How To Disable Android Applications Running In The Background

Many apps that run in the background are doing so for good reason: syncing, providing location data or otherwise doing what they were designed to do. But not always. If you want to know which apps are running excessive background processes or want to stop apps running in the background entirely, read on to find out how.

 Process stats and battery usage

If you want to know which apps are running background processes and how power hungry they are, both in terms of processing and battery, Android has the following built-in monitoring options:

• Enable Developer Options by going to Settings > About Device and tapping the Build number until you are notified thatDeveloper Options have been enabled.
• Go to Settings > Developer options > Process stats to see how much of the time your key apps are running. Tap any app to see how much RAM it's using.
• Go to Settings > Battery then tap the individual apps to see how much battery they're using.

Which apps should I stop running in the background?

Two big culprits of background memory and battery use are games you're not playing, and music players you're not using. If you can't see a logical reason for an app you know well to be running in the background, then you should probably close it.

As a general rule, you should leave most apps or services that start with the word 'Google' running. Really essential services won't let you force stop them anyway, but you also shouldn't stop the following apps:

• Google Search, Google Play services, Google Contacts Sync, Google Keyboard, Google Play Store 

The Process stats list should give you a pretty good idea of which apps you want to leave running in the background based on how much you use them. The list is a good place to stop bloatware or services you might not use, such as Google Play Music.

How to disable, stop and uninstall background apps

If you have an app that you think is using an unreasonable amount of processor power or seems to be running in the background way more than it should, then you can either:

• Disable it in your App Manager by going to Settings > Applications > Application manager, tapping the app, then tapping Disable. 
• Since the Lollipop update, you can close recent apps easily by tapping the Recent Apps navigation button on your phone (to the right of the home button), then swiping left or right to close apps you ran recently.
• Delete it from your phone by going to Settings > Applications > Application manager, tapping the app, then tapping Uninstall.
• Or Force Stop it by going to Settings > Applications > Application manager, swiping right to the Running tab, tapping the app, then tapping Force Stop.

If you have no idea what an app or service is, then you probably shouldn't stop it, unless it's really using up a lot of RAM or battery, and you don't mind risking your phone crashing.

You can ask me any question you have in the comment section.