Samsung is aggressively killing background apps on Android 11 — but there's an easy fix

Samsung Galaxy S21 in-hand
Samsung Galaxy S21 in-hand (Image credit: Hayato Huseman / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • Samsung is now the top Android manufacturer on the DontKilllMyApp chart.
  • DontKillMyApp is a website that ranks Android manufacturers based on how aggressively they kill background apps on their phones.
  • Before it released the Android 11-based One UI 3.0 update, Samsung was placed third on the list.

DontKillMyApp, which is a website that ranks Android OEMs based on how aggressively they kill background apps, now ranks Samsung at the top (via Android Authority). The team behind the website says Samsung has "introduced a new severe (default ON) restriction" with Android 11, which makes it impossible for apps to hold wake lock in foreground services. While it may not be a cause of concern for everyone, the website points out that the restriction breaks the ability of health apps from collecting data from different sensors.

Fortunately, you can prevent apps from being aggressively killed in the background by excluding them from battery optimizations. To do this, you'll have to tap Settings > Apps > Your App > Battery > Battery optimization > All apps > Your app > Don't optimize.

While Google did introduce a few changes with Android 11 to prevent manufacturers from killing background apps, it doesn't look like those changes have had any real impact.

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Babu Mohan
News Writer