How to close background apps?

[a5cent]

I'm also in the camp with those that think the ability to close apps from the task switcher is unnecessary. I'd actually go further and say it is counter productive:

One of the main philosophies behind WP, is that having to micromanage the technical aspects of a device (like RAM or CPU resources) is evil. The OS goes to great lengths to ensure it can manage these aspects entirely autonomously. In other words, users should just forget about it.

The thing is... adding this feature suggests precisely the opposite. It implies there is a reason to micromanage app life spans. It flies in the face of what WP is meant to be. It is also guaranteed to reinforce preconceived notions about how a smartphone should be used, particularly in former Android users who will feel compelled to continue micromanaging app lifespans on WP. It's akin to WP developing a dissociative identity disorder.

Accommodating people with CDO isn't the main reason people want this feature. Rather it is IE, which can build up huge backstacks while surfing the web. As many people here already mentioned, something definitely needs to be done about IE. However, any solution should focus on fixing IE, not on working around IE's problems by adding features to the OS. I've described this issue in more detail here.

 

[farzonalmaneih]

I like the idea of the OS automatically handling apps, but when I can prove thats its not doing it well, to me its more of a marketing blerb than reality. Maybe the next patch will fix it.

 

[a5cent]

I like the idea of the OS automatically handling apps, but when I can prove thats its not doing it well, to me its more of a marketing blerb than reality. Maybe the next patch will fix it.

I'll give you that. WP suffered in stability going from WP7.5 to WP8.0. :-(

 

[Eagerly]

What about a hung app....The back button does not work, maybe an X, that makes a ctrl, alt, dlt, task manager, end process would work. I for one would like a way other than to hit the back button to close apps, I want a force close for hung/crashed apps. No I don't have OCD, but I do like things functional

 

[a5cent]

I want a force close for hung/crashed apps. No I don't have OCD, but I do like things functional

That is quite the opposite of functional. That is nothing more than a workaround for a flaw that the OS shouldn't allow to exist in the first place.

If WP were to introduce an OS based feature/workaround for every flawed app, WP would soon become a completely unmanageable mess. Of course hung/crashed apps are a pain, but pressure must be maintained on either the app developers (to fix their app), or on Microsoft (to improve their API's as to prevent such errors from happening in the first place). A workaround, such as you suggest, achieves nothing but to make it easier for developers to ignore such errors (because a workaround exists). Worst of all, it also "encourages" other developers to introduce apps to the marketplace with the same types of errors, again, because a workaround exists. On computers these types of problems are bad enough. Nobody should be fiddling around with these kinds of problems on phones. That isn't the right way.

If you have a list of apps that crash/hang, and know how to reproduce the problem, then notify Microsoft so they can take a look at it and determine who is at fault.

 

[mike1810]

Bingcast drains my battery even though I've closed it.

 

[mike1810]

How is it hard to grasp that people don't want a useless feature? Personally I think that once Microsoft fixes things that really need fixing they can address these type of things.

You don't speak for "people." Didn't know these forum were for the MDF.

I too, want an app that allows me to kill apps. Choice is good. Every other phone lets you do it. Stop making excuses for MS.

 

[tawani]

Yet I still here the music from a different app playing.

 

[hopmedic]

http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...naging-background-apps-why-you-dont-need.html

Fact: "Closing" apps that are in the back stack will make absolutely, positively zero difference in battery life, CPU cycles, temperature of the device, or the color of the sky at sunset.

 

[hopmedic]

Yet I still here the music from a different app playing.

The music from a different app still playing is because apps that play music in the background are allowed by the OS to do so. Want to stop it? Press a volume button to bring up the audio controls, and tap the pause button.

If you're using Bluetooth, and the music starts after disconnecting or reconnecting, this is what I would call a bug, but Microsoft put it there intentionally (for some strange reason). I like the Stop Music app, and have a tile from within the app pinned to my start screen to kill the music for good.

 

[cotras]

It doesn't make any sense that MS doesn't provide a convenient way to quit apps. Nobody would be forced to use that functionality anyway? And clearly a lot of people are (and will always be) annoyed by the lack of it. When I open the task switcher, I don't want to be reminded about things I did ages ago - that stuff is now history/obsolete/just a distraction.

 

[poddie]

As far as I can tell, the ability to kill tasks easier is entirely based on people's poor experience with other phone os. I never kill apps, and I never have problems. I think the point is they don't make it super easy because then people would assume they need to do it based on previous experience.

I am also convinced that all the "when app xxx runs in the background my battery drains faster" comments we get are based on fundamental misunderstandings of how WP task switching works, again mostly based on poor prior experience with other os.

