Apps in Android keep running in the background even if you don’t use them. Consuming resources like battery and internet data. Now, this might not be a huge problem, but if you want the battery to last longer throughout the day then you should disable the apps you don’t use.
Or sometimes you might just need to stay away from an app. For some reason, you might not want to use a particular app. For example, suppose you just don’t want to use Whatsapp for some time. And you don’t even what anyone to know that the messages have been delivered to you. In such cases, you need to disable these Android apps.
How to disable Apps on Android
To disable apps you need to go to Settings > Then tap on Apps > now tap on All apps.
Now you should see a list of all the apps present on your phone. Just tap on any app that you don’t use frequently. Now you should see the option to Disable and Force Stop. Tap on Disable, then a prompt will appear tap on Disable and then Tap on OK.
You should note that Android by default only supports disabling the system apps. All apps that you have downloaded will only have the option to Uninstall. So for now disable the system apps that you don’t want to use. And for downloaded apps, we will see another method below.
How to Disable Downloaded Apps
For the apps that you have downloaded Android has only options of Uninstall and Force Stop. And Uninstall is not suitable for every app. As there are some apps that we might use once in a month. But if we uninstalled the app, then the next time when we need to use that app we will have to download it again and also again login into that app.
Now we all know logging into an app is hard, as most of us just don’t remember the passwords. So to just avoid all this trouble we just keep them installed. Right?
Here is a thing that you can do to stop an app from eating resources. OR you can also use this method when you just want to stay away from an app without uninstalling it.
Install Greenify to disable Apps
Greenify is an app that puts apps in sleep mode. And even prevents them from waking back up. Let’s first install the Greenify app from Playstore. Once the app is installed, open it and configure it through the below steps.
- On Welcome to Greenify screen, tap on Next.
- Tap on suitable option, if your device is not rooted, tap on My device is not rooted and then tap on Next.
- Then on next screen gran permissions. In Usage Data Access tap on Greenify and allow it.
- Tap on Finish.
Now when this initial setup finishes, tap on the three-dot(vertical ellipsis) menu in the upper right corner. Then tap on Settings > now tap on Automatic hibernation > a new screen will app tap on Next.
Next, tap on Settings for Accessibility service, in that menu tap on Greenify – Automated Hibernation. Turn the toggle to ON and tap back to go back to Greenify.
Now tap on Settings for Screen overlay permission. Then toggle the switch on for Allow permissions. Tap back to return and then tap on Next and Finish.
Now this completes the setup the process. Just add the apps that you want to disable.
For that tap on + sign in the upper right corner. If the list doesn’t show the app that you want to disable, just tap on Show more apps. Now, tap on the app and then on the right-tick symbol at the lower right corner.
This should put the app in sleep. If the app wakes up due to some reason, due to auto-hibernation it will get back into sleep as soon as you lock the screen. Now, I know this is not a perfect method but since Android does not have this functionality by default Greenify should be able to help.
How to Hide the app
There is a problem, the app is just in sleep mode and can wakeup if you accidentally touched it. To prevent this you need to hide the app.
To hide the app follow the steps below:
- Open the app drawer and tap on tap on the three-dot(vertical ellipsis) menu.
- Then tap on Home Screen Settings, in that menu tap on Hide Apps.
- Select the app that you want to hide and tap on Apply.
Hiding the app prevents it from accidental opening. Now it should work like you disable the downloaded app. And the app should only open when you manually made the app unhidden and opened it.
This method should disable the downloaded apps on your Android phone. I hope this helps and if you have any other question feel free to ask in comments. Here are 10 must-have Android apps that you might be interested to know.