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On my GPE S4 (Android 5.0.1), if I change from Firefox or Google Sheets or ezPDFreader to another application for more than 1 or 2 minutes, and come back, the data is loaded again. It is not only bad for my data plan, but is also time consuming. I monitor data usage, it is not just re-rendering.

On my Nexus 4 (Android 5.0), applications in the background keep content for an hour or more. It is quite strange, as they have the same amount of memory, 2GB.

Is there a setting for this? How can I avoid unnecessary reloads?

András
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3 Answers3

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The problem is in RAM usage of your firmwares. Nexus has a fewer "stock app" processes running in the background, thus it consumes less random access memory, so there is more of it for user apps. This means, you can launch more apps simultaneously without having some of them to be killed in the background!

Samsung tried to include as more "cool features" as possible to their devices like a pretty (and heavy) TouchWiz, much of bloatware, and all other "special" features also consume RAM.

There are several ways solving this issue:

One of them is switching to a custom ROM. Like CyanogenMod. It will really help you, but u might loose some of your phones abilities (mostly useless of them).

Another one is, you can disable all the bloatware, uninstall some unnecessary apps, that run in the background (you might have to root your ROM for some of them) disable ALL unused features like Live wallpapers, and much more. Disable some autorun apps, using 3C Toolbox (root). For more info, Google "how to free ram on" and your device name.

I strongly reccomend you to do a backup of your ROM before you begin! Otherwise, be really careful! Good luck :)

outOfHeap
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  • as I wrote, it GPE (google play edition), so none of the usual Samsung bloatware is there – András Jun 02 '15 at 17:27
  • @András If RAM isn't a problem, then I have found some interesting info here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1175236 They say, some carriers install a task killer, that closes background apps after X minutes. – outOfHeap Jun 02 '15 at 19:03
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I assume its only for browsers (and some high end gamed maybe)? Because file managers should well maintain that. Same with music and possibly other apps.

Actually, there is not really any workaround for this sadly (not on unrooted atleast0. Its the way browsers are made. If an app or system has to reload content, it will because it has decided to. No stopping it. Its not a memory or ram or any other problem, just the way app is made or that specific android os on phone is designed to work.

To be accurate, it doesn't really reload. It rerenders.

For instance, say you start a game and android decides to free up some ram by clearing or suspending background apps, then it will kill the chrome and it will have to "reload" next time you start. Even if you dont start some heavy task, chrome and similar will still rerender.

From How to force browsers not to reload recently seen page after resume? | Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange:

the browser isn't actually reloading, in the sense of reissuing the HTTP GET request; rather, it's simply re-rendering the existing HTTP response that it presumably has lying around in its cache. I say this because I've seen this happen without network connectivity; if I then tap the "reload" button, it gives the error you'd expect ("Cannot load page because I cannot connect to the Internet" or whatever.)

browsers had to rerender if it has been killed by the system (generally when a foreground apps needs more memory). With chrome, rerendering is a bit obvious because chrome displayed a grayscale screenshot of the page while it's rerendering. If you want to prevent rerendering at all, you should avoid switching to a heavy application (e.g. games). How much states are preserved across rerendering depends on the quality of implementation of the browser.

Jaskaranbir Singh
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    it is not just re-rendering, I minister data usage – András Jun 02 '15 at 17:25
  • Well, its the way the app/os is designed then. Using custom OS might help but otherwise there's no way while unrooted. I suggest you read the discussion's answer I gave link to (and the comments following). – Jaskaranbir Singh Jun 02 '15 at 17:34
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Via Browser is the only way I've found to avoid this problem. (Besides already having a lot of RAM anyway)

Make sure "Go back without reloading" is checked under Advanced settings.

Here's the play store link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mark.via.gp

If you look outside the play store you may also find special versions with other features.

Ren
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