Question Automatically Close Open Apps on locking screen

[gfrm568]

Periodically, I review and "clean-up" my 86-year-old mother´s cell phone.

She rarely closes apps (not referring to background apps) after using them.

So when I review the phone to clean things up, I always find that there are lots of apps to be closed. I am referring to apps such as WhatsApp, Skype, Bank apps, Uber, Home Doctor and many others.

She has an android phone, (Samsung A16) very recently purchased, and so will have latest android version.

My question: Is there an android setting or a downloadable app that would automatically close these types of open apps when she puts the phone down and the screen locks. I am not referring to the option of "close all apps" but rather a setting or an app that would do that automatically without active intervention.

Thanks.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! It's normal behavior on Android devices for apps to remain open in the background -- it's not like Windows, where the convention is to clear out RAM by closing programs. Android wants to have RAM mostly full, so closing an app will often result in another app being opened in the background in its place, depending on usage patterns.

In addition, closing an app might then require the app to be logged back into upon opening it again, which might be a hassle for your elderly mother (especially if it requires entering a complex password).

Are you concerned primarily about security? Or efficiency of the device operation? Or something else?

 

[gfrm568]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I guess I am worried about security.

She does not use the bank apps for operating except that sometimes the bank requires certain transactions to be verified from within the app and not simply via an SMS received pin code.

Furthermore, closing open apps would reduce possible confusion when she retakes the phone.

It would be easier for her and she has most of the app icons/tiles she needs on her home screen.

(I discovered that you can lock the home screen layout, which has been a great help as she often relocated apps to the secondary home screens and then couldn´t find them!)

I digress.

Anyhow, I suppose that there is no setting, nor an app, that would meet my "need".

I do assist her on her PC using Teamviewer, and it seems that Teamviewer´s Quicksupport app works well in Samsung phones.

Hopefully it will allow me to periodically review her phone... despite the potential security risk it entails...

Thanks again for your feedback.

 

[B. Diddy]

Most if not all financial apps will automatically log out if idle for more than a few minutes, so I don't think you'd have to worry about security from that standpoint.

 

[spARTacus]

Via routines, one should be able to set an action for the device care app to perform phone optimization or auto optimization (which based on what it says in the app, would close background apps and clear memory). However, I don't see any most convenient available routine triggers that could be paired with the action (like upon phone lock, for example, which would have probably worked really well for what seems to be desired).

 

[mustang7757]

Also maybe a tasker app