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I've got an HTC One M8 with KitKat 4.4.4 until Lollipop 5.0 comes out in January. I'm a convert from Apple iPhone Gen 1 all the way up and this is my first Android device ( which I love BTW ).

With Apple, you seemingly don't have to worry about viruses, unless you root/jailbreak your phone.

I'm trying to find the best apps out that improve my battery life, secure, clean, and boost my phone. That said, all these apps seem to do is run my battery down faster and cause more lag in my apps more than anything.

So I my questions are:

  1. Do I need them?
  2. Are there better alternatives?
  3. Is the CM suite horrible as some say?
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    They are more band-aids than anything. They have services, activities, broadcast receivers, and content providers that now need to be running. Instead of having running apps controlling apps, just take care of the runaway permissions.
    – HasH_BrowN
    Commented Dec 23, 2014 at 6:51
  • Viruses aren't on Android, its malware and adware. Your question is now relying on an answer that is primarily based on opinion, which is off topic.
    – HasH_BrowN
    Commented Dec 24, 2014 at 2:22

2 Answers 2

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All you really need is good antivirus (which I unfortunately cannot recommend to you - I do not know any REALLY good).

Android has its own build in and carefully designed memory management mechanisms. Forcing some apps to close, beside of resulting in unexpected behaviour, does not improve performance.

If app is in background it does not HOLD memory - it simply is in there in case you need it back. Android will kill it as soon as some other app or process will need this memory and killing it before only slows your device when you restart app that normally would still be "in memory".

RAM is not some precious resource that is being waisted when app is "in it" and is not running - RAM is simply a container and having it empty does nothing good (nor bad).

As of the Battery Doctor - this app is not perfect and does not always show real results. Nevertheless it still can be helpful - if you see any of your app draining energy, you should investigate. Well designed and developed apps should not impact your battery life significantly. If any of them is - you should get rid of it and look for an replacement. But as stated before - be careful! Google Play is not iStore - anyone can publish anything without any revision whatsoever. Be extremely cautious with new apps, with few comments and low download counter, that require from you all the privileges they only can. I saw an calculator that required reading my contacts list and clock requiring privilege to make extra-pay phone calls.

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Since you have switched from iOS to Android, you should keep the following cons as compared to that of Android:

  1. A number of insecure apps in the Play Store which access many of the important imformation of the phone.
  2. The inability of the Android OS to automatically close background apps.

Now, coming to your question:

  1. Yes you need them(PS: Always remember now that you are using android)

  2. Yes, like you can go for 360 Security.

  3. No, CM is not that horrible.

Note:

Try "The Unhack App". Its a good app which provides you imformation about all the apps installed in your device and the permissions they have and even helps restrict unwanted permissions and many more.

If you still think that installing an app like CM can be a waste for your RAM, you can use a launcher like ZERO or APUS which provides an inbuilt memory booster along with variety of cool themes to choose from.

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  • So would 360 Security replace CM? Commented Dec 23, 2014 at 18:13
  • We can't say that 360 Security can completely replace CM. Both have their own pros and cons. But yes, it can be a better alternative
    – Mr. Tech
    Commented Dec 23, 2014 at 18:16
  • So would you use them in tandem or one or the other? Commented Dec 23, 2014 at 19:00
  • Nevermind. They look almost identical. I'll give 360 Security a try instead of CM. Commented Dec 23, 2014 at 22:26
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    360 is better. See its strength as an antivirus in avtest. Plus, it will provide handy shortcut s in drop down menu to flashlight, auto rotate , and ram booster.
    – MAKZ
    Commented Dec 24, 2014 at 4:23

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