Do Apps Still Run in the Background After Closing Them on GrapheneOS?

momo55

Hey everyone,

I’ve got a question regarding how background activity works in GrapheneOS compared to standard Android.

On stock Android, when you swipe an app away or "close" it, some background processes still seem to run — which makes sense, otherwise apps like Signal or Telegram wouldn’t be able to send me push notifications.

But how does this work in GrapheneOS?

Can apps still run background tasks or after being closed in Graphene?

if so, how can I actually completetly close/kill an app in graphene OS?

DeletedUser495

momo55 when you push the app into background with a back gesture or swiping up on home button, it often remains running depending on their battery usage settings. When you close them from the recents screen, they will close and disappear from the list of running processes.

In any case, to my knowledge, they may be frequently woken up by Play services if you use those upon some event or receiving a notification.

tac

momo55 Set the battery usage to Restricted: tap and hold the app icon → ⓘ App info → App battery usage → Allow background usage set to off and close the activity by swiping up in task view. To be entirely sure the app isn't launched in the background in response to FCM events you can also disable it from the App info menu: GrapheneOS extends this functionality to all apps, not just system.

de0u

momo55 Can apps still run background tasks or after being closed in Graphene?

It depends on the complexities of the Android power manager, including which IPC intents an app registers for and which intents other apps issue.

if so, how can I actually completetly close/kill an app in graphene OS?

If an app is in a secondary profile and the profile is shut down with "End Session", those apps are stopped and the profile's storage encryption key is put at rest, so those apps really can't run (unless also installed in a different user profile that is active).

That said, hard-working apps may still corelate things like battery level and free storage space across profiles, so if a true separation between some apps and others is desirable then a separate device may be useful.

KitsuneNoBaka

Forkgram and Syncthing won't stop unless you remove them from "active applications" for sure.

nandohyphen1

de0u so by swiping down twice and switching profiles by selecting the little person doesn't actually shut down the apps? To actually shut them down I'd just have to use the end session from the lock screen? Also, how do I reply to a specific part of someone's post? I've never done it before and I don't know how to. Thanks.

userofgos

nandohyphen1 To actually shut them down I'd just have to use the end session from the lock screen?

Yes, this is the case If you have toggled ON the "Allow running in background" feature for any user profile located in System Settings > System > Users > User Profile > Allow running in background>

However, if you have NOT enabled this feature, then simply switching profiles will end the session.

userofgos

nandohyphen1 Also, how do I reply to a specific part of someone's post? I've never done it before and I don't know how to. Thanks.

This is a lot more intuitive on desktop but works the same on mobile. You have to select/highlight the desired text and then you will see a "quote" option which will insert the selected text into your reply.

If you are wanting to quote something from another thread on this forum, or another source altogether, you can copy the desired text, then when you are replying to a post you can click the "Insert a quote" button (the " button in the toolbar) and then paste the desired text. Alternatively you can type the ">" character and paste your desired text to insert a quote.

nandohyphen1

userofgos yeah I let them run in the background so I receive notifications for important profiles. But I do have profiles where notifications aren't important so I'll have to try that

nandohyphen1

userofgos You have to select/highlight the desired text and then you will see a "quote"

I see. That worked. Thanks, I never knew how to do that. :)