Smartphones nowadays come with a feature that boosts the battery life on the device by killing or shutting down unnecessary apps and processors in the background. But sometimes, it goes beyond what’s expected and severely affects the performance of apps.
Now, Google has taken notice of this practice and has asked developers to fill in a survey form detailing how phone makers’ app restriction practices are culling their applications.
In the survey form, Google asks: “If your app is restricted due to battery saver, please provide as many details as possible in the form.” Along with other details, the company specifically wants developers to name the OEM responsible.
To address the long-standing issue of background app killing practice, Google outlined a plan before the release of the Android 11 operating system to give more control to the developers. The newer versions of Android come with a better resource management system to ensure that essential apps are not getting killed. But some OEMs have found another way to kill the background apps, disadvantaging some developers.
The list of smartphone makers that are notorious for such practice includes Samsung, Nokia, OnePlus, and Xiaomi. While developers may be at a disadvantage with background app killing by OEMs, users feel that it is necessary for battery management on phones.
With Google asking developers about this issue, it will be interesting to see how the tech giant manages to address this problem while keeping a fine balance among device manufacturers, developers, and users.
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