How to close background apps?

[hopmedic]

Yes I do need to worry about it because when I don't want an app to pop up and remind me that some mp3 was playing I want it turned off.

Press the back button. That's your other option. You're worrying about something that isn't a worry. Welcome to Windows Phone, where the phone manages the tasks and you don't have to.

 

[samihussein]

Do the following:
1. Long press on the back button to bring out the background apps
2. THEN double press the back button at each app to close it permenantly
Thats it!

 

[manunitedfan5]

Do the following:
1. Long press on the back button to bring out the background apps
2. THEN double press the back button at each app to close it permenantly
Thats it!

I tried double tapping in the browser but didn't exit, is there anyother way to close the browser?

 

[samihussein]

Hi,
this is the only way i know
moreover, sometimes, just tapping the back button twice without longly pressing it works.
i tried it myself with browser and it worked !

 

[Rahul Deshpande]

I loved the way webOS managed it...it is nice that WP8 has the card like structure...if only they could add the close down functionality...

 

[samihussein]

Re: How to close background apps? [UPDATE]

[UPDATE]
no need to press the back button for a long time first
you can close any app by double pressing the back button while it is active.

 

[samihussein]

I started getting in love with my nokia lumia 920 and windows phone 8 OS!
this is my 5th day using it.
i feel free away from the IOS with its horrible restrictions.

 

[manicottiK]

Re: How to close background apps? [UPDATE]

[UPDATE]you can close any app by double pressing the back button while it is active.

I don't believe that this is true. Apps quit when users back out of the app's initial page. A tap of the back button moves back a page; a double-tap of the back key is treated as two single taps. If an app were showing its second page, a double-tap would quit, but an app showing it's third page wouldn't and an app showing its first would quit, reactivate the previous app, then back up one page there.

As has been said many times on these boards, there is no "systems" need to quit an app. The only need to quit an app is to change what shows when users do a long press of the back key or what gets brought to the screen when users tap the back key. With few exceptions for specific function calls, third-party apps in Windows Phone do not do anything unless they are on-screen. The term "background" tasks is bad because sometimes it's said to mean "I didn't quit the app and it's off-screen, therefore it's in the background" while at other times it may refer to the "Background Tasks" page in the Settings. Here's a quick summary:

[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]App Type
[/TD]
[TD]Uses processor
[/TD]
[TD]Uses memory
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]On-screen
[/TD]
[TD]Yes
[/TD]
[TD]Yes
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Microsoft (phone,
IE?, maybe others)
[/TD]
[TD]Yes
[/TD]
[TD]Yes
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Off-screen
[/TD]
[TD]No, except for
special APIs
[/TD]
[TD]Yes, unless
OS needs it
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Periodic Tasks (aka
Background Tasks)
[/TD]
[TD]Up to 25 sec
every 30 min
[/TD]
[TD]6 MB limit
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

What some users call "background" apps are often simply suspended, off-screen apps that use no CPU and run the risk of being unloaded from memory if the operating system needs the memory for another purpose.

The apps listed in the Background Tasks page in Settings is a list of apps that come with specially-written and very small "applets" that users may allow to run for up to 25 seconds every half hour. It is important to know that the thing that is run on that schedule is not the same thing that runs when users tap the app's icon or tile -- it is a tiny subset of the whole app; it likely grabs some data over the cellular network, stores it locally, and maybe updates some tiles. The OS will automatically kill such a periodic task if it exceeds 6 MB or 25 seconds of run time. Further, if the OS has to kill it twice in a row, the OS "deschedules" it so that it doesn't get to make a third try.

So, with the exception of some special off-screen APIs (like for navigation, streaming audio, etc) and for some Microsoft-provided apps, not much CPU is being consumed except by the user turning on the screen and doing something.

 

[dainla]

Re: How to close background apps? [UPDATE]

As has been said many times on these boards, there is no "systems" need to quit an app.

And yet we keep repeating we want to close them and you guys seem to continue banging your head against the wall with the same answer because you can't understand or won't listen.

It's pretty simple.

First, some people are OCD or just want a clean phone. That's it on that one. And it's an acceptable reason to desire an easy way to close apps.

Second, the way I use my phone, I would prefer to keep a small amount of apps open, so I can press the back button flick between apps and select the one I want. It is, IMO, a much quicker way to use the phone. I do not like pressing the back button and seeing what is essentially my recent trash heap. I assume you were not a WebOS user. Trust me, it's a more convenient way to use a phone.

