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DontKillMyApp.com ranks mobile brands that carelessly kill your background apps
One of the most annoying things about today’s smartphones is the tendency for some brands to be overly aggressive when it comes to battery management. This usually takes the form of background apps being killed off, but who are the worst offenders?
The team behind Sleep As Android has published a new website called DontKillMyApp.com (h/t: Android Police), that ranks the biggest culprits. And it’s perhaps a surprise to see HMD Global at the top of the list, being the only OEM to achieve a five out of five score.
According to the website, Nokia phones on Android Oreo or Pie automatically kill background apps 20 minutes after your screen is turned off. And no, whitelisting apps doesn’t seem to help at all. The website notes that an app package called Battery Protection (com.evenwell.powersaving.g3 or com.evenwell.emm) is responsible for killing these apps in the first place. One mooted solution is to force-close this app package, but you’ll need to repeat the step if you restart your phone.
Next up was OnePlus, followed by Xiaomi, Huawei, Meizu, and Sony. Samsung, HTC, and stock Android completed the top nine.
I’m just surprised HUAWEI isn’t in the top spot, as its aggressive battery management made headlines last year. Back then, the team behind VLC for Android announced that they blacklisted HUAWEI phones as the company’s app-killing policy was breaking media playback. But to be fair, the Chinese brand does allow you to whitelist apps and tweak settings accordingly.
Speaking of solutions, DontKillMyApp offers workarounds and solutions for each OEM listed on its website. So you might want to stop here if your device is taking battery management too far.