Only last seven open apps in multitasking view

[MrGoodSmith]

Do this experiment on your Windows Phone:

- Open any 7 apps and keep them open (open app, tap home, open next app, and so on)
- Hold the back key to confirm the 7 open apps (notice the leftmost app which is the first one you opened)
- Now tap the home key and go open the 8th app
- Hold the back key again and notice there are still 7 apps visible in the multitasking view
- The first app you opened has disappeared.

Windows Phone keeps only the last 7 open apps in the multitasking view.

I thought this is an issue with WP8.1 on my Lumia 1520, but I tested on my other Lumia 520 still running WP8 and got the same problem.

After closing the last 7 apps, I can no longer switch to the first app I opened. Even if I tap back from the home screen.

I run more tests and noticed that the first app which disappeared may or may not remain in memory.

For example when I made the Calculator app disappear then launched it again, it retained the last state before disappearing, showing the last calculation result, however when I made the Store app disappear then opened it again, it didn’t retain the last page I was viewing.

So what do you think guys about this? Is this an issue that should be fixed? And how exactly does multitasking work in WP 8/8.1?

I was expecting better multitasking management, specially with 2 GB of RAM :unhappy:

 

[anon(8657436)]

Do this experiment on your Windows Phone:

- Open any 7 apps and keep them open (open app, tap home, open next app, and so on)
- Hold the back key to confirm the 7 open apps (notice the leftmost app which is the first one you opened)
- Now tap the home key and go open the 8th app
- Hold the back key again and notice there are still 7 apps visible in the multitasking view
- The first app you opened has disappeared.

Windows Phone keeps only the last 7 open apps in the multitasking view.

I thought this is an issue with WP8.1 on my Lumia 1520, but I tested on my other Lumia 520 still running WP8 and got the same problem.

After closing the last 7 apps, I can no longer switch to the first app I opened. Even if I tap back from the home screen.

I run more tests and noticed that the first app which disappeared may or may not remain in memory.

For example when I made the Calculator app disappear then launched it again, it retained the last state before disappearing, showing the last calculation result, however when I made the Store app disappear then opened it again, it didn’t retain the last page I was viewing.

So what do you think guys about this? Is this an issue that should be fixed? And how exactly does multitasking work in WP 8/8.1?

I was expecting better multitasking management, specially with 2 GB of RAM :unhappy:

This is a limitation and has been partially addressed. Now in WP8.1 each app can use more RAM. But the no. of apps that can be stored in the stack are still 7.
read this to get a very good reason why http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...naging-background-apps-why-you-dont-need.html

 

[MrGoodSmith]

This is a limitation and has been partially addressed. Now in WP8.1 each app can use more RAM. But the no. of apps that can be stored in the stack are still 7.
read this to get a very good reason why http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...naging-background-apps-why-you-dont-need.html

Thanks, I enjoyed reading that article. I'm ok with how Windows Phone manages multitasking, but I still hope Microsoft enhances the experiences on devices with more RAM.

 

[anon(8657436)]

I also agree, currently a 2GB ram only helps in imaging and faster app resume. That limit should be changed for each RAM level. 7 works fine for 512MB, maybe 1GB too. 10 or 15 for 2GB maybe.