I couldn’t help but install a handful of apps that you swore to use? We are all guilty of it at some point. We download application after application with the intention of using them every day – fitness applications, language learning tools, etc. – and maybe use them twice a month. You would uninstall these apps, but you are determined to use them in one way or another! Besides, who knows when you will need it, right?
The point is, inactive apps always use the processing power of your phone. This will ultimately affect the performance of your Android smartphone. The programs you use will be slower and more choppy and more likely to crash. Without your knowledge, these applications sometimes launch and start automatically as soon as you turn on your phone. Although you want this to be the case for the applications you make to use, those forgotten should remain forgotten – just not uninstalled.
Adjusting the startup settings of your Android app can avoid these potential performance issues. In addition to this, you can control which applications are open when your Android smartphone starts.
Auto start and disable apps
Disabling applications in this context means preventing them from running alone without your command. In other words, you don’t uninstall these apps, you just “freeze” them. Disabling apps can also be particularly useful when trying to disable built-in device apps. Deactivating an app requires you to follow a few simple and easy steps. You can also access the auto-start function of an application this way.
Note: The options presented below may differ from your phone depending on the version of Android software used by your smartphone, as well as the make and model of the phone.
- Go to Settings, then select Applications or Installed applications to access the Application manager.
- In your list of downloaded applications, select the one you want to deactivate.
- Is Deactivate or turn on Automatic start.
- Continue to do the same for the other apps you want to freeze.
The ability to automatically disable and start apps is a handy feature. However, it is not an all-powerful tool, so you can try other options.
Use developer options
The development options built into every modern Android smartphone allow you to change more complex settings, including those that involve active or inactive applications. Here’s what you need to do:
- Activate Developer options. If you need to activate the development options on your phone, you can do so by opening Settings> About the phone> Software information.
- Press repeatedly Build number seven times, or until a text saying, “You are now a developer!” appears on your screen. You may need to enter your PIN code to continue. If successful, you can now activate the development options in the Settings menu.
- Under Developer options, scroll to the section that controls the behavior of your applications. These options vary from phone to phone. On some phones, you may see an option for Inactive applications. Here you can select which apps you want to prevent from being activated – and vice versa – when the device starts.
Another important thing to consider is that Developer Options manages the behavior of applications when they are inactive or abandoned. For example, try to activate Do not keep activities under developer options. Enabling this setting prevents your phone from running an application in the background. This can be very useful, especially for phones with limited RAM memory.
If you want to limit the number of applications running in the background instead of deleting them completely, use the Limitation of the background process directly below.
Use a third party application
If you find that accessing your app manager and developer options isn’t working well for you, you can try using a third-party app to flexibly control your apps.
Here are some suggestions of apps that can get the job done.
1. Task Manager
Taskmanger can be your solution of choice if you want to end the processes that potentially slow down your device. As mentioned before, apps that you rarely use will only consume precious resources.
As one of the most popular task management tools available on Google Play, Taskmanager can track applications that behave in a malicious or annoying way, for example by launching without user authorization. It can intercept and kill (disable) an application in an instant. If these apps cannot be removed automatically due to Taskmanager’s permission settings as a third-party app, the app will prompt you to remove them manually instead.
That said, you can hardly count on this application to eliminate the bloatware built into your phone by the manufacturer. These are considered system applications.
For everything else, however, I would say that Taskmanager deserves a try and an effective solution.
2. Starter applications
Starter applications work differently from Taskmanager. Instead of disabling apps, Boot Apps is a tool that makes it easier for you to activate essential apps to start automatically.
Using Boot Apps, you can choose which apps you want to start once your phone is started. Plus, it doesn’t require rooted access, so the app is user-friendly for those who don’t necessarily understand the developer’s system settings.
This app also saves you from having to manually open individual apps that you will most likely use, such as messaging apps, social media apps, etc. on a daily basis.
Final words
Keep in mind that most of the time, your Android smartphone system manages your apps for you. For example, when you run out of RAM space, unnecessary applications running in the background are stopped instantly without intervention from you or any third-party application.
That said, Android is not a perfect operating system. All the configurations or tools mentioned only serve as an aid in optimizing performance. Like all other settings or tips, they may not work 100% of the time.
As users of Android smartphones, we can only hope that they will develop an official service similar to the Task Manager found on Windows PC. In this way, we can gain more freedom in controlling startup applications.