Choosing apps to load and remove from memory when using Android

Question

I'm not a programmer. And as far as I know, Android uses as much RAM as possible, loading as many apps as possible, so that launching / opening (or returning to them) is smoother.

My question is:

Is there any way to choose which applications I ALWAYS want to keep in memory, and which ones I NEVER want to have there?

For example:

WhatsApp is a very common app. I would always want it to be there. Google Maps is always open and occupying space. I barely use it, and I don't mind to waiting 5-10secs until it opens. It would be better to use that RAM for other apps, such as my browser.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You can never "choose" per-se an app and dictate that the app will have that guaranteed amount of memory.

Sure, Google Maps consume space, but that's for the actual application, does not mean its hogging up memory, Android is pretty smart when it comes to memory management.

When you long press the home key, it shows the recent apps list, that does not mean they are all loaded at the same time. Android keeps track of which activities was shown and if necessary load them again, and once the pressure of RAM space hits a certain threshold, Android will boot them out to make room for other apps.

You cannot override Android's dictation of how and what application should be in RAM, just by a user's presumption that "this certain app should be there in memory and has guaranteed X amount of RAM, because I want it to"

Android is not Windows, where their Task Manager is available at all times via Ctrl+Alt+Del and zap away processes to "free up memory".. That mantra should be firmly repeated ad-nauseum! :)

As Ryan Conrad's statement in the comment, from the discussion arising out of the likes of RAM Boosters, Task Killers et al, this statement sums up exactly why the apps mentioned can have a negative effect on the battery, not to mention introducing instabilities into the system - It's CPU cycles that you should be more worried about than memory. WORD CPU cycles drains the battery regardless and as the commentator says Free Memory is wasted Memory. Let the OS handle it. It is better at doing it. It knows what memory can be freed safely without causing additional strain and drain on the device

Simples really :)

Answer 2

If your device is Android 4.0+ and rooted, try "Greenify" which I developed.

You can safely hibernate any app you do not want it to run stealthily (thus eat your memory, battery and slow down your device) when you are not actively using it, while still keep it fully functional when you explictly run it, either from launcher or by sharing anything with it.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oasisfeng.greenify

Answer 3

You can try Smart RAM Booster:

Most of Android devices bundle with limited memory. Android task manager will selectively kill low priority tasks in order to reserve memory to higher priority task. That’s not always run at an appropriate time, causing low responsive apps, lagging, especially when you launch a new app after heavily browsing web pages. It causes a worse experience.

How RAM Booster works

RAM Booster is designed to overcome these issues by selectively kill less important apps that are running in the background but consumes considerable device’s memory. RAM Booster comes with auto-boost in 4 levels: aggressive, strong, medium, gentle.

Answer 4

If you are a rooted user just convert your app into system app by using rom tool box pro or any other app then it will not close after you swipe away the app from recent app.and runs in background.If you don't want maps or other pre installed apps to run uninstall them and reinstall from playstore and greenifying them will make your battery last long.