Increase Swap Size

Lyum

Hi!
I currently have big problems with apps being killed in the background. This is not limited to one app, but basically all of them. It most affects the browser and the camera, probably due to the higher RAM usage. So I cannot really multitask on my Pixel 7, as tabs will reload too often, or apps get killed in the background while I answer an email. The most ridiculous thing is that Apple Music gets killed in the background often when I open the camera. This really is no fun.
It even gets worse when changing profiles, this renders the device unusable for 20-30s. imho it shouldn't be that bad on 8GB on a fairly recent phone.

The memory thing in the Dev options give me 5.5-6 GB used RAM average, in Termux free reports only 300MB free and 500MB available RAM(used is 6GB, plus "shared" and buffers..), which is indeed not that much^^
I DO know how RAM management in Linux works, and that a fuller RAM is nothing bad in general. If I wouldn't have problems, I wouldn't have thought about that. I mean, in comparison, my PC at home uses like 1GB at most after loading KDE. And that thing is a bit mightier than some launcher on a phone.
Another thing I saw, is that the phone is filling up the small swap of 3GB instantly after boot, completely. There is 3MB swap free 30s after boot.

Is there a way to increase the swap file to at least weaken the effects a little? The swapon command returns Bad system call, the SWAP app in GPlay makes no difference in htop. Or is there another thing I could try?
Thank you! :)

[deleted]

Lyum have you tried turning battery optimization off for the apps you don't want closed in the background?

GrapheneOS

Lyum This is not what's happening. It's your usage of profiles that's likely responsible for it. Storage Scopes and Contact Scopes removed some of the core reasons to need profiles and our planned App Communication Scopes will remove more. Profiles will result in not having as many apps kept running.

The most ridiculous thing is that Apple Music gets killed in the background often when I open the camera.

This sounds like an Apple Music issue, not an OS issue.

It even gets worse when changing profiles, this renders the device unusable for 20-30s. imho it shouldn't be that bad on 8GB on a fairly recent phone.

That's highly abnormal. You're indicating something is very wrong with your device setup.

Another thing I saw, is that the phone is filling up the small swap of 3GB instantly after boot, completely. There is 3MB swap free 30s after boot.

There's no swap.

Is there a way to increase the swap file to at least weaken the effects a little? The swapon command returns Bad system call, the SWAP app in GPlay makes no difference in htop. Or is there another thing I could try?

There is no swap file and you cannot use one.

You're also only seeing what Termux can see within the Termux app sandbox from there.

The memory thing in the Dev options give me 5.5-6 GB used RAM average, in Termux free reports only 300MB free and 500MB available RAM(used is 6GB, plus "shared" and buffers..), which is indeed not that much^^

Android handles caching apps in a different way than you are used to.

Lyum

[deleted] yes, especially for Apple Music, I did!
(I wanted to recheck, somehow I don't find that point in the settings anymore. Was that removed?)

Viewpoint0232

Interesting thread. I didn't know Android use a swap file similar to "normal" Linux on the desktop.

I can also confirm that the camera app in particular is often the culprit, e.g. all my tabs in the browser will reload after I snap a photo.

GrapheneOS

Viewpoint0232

Interesting thread. I didn't know Android use a swap file similar to "normal" Linux on the desktop.

It doesn't. It uses zram with writeback of pages which remain inside zram unused for 1 day.

Lyum

GrapheneOS

This sounds like an Apple Music issue, not an OS issue.

If it was only happening with Apple Music, I wouldn't be writing here. Like I said, it happens with many apps, but stopping music is just the most annoying part of it. And I'm not the only one with the problem: here or here for example.

That's highly abnormal. You're indicating something is very wrong with your device setup.

well basically I'm happy to hear that, because then it is fixable :D So what can be wrong here? I didn't apply magic to my phone, didn't do unusual stuff, so what can break here and how can I find that out?
In the threads above, others were describing the same issue btw.

It's your usage of profiles that's likely responsible for it.

I can say, it's not. I have a second profile since 3 days, the problems with killed apps are as old as GOS on the phone, so no.
The app communication were the reason for it, I'm very looking forwards to have scopes there too! :)

There is no swap file and you cannot use one.

I will take the time into reading about zram.

In short; is there anything I can do to actually improve my situation?

MarsTrue

Lyum do reset an test everything with only a few apps. then add more apps and more profiles. also don't mess with the developer options and don't tewak a lot of settings. if you do things gradually you'll figure out at what point things break.

Lyum

MarsTrue

don't tweak a lot of settings

yeah but this is what I mean, I didn't :/ I mean, what would I have to touch to make it that bad anyways?

reset

I'd rather not do that, as that would take too many hours, days probably. So if there is any other possibility, that would be great!

[deleted]

Lyum how about instead of reset try cramming everything into one profile and see how it behaves. You saw the post from GrapheneOS further above. This should be easy enough to execute.

MarsTrue

Lyum if you're setup is so complex that it requires days of tweaking after reset, no wonder weird bugs happen. a little minimalism should help.

I find it weird how people just auto transfer their old mess from phone to phone instead of backing up files and settings manually then doing a clean install a few times a year. I wish I'd have this much trust in technology.

Lyum

[deleted] I can do that. In the second profile is only one app, and it was there only for 3 days, so that will be easy. But like I said, that didn't change the problems, that existed long before.

Lyum

MarsTrue Not really days of tweaking, more like restoring all the backups from apps, that don't work with Seedvault. This is basically all my messengers, banking apps (which don't even have backups) and so on. I obviously want to use them, so I'm not keen on having downtime (my nextcloud is rather slow, so even downloading the backups will take much time). If a reset is something, that will help with a reasonable probability, I will certainly do it, just not on a "you could try this". No offense.
And like I also said, I am not even sure what I can change in the settings app (not dev settings. I know that stuff can break things, and I didnt change anything there apart from the codec of my bluetooth speakers.) to have these effects.

auto transfer their old mess from phone to phone

My old phone was an iPhone, so that's not what happened here. Please stop assuming so many things about my setup. It is not that complex.. on my phone I am a normal user, no magic here (obviously apart from flashing a custom rom^^)

Carlos-Anso

@Lyum do you use battery saver?

Lyum

Carlos-Anso no, usually not. That would be the easy solution indeed, good idea xD