This quick guide will explain how to close or clear running apps on Google’s impressive Nexus 6P smartphone. It has a big and beautiful 5.7-inch screen, gorgeous dual front-facing speakers, and plenty of power, but sometimes it’s good to close running apps. It’s still a fast phone, but those who want better performance and longer battery life try the steps outlined below.
Doing things as simple as closing any running app might seem too generic and simple to average users, but it’s not easy for everyone. Users who have switched from an iPhone to Android or have tried the Nexus 6P and stocked Android over a previous Samsung device with a different software interface, you may need to learn how to do a few things.
Many Nexus 6P owners are first-time Android users or have used something from other Android manufacturers that don’t always offer stock Android. We are asked a lot of questions and this is one of them. Closing or clearing all running apps is easier than most people think and can have positive results in many cases. Read on for quick instructions, which apps to close and when.
With a powerful 8-core processor and 3GB of RAM, the Nexus 6P runs great and has a big battery. That doesn’t mean we can’t improve things, so that’s what we’re going to do here today.
The general “rule of thumb” in Android is to let the operating system manage your memory instead of users closing apps themselves. The Nexus 6P is pretty fast, but let’s make it even better. Not to mention there are a few instances where clearing apps can improve performance and battery life.
Android does an excellent job of managing apps unlike other operating systems, by setting apps to a low power state in the recent apps menu, ready to be opened when needed, and saving battery the rest of the time. With Android 6.0, it’s even more aggressive with something called “Doze” that sleeps apps but keeps them ready to be opened when needed. However, some are worth shutting down or killing.
Instructions
Closing running apps or clearing them from memory and recent apps menu on Nexus 6P is actually extremely easy and just a few taps are all it takes. All buttons are on full screen and just one tap and one swipe is all it takes. To the right of the center (round) house icon is a square button that brings up the latest apps. This is where we should be.
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 quick and easy to switch from YouTube to Browser, then Gmail, and back to YouTube using this button. Many Android users never use it, but it’s there and it’s waiting. The same area is where all open and running applications (even in the background) are located. Just swipe to clear them.
The image above shows the bottom right button that opens the rolodex style card view of all currently running apps. It doesn’t have a clear button like some Samsungs or others so just swipe one or two or all of them one at a time.
A quick swipe of your finger on each app will instantly close that app. 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 Nexus 6P and most stock Android phones or tablets.
After clearing all apps, it will show the above screen confirming that all apps are closed. Clearing the SMS text app or phone dialer means it will only need to be restarted on your next incoming message or call, wasting battery and processing power. So only clean things you won’t be using. You can close large intensive apps like Maps, Navigation or games, but we recommend keeping the rest open and leaving the rest to Android.
Again, only turn off the essentials, so we recommend users swipe up on apps they no longer need and leave everything else running in the background. Android 6.0 Marshmallow is very fast and efficient and puts apps in a deeper sleep state than ever before, so closing apps isn’t that important nowadays. The only time we recommend closing all apps is at work, before going to bed at night or if you’re not going to be using the phone for a few hours.
