Reasons why App Stops Running When Minimized and Solution

I received a mail from an android user that if he minimize his Opera mini in the background, it stops downloading or loading a page. In addition to his Opera mini, WhatsApp and Facebook also no longer notify him of new messages when he minimize them. I was able to work him through to solutions to app stops running when minimized.

I was very happy when he replied that my recommendations really solved his problem. You know that feeling you get when you become a source of help to a fella over a lingering issue he/she can’t help out. I actually felt like a boss.

Therefore, it is on that note that I decide that it will be valuable to my readers as well. Who knows, it might save a lot of frustrations. Let’s get to the root of the problem and the working solution.

Likely causes of apps not running when minimized

Note: These listed causes of apps not working when minimized are based on personal research conducted by myself. It is not officially verified by a registered IT professional bodies as the main causes of apps not running when you minimize it. 

Saturated RAM

This is one of the major causes of apps refusing to continue its work when you minimize it to the background. This is practically seen in phones with lower RAM size. As the space in the ram becomes lower, Android system will try to give priority to those apps that are currently active in your screen. It will try to optimize the usage of those in the background. This reduces the performance of such apps by temporally disabling some fixtures of the app.

See reasons why you should uninstall apps you are not using

Power saver, Antivirus limiting Background processes

Where you can hardly have steady power supply, most smart phone users always opt for this power saving mode. Anti-virus apps does this as well especially when your battery level reduces to a certain level. They try to optimize the battery usage of your device by limiting the background processes of some apps.

Solutions to app stops running when Minimized

Firstly, check that your device is not running on power saving mode.

Then check out your Antivirus setting to see if background processes are limited. Also check if power saving mode is activated by the app. If these are not the case, then you have to follow the below steps to solve the problem.

Remove restriction on apps background data

This is applicable if the app makes use of cellular network data.

Go to “Settings”

Click on “Data Usage”

Select the network.

You will see all the apps that are making use of network connection and their percentage of usage.

You can click on any of the apps you want to enable background data for.

Then toggle “Restrict app background data” off

OR

You can also do this through the apps setting of that app.

Just go to “settings”

Click on “Apps”

Select the app you want to remove background data restriction

Click on “Data Usage”

Select the network

Then toggle “Restrict app background data” off

These procedure might be slightly different in different versions of android.

Disable battery optimization for the app.

Go to “Settings”

Click on “Apps”

While all the apps are showing,

Click on the gear icon (settings) at the top of the app list

Select “Battery optimization”

Click on the drop down arrow and select “All apps”

Choose the app that is not running when you minimize it

Then select “Don’t optimize”

That’s all!

Your app will keep working normally, when you minimize it as long as you follow these solutions provided accurately.

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