Tag: apps

Android Apps

Does it help to force close apps on your phone?

So you’re done using a big bloated app and want to make sure you get all those precious phone resources back. Most of us just move on to the next app and forget about it, but plenty of other folks think you should dig in there and make sure it’s fully closed. Which way is right?

Both are fine. Force-closing an app isn’t going to hurt anything, and sometimes I do it. I’ll say up front that if I grant any one-time permissions to an app when I open it, I’ll swipe that app away as soon as I’m finished. Even that is probably unnecessary, though.

Let’s take a look at what’s happening and why you may want to just let Android do it’s thing instead of trying to manage one more thing on your phone.

What does force closing an app really mean?

The larger cover display of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

When used as a computing term, force-closing means terminating a running process. Depending on the platform, you might see the words kill, SIGHUP, SIGKILL, or SIGTERM used to mean the same thing. All these do the same thing—send a signal to the operating system to terminate (not suspend) a running process, though they do it in slightly different ways.

killall -o 30m chrome

# This sends a request for a graceful shutdown 
# of all instances of Chrome that have been 
# running longer than 30 minutes

However, this doesn’t mean an app is closed because many apps use more than one process. Apps doing tasks in the background (not visible on your screen) act differently and have different rules. Android’s APIs are built around this; unless you have rooted your phone or are using an app with elevated privileges, this is how it works. 

If you’re doing

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Android Apps

Android 15 may make it even harder for sideloaded apps to get sensitive permissions

Android 15 logo on smartphone on counter stock photo (9)

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

TL;DR

  • Android 15 could introduce a new Enhanced Confirmation Mode that makes it harder for malicious apps to exploit an OS loophole.
  • Android blocks users from easily enabling the Accessibility or Notification Listener services of apps that are sideloaded from outside an app store.
  • However, the method that Android uses for this has a loophole in it that Android 15 will close.

Although most Android users download apps from preloaded app stores like Google Play, some users get their apps from alternative online sources, a practice called sideloading. This is possible because Android lets users install third-party apps without the Google Play Store so long as they get their hands on the necessary app installation files. The ability to freely sideload apps is a big part of what makes Android a more open platform than iOS. Unfortunately, it’s also the reason why people erroneously believe that Android is less secure than iOS.

That’s because regardless of where you source apps from, Android’s built-in privacy and security features ensure they can’t access sensitive permissions without your consent. However, it’s true that sideloading apps from alternative online sources carries a bit more risk for the average user when compared to sticking with Google Play. This is because it’s simply easier for malicious developers to distribute apps outside of Google Play since they don’t need to deal with the regulations, bureaucracy, and scrutiny that Google Play app distribution entails.

Malicious Android apps, no matter where they’re sourced from, commonly try to trick users into granting them access to the Accessibility and Notification Listener APIs because of their power. The Accessibility API lets apps read the content of the screen and also perform inputs on behalf of the user, while the Notification Listener API lets apps read or take

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Android Apps

7 Android-only apps the iPhone definitely should have

Key Takeaways

  • Apple users may claim iPhone has better apps, but Android-only apps like Automate and Podcast Addict excel in functionality.
  • Parallel App allows running multiple instances of the same app, unlike iOS alternatives.
  • Superior music players like Poweramp, file managers like Solid Explorer, and accessibility tools like Action Blocks are missing from the iOS App Store.



When comparing Androids and iPhones, most Apple users will claim that the iPhone has a better selection of apps. Indeed, there are many iPhone apps you won’t find on Google Play. That said, there’s a lot of overlap between both app stores. You can even install apps like Google Drive on an iPhone. However, some of the best Android apps are actually missing from Apple’s App Store.

For most of the apps on this list, there are suitable substitutes for iOS, but they can’t compete with their Android counterparts. Here are some Android-only apps that Apple devices desperately need.

android phones
Related
7 apps that should definitely come pre-installed on Android

As long as they can be freely uninstalled by the user, having a strong set of native utilities goes a long way in making a phone feel complete.

1 Automate by Llama Labs

Simplify your life by automating tasks

Automate by Llama Labs android apps on iphone 1


As far as automation apps go, Apple has the IFTTT app, which lets you build complex automated tasks, but it’s too complicated for casual users. The Shortcuts app is easier to use, but it’s not nearly as intricate. For a more accessible option, consider Automate, which employs a visual, flowchart-based interface to craft custom scripts.

This Android-exclusive app offers over 320 distinct task building blocks, including actions, event triggers, loops, and more. You can arrange these blocks in a flowchart style, facilitating easy visualization of your creations. Automate is free to use, but for

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Android Apps

These three Android apps can wipe out users’ bank and stock accounts; delete them now!

