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Android FF app seems to run in the background even when paused

  • 2 replies
  • 14 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Digdis

Digdis
Digdis
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I run FF browser app on my LG G3 (Android 5.1.1 - CM 12.1). Problem is that I suspect it keeps running in the background even when paused. Here are the details: Got 3 tabs constantly opened in FF, one of which is of a sport news site that keeps refreshing automatically. When I'm done using FF, I simply hit the home button, presumably pausing the app. However, when I reopen it (let's say after a few hours), I see that the site page is up to date (doesn't seem to take any time to get refreshed). In addition, I started monitoring battery usage, as I was suspecting it got drained by some apps. Doing so, I constantly see that Firefox hogs the battery even when it's supposed to be paused. For instance, two nights ago I left my device fully charged and unplugged before bedtime, just to see in the morning that 40% of the battery was consumed overnight, where the primary consumer was Firefox, when again it was supposed to be paused. Then, the next night, I made sure FF was unloaded from recents, and battery consumption was significantly reduced the morning after.

Now, the way I believe things should work in Android, hitting the home button should PAUSE the app. This means it should stop working and preserve its current state until the next run. If an app is still expected to run in the background after home pressing (apps like phone dialer, music player etc.), it should show an icon in the upper left corner. This FF behavior leaves me totally puzzled. Of course I can totally unload the app by removing it from the recents, but that would be awkward.

So my questions are the following: 1. Does Firefox keep running in background even when paused? 2. If answer to (1) is yes, then is there a way to control this behavior, even in a site/page/tab resolution?

Cheers, D.

I run FF browser app on my LG G3 (Android 5.1.1 - CM 12.1). Problem is that I suspect it keeps running in the background even when paused. Here are the details: Got 3 tabs constantly opened in FF, one of which is of a sport news site that keeps refreshing automatically. When I'm done using FF, I simply hit the home button, presumably pausing the app. However, when I reopen it (let's say after a few hours), I see that the site page is up to date (doesn't seem to take any time to get refreshed). In addition, I started monitoring battery usage, as I was suspecting it got drained by some apps. Doing so, I constantly see that Firefox hogs the battery even when it's supposed to be paused. For instance, two nights ago I left my device fully charged and unplugged before bedtime, just to see in the morning that 40% of the battery was consumed overnight, where the primary consumer was Firefox, when again it was supposed to be paused. Then, the next night, I made sure FF was unloaded from recents, and battery consumption was significantly reduced the morning after. Now, the way I believe things should work in Android, hitting the home button should PAUSE the app. This means it should stop working and preserve its current state until the next run. If an app is still expected to run in the background after home pressing (apps like phone dialer, music player etc.), it should show an icon in the upper left corner. This FF behavior leaves me totally puzzled. Of course I can totally unload the app by removing it from the recents, but that would be awkward. So my questions are the following: 1. Does Firefox keep running in background even when paused? 2. If answer to (1) is yes, then is there a way to control this behavior, even in a site/page/tab resolution? Cheers, D.

All Replies (2)

Paul
Paul
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Hi

Yes, it is true that Firefox for Android will run at start up. I believe that this is partly due to the Android widget that comes with the app and/or where Firefox for Android is stored, either on the device memory or on any installed SD card.

With regards to stopping the app, you can close it from the "open apps" selection or from setting an element of the browsing history to clear on exit. This adds an "exit" item to the Firefox for Android menu.

I hope this helps, but if not, please come back here and we can look into a different solution for you.

Digdis
Digdis Question owner
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Thanks for your reply.

Regarding FF running at startup: This doesn't bother me much as I seldom need to reboot my device. I can kick FF from recents once after reboot to workaround this.

Regarding your other suggestions: This actually doesn't solve my problem. I don't wish to clear history on exit, but only to prevent FF from running in the background when pausing it. Closing it from open apps as you suggested was basically the same action I had described in order to workaround this problem. However, this is pretty awkward - adding such extra actions each time I stop using FF is surely very inconvenient. Again, I believe FF needs to pause its background work once the home button is hit, without any further actions. It's how most Android apps work (except the ones natively working in the background, showing it explicitly).

Cheers, D.

Modified by Digdis