This easy guide will explain how to close or delete running apps on Motorola’s impressive new Moto X Pure Edition smartphone. It has a new big and bright 5.7-inch display, great front speakers and 3GB of RAM, but it only has a 6-core processor when most of its competitors have more. It’s still a fast phone, but those who want better performance and longer battery life try the steps outlined below.
Doing something as easy as closing unused apps might seem too generic and simple to average users, but those who are switching from an iPhone to Android or trying Motorola’s customization over a previous Samsung device may need to learn how to do a few things.
A lot of questions are being asked by owners now that buyers have enjoyed the Moto X since it began customizing and shipping in September. Closing or clearing all running apps is easier than most people think and can have positive results in some cases. Read on for quick instructions and what apps to close and when.
What we call a “rule of thumb” when it comes to Android is to let the operating system manage your memory instead of users manually clearing and closing apps. With 3GB of RAM and almost stock Android, the Moto X is a fast and perfectly performing phone and shouldn’t need any interaction from users. At the same time, there are a few situations where clearing apps can be beneficial.
Android does an excellent job of managing apps and multitasking unlike other operating systems by setting apps to a low power state in the recent apps menu, ready to be opened when needed, and saves battery for the rest of the time. Users can easily switch between apps with the touch of a button and it works great. This is even better on Android 6.0, which the Moto X should receive soon. However, if you still want to close apps yourself, here it is.
Instructions
Closing running apps or clearing them from memory or recent apps menu on Moto X Pure Edition is actually extremely easy and just a few taps are all it takes. Like most Moto phones lately, all the buttons are on full screen. To the right of the middle (round) home button is a square button that brings up the latest apps. Here we will start.
This is the multitasking menu key that brings up all the apps that are currently open or running. For those who don’t know, it’s easy to switch from YouTube to Browser, then gmail and back to YouTube using this button. Many don’t, but that’s what makes Android great. This same button is where you will see all running apps and swipe away to close them.
The image above shows the rolodex style card view of all currently running apps like stock Android. It doesn’t have a close app button like some Samsungs or others because it’s as close to stock Android as Google itself does. So you will have to close each app one by one.
A simple swipe of your finger on each card will quickly swipe them and close this app instantly. Any saved progress or the website you might be on should reload or disappear completely the next time you use that app. The image above shows the menu and me swiping to clear YouTube (right side). That’s all, you’re done. It’s that simple to close apps on the Moto X Pure.
After clearing all apps, it will show the above screen notifying you that no apps are running. It’s a good idea to leave things like phones, messages, and even browsers here, especially if you use them frequently. Deleting the SMS text app means it will only need to be restarted at your next incoming message, wasting battery and CPU cycles. This same rule applies to all apps, so only turn off the ones you won’t need anymore. Big heavy apps like Maps, Navigation, or games you can turn off, but we recommend keeping the rest open.
Google believes in how Android works and doesn’t think there should be a clear everything button here, so Motorola isn’t adding a button either. As a result, we will stick with it and only swipe and close large apps like games or apps you no longer need. Leave all the little things running as they don’t do much damage or consume almost no battery life.
Again, only turn off what’s necessary, so we recommend users swipe up individual apps they no longer need and leave everything else running in the background. Android Lollipop will do the rest of the work and keep your Moto X running smoothly. The only time we recommend closing all apps is before going to bed at night or if you won’t be using the phone for a few hours. Enjoy.
