adaptive preferences.
Toggle Adaptive Battery on.

Check what's draining your telephone

Robert Triggs / Android Dominance

Bombardment

Since battery life is and then important, it's well monitored by your Android OS. To wait at the background apps guzzling power, go to Settings > Bombardment > Battery Usage. Y'all'll get a list of what's draining your battery, and by how much. Depending on your device and software, the apps will exist split into either system or non-arrangement apps or past hardware and software to make things even more accessible.

The more you use certain apps, the college on the list they'll sit. Look out for any apps you don't recognize, or ones you don't use often simply still use a pregnant amount of bombardment. Any app using over a few percents is worth looking into — saving v percent hither or four percent there volition add up. Anything that'due south a Google app or service is probably non something to worry nearly and just a natural function of Android and Google's Services.

Read: Charging habits to maximize your bombardment life

RAM

Using Programmer options, y'all can besides bank check out which apps dominate your phone'south limited memory, also known as RAM. It may be that an app is not using a lot of battery, simply when you're only working with 2GB of RAM and an app you're not using is taking upwardly a few hundred MB, leaving you short on bachelor retentivity.

How to check RAM usage:

Open the Settings app.
Go into System.
Tap on About phone.
Scroll downwardly to the Build number and tap on it seven times to enable Developer options.
Y'all'll be asked to enter your PIN. Go ahead.
Yous're now a "Developer."
Go back to the main Settings menu.
Go into System.
Select Developer options.
Hit Running services.

Here you lot can view which processes are running, your used and available RAM, and which apps are using it upwards. Over again, some of these services are essential to keep your telephone running. Information technology would be best if you were primarily looking for demanding apps yous've downloaded.

Related: How much RAM does your telephone need?

Stop the app, kill information technology, or uninstall your groundwork apps

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Once you lot've found your culprit, you have to know what to do side by side. Luckily, you have a few options to cull from if you lot don't want to remove the app entirely.

Shut a background app using Developer options:

Open the Settings app.
Go into System.
Tap on About phone.
Scroll down to the Build number and tap on information technology seven times to enable Developer options.
You'll exist asked to enter your PIN. Go ahead.
You lot're now a "Developer."
Become back to the main Settings card.
Go into Organization.
Select Developer options.
Hit Running services.
Tap on the app you want to end.
Striking Stop.
Select OK.

How to force terminate or uninstall an app:

Open up the Settings app.
Select Apps.
Get into Encounter all apps.
Detect the app you want to forcefulness stop and tap on information technology.
Select Strength Stop.
Alternatively, you can hit Uninstall to go rid of information technology.

More: How to delete apps from your Android device

Limit problematic background apps

greenify best battery saver apps for android

If you want to keep using an app that appears to take high demand, you might be able to limit what it can exercise.

Some Samsung and Huawei phones include OS options to manage background apps. In Battery Settings, Huawei offers an App launch option, which allows you to identify specific apps, restrict launches, and target ability-saving measures. Samsung also offers a ability-saving option to help manage apps.

If you don't take access to a proprietary congenital-in option, in that location are good apps that help. The perennial favorite is Greenify, which offers fine controls over apps and places them in hibernation. If y'all have a rooted phone, you'll have fifty-fifty more command, just it works well with standard devices too.

Ane problem with apps like this is that yous have to introduce another app to monitor your device. In our popular post titled xiii tricks and hacks to speed upwards Android, our own Adam Sinicki noted that while background apps can impale the battery, background app killers tin also slow you down.

Booting an app from nil takes longer and uses more than battery than switching to 1 that is paused. If you open an app that requires more retention, Android will automatically impale the least of import ones to free up space. Task killers can really end up slowing your device down.Adam Sinicki

What next?

David Imel / Android Authorization

Android 12 is landing for about people, and nosotros expect Google to continue upgrading Android's ability to command any apps that make your life harder. With that in mind, all nosotros can exercise is wait for improvements and utilise the suggestions in a higher place to meliorate our current situations.