asked 2019-06-06 20:12:46 +0200

DrYak
9624 ●93 ●134 ●128

http://www.sympato.ch/

updated 2019-07-18 13:14:37 +0200

I've seen quite a lot of people complaining about android app auto starting.

Here's my note about the steps I took to shut some apps from starting when I don't need them.

Checking what is started

Use any top-like) software (my favourite graphical one is Crest but there is plenty of other choice on openrepos ; Lighthouse got mentioned as other people's favourite.)

Android app will show as their java-like classname (e.g.: com.whatsapp)

Stopping them

Due to how Android is isolating applications (each one has it's own separate UID and GID) you can't directly kill them (they don't belong to user nemo). Instead:

click Settings app -> scroll down to Apps -> select the app -> use the Force stop button

Places to look for auto starting

1. App Settings

click Settings app -> scroll down to Apps -> select the app -> use the "Allow application background service to start on bootup" checkbox

(But note there's currently a bug the check box doesn't get updated on the screen, you need to jump to the app selection and back into the settings to see the new state of the check box)

This will prevent the app from autostarting whenever Alien-Dalvik is started.

2. Android Notification

Using something like Coderus' Alien Dalvik control, you can open the android Settings -> select App & notifications -> select Notification -> select App notifications -> switch the notifications Off

This will prevent the app from autostarting whever it needs to display an alert on (top box on the screen + left plane)

Turn it off for anything you don't mind missing alerts (basically anything which is not a chat application or critical application (the 2FA from your Bank that is supposed to automatically pop-up and ask you to confirm credit card transactions). e.g.: it gets rid of all the stupid useless traffic announcement from Google Maps - who the hell needs these pop-ups ? RDS FM, DAB TA, etc. are a thing)

3. Google Cloud Messaging

If you installed microG, go to microG settings -> select Google Cloud Messaging -> select the app.

Start app on push message You can then select if the app is allowed to autostart to process alerts from the internet when they arrive, or if the alerts will wait until you manually start the app.

Allow registration If the app is even allowed to receive alerts from the internet.

I usually enable both for chat and critical applicaitons (Bank 2FA), enable only the second one for the few apps where I might want to get update as long as the app is open, and disable both for everything else.

Somebody should chime in and tell how to handle this same step for people who installed the proprietary Google Play Service