Automagic Forum

I'm confused! I'm very much a beginner and just stumbled over something that sounds pretty unbelievable to me.

I can start an app alright, but when I want to turn it off, it won't work. The help icon reveals that an app running in the foreground (wouldn't that be most of them?) can't be killed. Am I misunderstanding something here (an additional handicap is, that English is not my native tongue)? Tasker stops apps without a problem, so it must be possible.

Any input would be appreciated.

Hi,

The operating system should usually manage the running apps and memory by itself so it should work best by not killing apps manually except when an app really does something weird. Without root an app can only request that background processes should be killed. That's what action Kill App does. You can use an action Show Home Screen to move an app out of the foreground. This will not be enough for apps that run as a foreground service (apps with a permanent notification like Automagic itself or a media player app).
You can also use action Kill App Process on a rooted device or Execute Root Command: am force-stop <package> to kill an app even when it's in the foreground.

Regards,
Martin

Hi Martin,

That helps! Thx, mate!

I guess it's a matter of definition. Like I said, Englisch is not my native tongue. I thought to turn an app off one would have to kill it, but it's obviously enough to just remove it from the foreground. That makes sense.

Thx again! Appreciate your help.