There may be a few rare exceptions (for apps that truly can do some things things in the background, like a few early Skype bugs), but for the most part it's just not possible. Thing is, for those early Skype bugs it still wouldn't have helped to "close" Skype, because it was running as a background agent. Closing the ap merely makes it look like it's not running.

 

[hopmedic]

It doesn't make any sense that MS doesn't provide a convenient way to quit apps. Nobody would be forced to use that functionality anyway? And clearly a lot of people are (and will always be) annoyed by the lack of it. When I open the task switcher, I don't want to be reminded about things I did ages ago - that stuff is now history/obsolete/just a distraction.

Why build in functionality that isn't needed? That's a waste of valuable developer time.

As far as I can tell, the ability to kill tasks easier is entirely based on people's poor experience with other phone os. I never kill apps, and I never have problems. I think the point is they don't make it super easy because then people would assume they need to do it based on previous experience.

I am also convinced that all the "when app xxx runs in the background my battery drains faster" comments we get are based on fundamental misunderstandings of how WP task switching works, again mostly based on poor prior experience with other os.

There may be a few rare exceptions (for apps that truly can do some things things in the background, like a few early Skype bugs), but for the most part it's just not possible. Thing is, for those early Skype bugs it still wouldn't have helped to "close" Skype, because it was running as a background agent. Closing the ap merely makes it look like it's not running.

This. If it weren't for poor task management in Android, and to a lesser extent Windows Mobile before it (lesser extent because there were fewer users), people whould even KNOW that there was no task management in Windows Phone. Why? Because it just works.

 

[John Dark]

I have just been using the "Music + Videos" app to play music and the back button didn't kill that process......

However I did download another app that kills the music and shuts down the music app.

Why isn't an app killing function considered unnecessary?

 

[hopmedic]

I have just been using the "Music + Videos" app to play music and the back button didn't kill that process......

However I did download another app that kills the music and shuts down the music app.

Why isn't an app killing function considered unnecessary?

Music is an exception, because when WP7 came out, there were complaints that it couldn't play music at the same time as doing something else. WP7.1 (Mango) introduced background music playing. So now there are two steps to stop music - one is to pause the music play, and the other would be to close the app (though this step is not a "necessary" step).

Windows 8 introduced what I would call a bug, but Microsoft did it intentionally for some reason. If you stop music now, then disconnect or reconnect bluetooth, the music will start again, either through the speaker or the newly-connected BT device. Why? Who knows? I sure don't. Bugs me each time I get in and out of my car. But I use Stop Music to stop it from happening.

 

[vaweaver]

has anyone had the problem with something running in the background after i've closed an app that uses up the battery very quickly? i had been using dropbox, thought i had closed it and within a few minutes my battery was used up.
thanks

 

[TMavC5]

I hardly ever kill my app. It runs fine. I do get over heated from time to time. When that happens, I just reboot.
Sent from L920 using Board Express

 

[a5cent]

has anyone had the problem with something running in the background after i've closed an app that uses up the battery very quickly? i had been using dropbox, thought i had closed it and within a few minutes my battery was used up.
thanks

There is a WP bug that seems to cause spontaneous battery drain. It seems that some apps are more likely to do it than others, but so far nobody here has been able to pin it down exactly.

 

[hopmedic]

has anyone had the problem with something running in the background after i've closed an app that uses up the battery very quickly? i had been using dropbox, thought i had closed it and within a few minutes my battery was used up.
thanks

I left one of the Angry Birds games in the foreground once, and turned off the screen to do something for my wife. When I came back to it 30 minutes later, it was in battery saver mode, where it had more than 50% when I put it down.

I don't know if this is the cause or not, but apps do not need to get your permission to run under lock screen (screen off). It used to be a requirement that they notify you / ask permission, but now it is recommended. I'm not sure why the change in certification requirements. For this reason, I never leave an app in the foreground if I turn off the screen. I always hit either back or start before turning it off.

 

[tk-093]

I left one of the Angry Birds games in the foreground once, and turned off the screen to do something for my wife. When I came back to it 30 minutes later, it was in battery saver mode, where it had more than 50% when I put it down.

I've noticed some apps will "resume" when you launch them from that "running" app list, and some just load right up from where they left off. Angry Birds just loads right back up. Also the Physi Nibbler and Physi Blocks do that too. So are they actually running full bore in the background if you don't actually quit them? When I resume Angry Birds it actually resumes to the pause screen, but those other two games pop right in where I left off. Since they are ad supported I wonder if they are still pulling down junk in the background?