There are three malicious apps that Android users need to make sure they don’t have installed on their phones. Researchers at cybersecurity software firm ESET (via The U.S.Sun) say that these apps are out to steal users’ personal information including the credentials needed to access victims’ financial apps. These apps hold themselves out to be messaging apps and while they might appear to provide basic functions and seem legitimate, they contain XploitSPY malware.
The scary thing is that these apps made it through Google Play Protect which scans all of the apps on Android phones every day to “prevent the installation of harmful apps.” Unfortunately, hackers have figured out ways to defeat this protection. If you have any of the three apps listed below on your Android phone, you know the drill. Uninstall them immediately:

  • Dink Messenger
  • Sim Info
  • Defcom

Even though these apps have been removed from the Google Play Store, if you have them installed on your phone, they can still steal your personal info and help the hackers break into your financial apps. ESET, notes that the campaign started in November 2021 in a bid to have Android users install malware on their handsets in India and Pakistan.

Dink Messenger is one of the three apps you need to uninstall - These three Android apps can wipe out users' bank and stock accounts; delete them now!

Dink Messenger is one of the three apps you need to uninstall

To see if any of these apps are on your phone, go to Settings > Apps > See all xxx apps and scroll down the list looking for the seven apps listed in this article. To delete an app on your Android phone, Open the Google Play Store > Tap the profile icon on the upper right corner of the screen >Tap on Manage apps and devices > Tap on the Manage tab > Select the name of the app you want

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Android Apps

Our favorite Android apps to replace Google Podcasts

google podcasts

For those in the US, Google Podcasts is set to shut down after today, April 2. We’ve tested quite a few other podcast apps on Android and selected our favorite replacements for Google Podcasts.

For an app to make it into our list, one of the key requirements is support for importing OPML files. While Google Podcasts offers a streamlined way to transition your podcast subscriptions to YouTube Music, the app also provides an option to save a standard OPML file to be opened elsewhere. For years, podcast apps and RSS readers have used OPML files as a standardized way to export/import subscriptions.

Top-voted: Pocket Casts

Used by four members of the 9to5Google team (Abner, Andrew, Damien, and Kyle), our favorite Android app to replace Google Podcasts is Pocket Casts.

Pocket Casts has been serving podcasts to users across Android and iOS for over a decade now, so the app’s experience has been thoroughly refined in that time. In many ways, Pocket Casts expands beyond Google Podcasts’ simplified feature set by offering unique features like listening stats.

Getting set up is a cinch, as you can log in with your Google Account or a traditional email/password. Afterward, to carry over your shows from Google Podcasts, you can head to the Profile tab, tap the gear icon for settings, and choose “Import & export OPML.” By signing in with an account, your podcast library and listening history will stay in sync across devices for free.

The Pocket Casts player interface is straightforward, though you’ll need a bit of adjustment coming from Google Podcasts. Some features, like the show notes and share menu, are given more prominence. Meanwhile, the option to play your podcast via Chromecast is tucked away in a menu. Otherwise, you’ll find the same controls for jumping forward/back a

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Android Apps

The best ways to run Android apps on a Windows PC

Though Microsoft removed Android app support from Windows 11, there are still ways to run Android apps on your PC if you want. Here are the best ways to do so, whether you’re using Windows 10 or Windows 11.

What happened to the Windows Subsystem for Android?

When Microsoft unveiled Windows 11, one of its big features was support for running Android apps with the “Windows Subsystem for Android.”

That feature was delayed, and Microsoft ended up launching it quietly. You could install the Amazon Appstore from the Microsoft Store on Windows, and then you could install Android apps from the Amazon Appstore on your Windows PC.

But most Android apps aren’t available on the Amazon Appstore — instead, they’re on Google Play. Neither Microsoft nor Amazon really spent much time pushing or advertising these Android apps.

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Hobbyists filled the void with tools that let you install (or “sideload”) Android apps from elsewhere in APK form and ways to install Google Play Services in the Windows Subsystem for Android so it could run more applications. (Many Android applications expect Google’s software and won’t work properly without it.)

These third-party developers essentially did the work Microsoft and Google refused to do to make the software more usable.

This month, Microsoft quietly announced it was removing the Windows Subsystem for Android from Windows 11. It wasn’t a huge loss because few people used it. And, while the software worked well, Microsoft never worked with Google to enable the kind of full Google Play Store support on Windows that Chromebooks offer. Android apps may have been a boon on Windows tablets, but Windows seems to

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