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

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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.

Samsung has done a phenomenal job with its Android 11-based One UI 3.0 rollout so far. Nearly all of its 2019 flagships have already been updated to Android 11, and the update is now heading to the company's budget and mid-range devices. While the latest iteration of Samsung's One UI brings several new features and improvements, it appears the company has started killing background apps even more aggressively with Android 11.

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
Babu Mohan
5 Comments
  • It is six of one and half a dozen of the other though. A lot of apps can't really be trusted with background or wake lock privileges. Every developer thinks that THEIR app is the most important one on your phone.
  • Not really. Some OEMs and Pixels are not aggressive in this manner. This is an issue that Google needs to address with Android 12. What's the point of having 8GB or more RAM if the OS is only allowing 3 apps to be active for "performance reasons."
  • How about rather all the stuttering caused by UI3.0?...or the battery drainage despite all optimization, overheating, lag, all suddenly appearing after the UI3.0 upgrade?
  • Did you factory reset after updating? If not, do that and then complain if it's still happening... If you haven't done a factory reset, your complaints are meaningless...
  • You have to do a factory reset after updating? Let him complain!