Close app as opposed to letting it run in the background

Question

I'm not sure whether this is a Galaxy Nexus question or an ICS question, but here goes:

Suppose I'm using some app and then I move to the home screen, rather than shutting down, the app is left to run in the background. Is there a way of exiting an app such that it gets closed upon leaving it rather than being left to run in the background?

Answer 1

This is really a question about Android in general, and is based on a misconception of how Android handles background apps. Check out this XDA post for a nice explanation of why processes sitting in memory in the background really aren't a bad thing. You should only worry about exiting/force-quitting/killing an app if things start misbehaving.

Answer 2

Usually, holding/tapping on the BACK key should "exit" an app. Of course, the best way is to use the Exit button if an app provides it.

THat's how one would gracefully "exit" from an app. In order to force an exit or kill it, you'd best look at a Task Killer and forcibly kill the process.

Answer 3

In AOKP ICS ROMs, and a few other's I have used, there is an option that you can enable that will allow you to kill (close) an active app by holding down the Back button. I do not know if this was a feature of ICS or the CM9 ROM family, but I will let you know if I find that out.