How To Put Apps To Sleep On Android

#1

wdrbbq

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Posted 10 November 2017 - 11:42 AM

I've got a Galaxy J7 phone with Device Maintenance. Occasionally I get a notification that Device Maintenance has put 2 apps to sleep. What exactly does this mean? Is there a chance it would put my email app, or some other app from which I receive notifications, to sleep? I think I read that the app will be put to sleep until I open it again. Does this mean I would have to open my email app in order to tell if I've received texts or emails?

The app offers to optimize by, I guess, putting other apps to sleep. If I agree, is there a chance an app I depend upon for notifications would be put to sleep? Thanks.

Edited by britechguy, 10 November 2017 - 12:19 PM.
Moved to Android forum, as this is an Android-based device and App

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#2 britechguy

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Posted 10 November 2017 - 12:17 PM

It means that the app has been shut down, for all practical intents and purposes, and you are correct that you would have to restart it manually by selecting its icon if you want to fire it up again.

Samsung's Device Maintenance is very intelligent about what it proposes you might want to put to sleep when inactive and what it's set up to automatically put to sleep when it's inactive by default. I have never seen it put any app to sleep (by default, anyway) that one would expect would need to be running in the background at all times to do its work and/or to provide you with notifications. You should be able to go into Device Maintenance to see the list of what it is configured to put to sleep if these apps are running in the background but remain idle (from a user interaction perspective) for too long a period.

Brian AKA Bri the Tech Guy (website in my user profile) - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit
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#3 wdrbbq

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Posted 10 November 2017 - 12:23 PM

Make sense. I can't find a list of potentially closed apps but as long as it uses discretion I guess it's ok. Thanks for your response.

#4 britechguy

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Posted 10 November 2017 - 12:40 PM

If you go into Device Maintenance under Settings, then to in to the "Battery" category at the bottom and scroll down you will encounter a list, first showing apps that it is suggesting you might want to "Save Power" for, with a button denoting same directly above them. If any of these apps are ones that it's fine to put to sleep leave the check box checked, otherwise uncheck it, then hit the "Save Power" button. It will then "put to sleep" any of the apps you had checked and monitor them in the future once they've been used for putting to sleep after being idle for a while.

Directly under that is a thin dropdown bar that reads, "SLEEPING APPS (XX)", where XX is the number of apps that are being monitored that have been put to sleep by Device Maintenance.

Below that is a button for "Unmonitored Apps" which allows you to create a list of apps that you specifically do NOT wish to have Device Maintenance monitoring at all. You could go into this and add whatever apps concern you as far as possibly missing notifications. I, for instance, added Google Hangouts to that list because my business number is a Google Voice number and if anyone calls me I always want Hangouts to be able to "ring." If it were asleep the call would go straight to voicemail without my ever having known it was coming in.

Then, finally, there is a button for "ALWAYS SLEEPING APPS". This allows you to specifically specify apps that you don't ever wish to have running in the background. In my case, one of those apps is the flashlight app I downloaded that uses the LED camera flash as a steady light when I need it. It need never remain running in the background, consuming any power at all, except when I need it.

That covers about everything you can do within Device Maintenance with regard to the "Battery" category. You can explore the Performance Mode, Storage, and Memory modes if you so desire.

Brian AKA Bri the Tech Guy (website in my user profile) - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit
A lot of what appears to be progress is just so much technological rococo.
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#5 wdrbbq

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Posted 10 November 2017 - 01:09 PM

It was straightforward after I was able to get to BATTERY in Device Maintenance. Thank you for your help. Your explanation made it a lot easier to understand.

One last question: None of this applies to the phone app, correct? I'm assuming that never goes to sleep. I don't get a lot of calls, but if my son, who lives one state over, called at a time he knew I would be up and it went directly to message, he would be in his car and on his way.I'm a 69 year old guy with heart disease and it would cause a lot of needless anxiety for him.

#6 britechguy

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Posted 10 November 2017 - 01:53 PM

To my knowledge, the phone function on a smartphone is not an app in the conventional sense of the word. It would make no sense to ever put it to sleep. The end user can choose to shut the phone itself off or use the "Mute Sounds" function if they do not wish to be bothered by any sounds for some reason.

Brian AKA Bri the Tech Guy (website in my user profile) - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit
A lot of what appears to be progress is just so much technological rococo.
~ Bill Gray

#7 wdrbbq

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Posted 10 November 2017 - 01:58 PM

Exactly what I was thinking. Thanks for everything. I relaxed as soon as I found the lists that make it possible to customize and determine which apps can be put to sleep.