# Turning smartphone apps off
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turning-smartphone-apps-off/747422
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 28, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turning-smartphone-apps-off/747422 "2016-02-28T19:53:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turning-smartphone-apps-off/747422/21 "2016-02-29T02:55:37Z")
I think it would be beneficial to tell him how to manage notifications, more than “closing” apps, no? I know he wants to save battery life but that’s not gonna happen. But I think he also may be confused about the idea of apps sending notifications and what that means in the phone world.
I’d help but I’m on iOS.
Johnny just plug your phone in every evening like the rest of us. It’s ok, it’s how things work.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turning-smartphone-apps-off/747422/22 "2016-02-29T03:11:55Z")
> [@Scumpup](#):
>
> No. Rooting is neither useless nor complicated in this situation. It does, in fact, give administrator-level control of a device you bought and paid for. It’s worth doing just to be able to uninstall all the crapware that comes pre-installed on phones and tablets.
On recent versions of Android, you don’t need to root the phone to disable pre-installed apps. It can be done through the Application Manager.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turning-smartphone-apps-off/747422/23 "2016-02-29T03:14:24Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> I think it would be beneficial to tell him how to manage notifications, more than “closing” apps, no? I know he wants to save battery life but that’s not gonna happen. But I think he also may be confused about the idea of apps sending notifications and what that means in the phone world.
Fair enough. Go to Settings -\> Applications (under the Device tab) -\> Application manager, and select the app, and uncheck the “Show notifications.”
But if an app is actually active and communicating in the background (as the Waze app apparently is), disabling notifications probably won’t stop the app.
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### Author:  [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turning-smartphone-apps-off/747422/24 "2016-02-29T05:05:46Z")
On my S3, long press on home screen button pulls up running apps; select ones you want to stop. Only running 4.3, but it’s good enough for me.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2016, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turning-smartphone-apps-off/747422/25 "2016-02-29T05:17:05Z")
> [@scr4](#):
>
> Fair enough. Go to Settings -\> Applications (under the Device tab) -\> Application manager, and select the app, and uncheck the “Show notifications.”
>
> But if an app is actually active and communicating in the background (as the Waze app apparently is), disabling notifications probably won’t stop the app.
No it probably won’t stop the apps. But he can live a pretty happy existence forgetting that his apps are running in the background and just charging the phone once a day.
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### Author:  [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2016, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turning-smartphone-apps-off/747422/26 "2016-02-29T05:17:32Z")
[What you should and shouldn’t do to extend your phone’s battery life](http://thewirecutter.com/2016/02/what-you-should-and-shouldnt-do-to-extend-your-phones-battery-life/)
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