Apps continue to use battery despite closing them

Question

I have noticed that certain apps continue to show up in the Settings-->Battery menu (which shows the % of battery used by each app) long after closing them.

Here are the list of things I have tried but nothing has removed the apps from the Settings-->Battery menu
- cleared the RAM using Active Applications widget
- Force stopped the app
- Restarted the phone

Some of the apps stay longer and some are gone automatically after a certain period.

My question is
1. why do the apps continue to show up in the Settings-->Battery menu when they are closed properly?
2. Is this something the apps can control like for how long they can stay awake despite closing?

Its a Samsung phone running on Android 4.1.2.

Answer 1

The Settings > Battery menu is a cumulative history that gets reset only when you re-charge the battery to 100%. That means all of the usage history is retained through the charge cycle (which includes any partial re-charges). The closed apps' prior battery usage (as a percentage of the total charge used since a full re-charge) should gradually decline as the total charge used increases.

Answer 2

The Settings-->Battery menu doesn't show how much battery is being used at that moment, rather how much has been used (usually since the device was fully charged or turned on). The reason the apps show up is because before they were closed they used some battery.