Some Android manufacturers kill background processes too aggressively, Google is investigating

Some Android OEM manufacturers' phones frequently kill background apps, which may even violate Google's policies. Google now wants to know who these OEMs are.

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Most Android apps may not need to run in the background all the time, but there is a category of apps that do. For example, some health-centric apps may need to run all the time, but the system may not always let these apps run.

Of course, having apps running in the background all the time doesn’t come without a cost, which generally affects battery life. That’s why platforms, including Android, set rules and restrictions on which apps can run in the background all the time.

Google has also set rules for OEMs to be transparent about apps they kill in the background. However, some OEMs implement their own background-killing policies on top of Android, but usually don't let developers, let alone users, know about them. Simply put, some apps, such as sleep monitoring and exercise tracking apps, work fine on one brand of phone, but may not work properly on another brand, which frequently kills apps running in the background.

Some OEMs also set up a whitelist that allows apps like Facebook and WhatsApp to run unrestricted, putting smaller app developers at a disadvantage. Google is well aware of these shady practices, and while it hasn’t taken decisive action, it is now inviting developer feedback for possible solutions.

Back in 2018, an issue was created on the AOSP bug tracker detailing how a subset of Chinese OEMs were abusing Android’s core functionality to prohibit third-party apps from running in the background. The issue was filled with responses from hundreds of app developers, echoing similar experiences and urging Google to stop OEMs from violating Android’s compliance and implementing such an aggressive background-killing policy.

On June 8, a user commented that OEMs such as Xiaomi and OnePlus even killed AccessibilityService. In response, a Google employee recently commented that they will study the issue and invite app developers to submit their feedback.

Google requires developers to provide the following details:

• Name of the affected application
• The name of the OEM and device model where they observed the issue
• Android OS version
• Steps to reproduce the problem, along with expected and observed results
• Affected APIs
• Are they able to reproduce the same issue on a Pixel device (or other device running the same Android version).

Considering that this situation has been going on for years, this investigation is really long overdue. Better late than never, as they say.