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Speed Up Your Firestick by Closing Background AppsPublished January 23, 2020
My search for a way to close those background apps led me to a neat little tool called Background Apps and Process List. Aside from the fact that it works, it’s also free and downloadable from Amazon. Closing ApplicationsBeing a Windows user, I’ve grown accustomed to clicking the little “x” in the upper right-hand corner of a window to close it. That’s not the case with mobile apps. On smaller devices, such as phones or tablets, one must swipe up, down or sideways to close out apps. Fire TVs or Fire Sticks don’t have such options. As a result, applications keep running unless they’re manually closed. Even clicking the app’s “Exit” button doesn’t mean it will stop running in the background. ![]() To manually close apps on the TV, I’d have to go to Settings - Applications, Manage Installed Applications select the application then click Force Stop. The process took just as many steps on the tablet. With the Background Apps & Process List utility, I don’t have to constantly tiptoe along a winding path to reach the engine room of the device to close running apps. All I have to do is open the Background app to see which apps are currently running and it will transport me directly to the engine room (can you tell I binge-watched Star Trek the Next Generation?). ![]() The first time I ran the app on my tablet, I had 16 apps running in the background (some of which I haven’t used in days). In other words, the app doesn't actually close the apps. It just speeds up the process by taking you to the Force Stop setting for the desired apps. Closing Multiple AppsIf you have more than one app to shut down, after closing the first app, hitting the back button on the remote or tablet will bring you to the next app’s management page. There you will click Force Stop again. Wash, rinse and repeat until all unwanted apps are closed. ![]() On the Amazon tablet, you might get a notification about stopping the app. You won’t get such notifications with the Fire Stick or Fire TV. After you close the unwanted apps, hit the back button to return to the Background & Process List app. Refresh the page to ensure the apps are closed. The app is a little clumsy, but it’s free and does what it advertises to do. (FYI, on my Fire tablet, I left all of the Google and Amazon Fire apps running.) Systems AppsBTW, I clicked the System/User button and it showed all of the system apps running in the background. I got out of there as quickly as possible. No sense in messing around with things that I’m clueless about. ![]() The bottom line is, the app helped me to quickly close out apps that didn’t need to be running in the background. Notes:
Felicia (aka Low Tech Grandma) is a wife, mother, grandmother, freelance writer and low tech blogger. Last Modified: 20 June 2023 |
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