So, let's stop with the 'it's not necessary" line. We're not going to stop asking for it and we have legitimate reasons for wanting it.

 

[txaggies07]

So, let's stop with the 'it's not necessary" line. We're not going to stop asking for it and we have legitimate reasons for wanting it.

Still not necessary. Just because you are OCD doesn't mean MS should change their design.

 

[dainla]

Still not necessary. Just because you are OCD doesn't mean MS should change their design.

A lot of things aren't necessary on a phone, yet there they are. Why do you think that is?

 

[manicottiK]

Re: How to close background apps? [UPDATE]

And yet we keep repeating we want to close them and you guys seem to continue banging your head against the wall with the same answer because you can't understand or won't listen.

Thanks for quoting the sentence that said that there wasn't a systems need and omitting the following sentence that said that some people want to close them anyway.

The point of the information provided above was to let those who hear the phrase "background tasks" know that they can't directly apply what they know about them from desktop OS' or from Android to Windows Phone because the task model is different on Windows Phone. Those people and others are welcome to want to close tasks anyway, but they should know that doing to doesn't impact the system in the way that they might be thinking it does.

I'm informing in the hope of limiting the formation of a false mythology of tasks and battery life, not rallying again people with OCD, with privacy concerns, or with any other reason for wanting to do what they want with tasks.

 

[dainla]

We've heard it. A million times. That was my point.

 

[foxbat121]

According to official Micrsoft SDK, when you use back button to back out the app, it is telling the OS that user wants to close this app. The myth about double tap the back button is untrue.

So, there is no sense to argue whether or not a close app mechanism is needed because it is already offered for general apps. The only apps that are different are IE (which I typically close the tab before back out) and navigation apps. But if you are not actively navigating (with a route), these apps won't stay open either. And even if you do have an active route, once the navigation is done, the OS will shut it down after a certain amount of idle time.

If you use Windows button to quit an app, it will not be closed but rather being tombstoned which saves app state and suspended. No CPU resources are consumed while an app is tombstoned. So for those of you with OCD, learn to use the correct phone button

 

[dainla]

According to official Micrsoft SDK, when you use back button to back out the app, it is telling the OS that user wants to close this app. The myth about double tap the back button is untrue.

So, there is no sense to argue whether or not a close app mechanism is needed because it is already offered for general apps. The only apps that are different are IE (which I typically close the tab before back out) and navigation apps. But if you are not actively navigating (with a route), these apps won't stay open either. And even if you do have an active route, once the navigation is done, the OS will shut it down after a certain amount of idle time.

If you use Windows button to quit an app, it will not be closed but rather being tombstoned which saves app state and suspended. No CPU resources are consumed while an app is tombstoned. So for those of you with OCD, learn to use the correct phone button

I'm sort of baffled why this is so hard for people to grasp. A swipe off gesture would make the phone easier to use. Simple. That's what we're looking for.

 

[odin09]

I'm sort of baffled why this is so hard for people to grasp. A swipe off gesture would make the phone easier to use. Simple. That's what we're looking for.

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.

 

[Patrick CC]

I come from using a Meego Nokia N9, and this is one of the most frustrating things about W8 for me. I hope that Microsoft will introduce similar swipe features to those on meego to close apps (swipe down in meego) and maybe a third main screen ( - other than just the tiles and app list) for a matrix of apps currently running. Then it would be easy to close down specific apps with a swipe and a click rather than all this backspacing.

There is a reason that the Sailfish launch in Helsinki caused a stir - the OS is much more intuitive and user friendly than any other I've seen.

 

[Christian Holzer]

Well I really need such a option because Skype *running* in the background is draining the battery of my Lumia 820 by ~30% per hour!

*edit*
"back button" is closing apps in the background. a more obvious solution would be nice though.

 

[farzonalmaneih]

I don't know what to believe. Right now, I always back button out of every app unless I want it running in the background (nav and metrotube). I can see a huge difference in battery life when I close apps all the time vs not.

I dont agree that all apps tombstone/suspend when pressing the windows button unless they are specials apps that are listed under background settings. I have this app called stopwatch. Its not listed in background settings. Though, it works perfectly in the background keeping track of timers etc.

 

[farzonalmaneih]

Sorry, not metrotube I meant metroradio.