Paranoid Android
March 13, 2011 9:33 PM Subscribe
Will the performance of my Android phone or tablet suffer if I install and uninstall a lot of different apps?
I see lots of apps I want to try out on my Android phone and tablet, but I'm reluctant to install them. I used to install all kinds of free trials and freeware for Windows, but then I found that some of them don't uninstall properly, some of them leave crap in the registry, some screw up functions in other software, and eventually the computer's performance suffered. I keep my Windows computer pristine, and try stuff out in a virtual machine. Right now my android devices are pristine as well, with only my essential apps installed. But is this necessary? Will installing/uninstalling apps affect Android in the same way as Windows?
I see lots of apps I want to try out on my Android phone and tablet, but I'm reluctant to install them. I used to install all kinds of free trials and freeware for Windows, but then I found that some of them don't uninstall properly, some of them leave crap in the registry, some screw up functions in other software, and eventually the computer's performance suffered. I keep my Windows computer pristine, and try stuff out in a virtual machine. Right now my android devices are pristine as well, with only my essential apps installed. But is this necessary? Will installing/uninstalling apps affect Android in the same way as Windows?
Android is based on Linux, and thus handles applications completely differently. For one thing, there's no registry, which is the primary source of general malaise on a Windows system (coupled with lazy uninstallers that fail to remove everything, and rogue startup programs).
Android keeps applications a good bit more self-contained and you shouldn't have any slowdowns as a result of *removing* an app—they should leave basically nothing behind, though even in cases where preferences are preserved, they're not being added to a central database, per se, and this is rare if even possible anymore at this point.
Depending on the application, you may notice a bit of a performance hit if you're not careful about what you're installing—too many background apps can slow things down, though the latest versions of Android do a much better job at managing background tasks. The Running Services option on the Applications settings screen should show you if something is running, but the mere existence of a "running" service doesn't mean it's using resources in the way you might expect.
At the end of the day, install and uninstall with abandon. That behavior alone won't impact your phone's performance on account of leaving stuff behind.
posted by disillusioned at 2:51 AM on March 14, 2011
Android keeps applications a good bit more self-contained and you shouldn't have any slowdowns as a result of *removing* an app—they should leave basically nothing behind, though even in cases where preferences are preserved, they're not being added to a central database, per se, and this is rare if even possible anymore at this point.
Depending on the application, you may notice a bit of a performance hit if you're not careful about what you're installing—too many background apps can slow things down, though the latest versions of Android do a much better job at managing background tasks. The Running Services option on the Applications settings screen should show you if something is running, but the mere existence of a "running" service doesn't mean it's using resources in the way you might expect.
At the end of the day, install and uninstall with abandon. That behavior alone won't impact your phone's performance on account of leaving stuff behind.
posted by disillusioned at 2:51 AM on March 14, 2011
To be a pedant, Android is only based on the Linux /kernel/, not the typical full GNU/Linux stack you see in Ubuntu and such; beyond the kernel it's a totally different beast.
Back to the question at hand; you'll be fine. Android apps are completely self-contained; when you remove an app it's totally gone. Some apps leave stuff behind on your SD card, but that won't affect your performance at all beyond available SD space and is fairly obvious to clean out.
Trust me, I'm a dev. :)
posted by ConstantineXVI at 5:11 AM on March 14, 2011
Back to the question at hand; you'll be fine. Android apps are completely self-contained; when you remove an app it's totally gone. Some apps leave stuff behind on your SD card, but that won't affect your performance at all beyond available SD space and is fairly obvious to clean out.
Trust me, I'm a dev. :)
posted by ConstantineXVI at 5:11 AM on March 14, 2011
Also remember you're limited more by your processor speed than your hard drive (which is SSD anyway). In short - limit the apps to the ones you're actually using, clear off the deadweight, and consider running an app killer every now and then to kill off the background processes. It's a lot simpler than with Windows.
posted by chrisinseoul at 9:26 AM on March 14, 2011
posted by chrisinseoul at 9:26 AM on March 14, 2011
*Most* Apps are self-contained, but there are some that are not. Anything that has access to the filesystem can leave stuff hanging around. Sometimes it's desired (photos, podcasts) sometimes not (saved game data). However, if an app does leave some extra data around it shouldn't affect the performance of the phone, it'll just use up a bit of memory (usually the SD).
One thing that you may want to consider is that it's quite possible for different apps to collide. By that I mean two different apps will try to do the same or very related things and they'll get in each others way. Two examples that I know about are messaging apps (notifications on incoming messages) and custom voice recognition software.
posted by forforf at 1:10 PM on March 14, 2011
One thing that you may want to consider is that it's quite possible for different apps to collide. By that I mean two different apps will try to do the same or very related things and they'll get in each others way. Two examples that I know about are messaging apps (notifications on incoming messages) and custom voice recognition software.
posted by forforf at 1:10 PM on March 14, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
As to leaving fragments behind...I don't know.I'd like to know the answer too!
posted by Calzephyr at 9:40 PM on March 13, 2011