Taskmanager / real killing of processes

indiDing

Hi, I deteced that some my apps are still running in the background (and some of them frequently firing internet requests) even if I have "closed" them via the OS taskmanager.
In former times I used one of these "process killler"-apps. But it seems that these process killer apps need device administration privileges (at least the few ones that I have tested). I´m feared that´s not a good idea in terms of security?
Can anybody recommend my a good app without these expanded privileges?

Hulk

indiDing
Hello!

Starting in Android 13 (API level 33), users can complete a workflow from the notification drawer to stop an app that has an ongoing foreground services, regardless of that app's target SDK version. This affordance, called the Foreground Services (FGS) Task Manager, shows a list of apps that are currently running a foreground service. This list is labeled Active apps. Next to each app is a Stop button.

developer.android.com

THIS POST IS A WORK IN PROGRESS
Stay tuned

Welteam

Hulk indiDing issue seems to be that some apps constantly restart the background task after it is killed that way

Welteam

The app you ask for cannot exists because it needs these permissions to shut down other apps. There is also no feature in android to simply prevent an app from running in the background. Here are the three options you have :

Kill the task and force stop the app every time you quit it : this doesn't really achieve what you want because the app could be restarted by any other process on your phone at any time
Disable the app : GOS offers the possibility to disable user installed apps and it does precisely what you want. The downside is that the app will disappear from the home screen and app drawer. The only way to access it is now to go to Settings > Apps > See all apps > Your app and enable it then open it. This can be simplified by adding a settings widget to your home screen and select the "Apps" option which will create a shortcut to Settings > Apps > See all apps.
Install the app in a secondary user. That way when you stop using the app, you can long press the power button and select "End session" which will shutdown the user and all apps in it. That's how I would do it. You can even transfer the app from the Owner user to the new user so you don't have to setup any app store in the new profile then uninstall it from the Owner

Now you didn't say why you want to kill the app(s) when not using it/them. However, I see two possible reasons and none requires what you are asking for. If it is out of concern for the battery usage, you can :

Go to Settings > Apps > See all apps > Your app > Battery and select "Restricted". This prevents the app from running in the background most of the time
Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Saver and keep it activated all the time. At the bottom of this page it is even written "Battery Saver [...] limits or turns off background activity..."

If it is out of concern for data collection, there are two things you may care about :

Record your usage : as long as you use an app, nothing can prevent it to send back detailed information on what you do and when, unless you turn off the Network permission. I'm assuming you can't though because you probably wouldn't ask this question otherwise
Access information in the background like location, camera, microphone, etc : all temporary personal informations (understand "things constantly changing" unlike contacts for example) are accessed through permissions which have the "Only when using app" option. If you grant this type of access, it doesn't matter that the app is constantly running in the background

eatinggrumble84

Welteam
If the app is set to "Restricted" battery setting, it shouldn't be able to restart itself.

Welteam

eatinggrumble84 Indeed but it can still be started through IPC. Still that's why I also advised precisely that in my post

GrapheneOS

None of this is necessary to prevent background data collection because apps do not have access to the data of other apps or what you're doing on the device. Apps cannot do 'usage recording' (as you phrased it) unless you give them access to app usage stats via the special access permission and those are very limited. They can only access profile data that you've explicitly granted to them. For time sensitive access, including Microphone, Camera and Location access, those permissions have one-time grants and persistent 'Allow while in use' grants. For Location only, an app can make an additional request after receiving foreground access ('Allow while in use') from you to get background access.

Restricted battery mode and force stop both prevent the app from starting itself. Other apps can still start it while they're running and it will stop after they stop running themselves. GrapheneOS adds the option of disabling apps to fully prevent them from running.