How to kill all running applications in android?

Question

I want to kill all running applications in android. so for this task, I've implemented the following code. But it is not working. The app still remains running.

ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
    for (RunningAppProcessInfo service : manager.getRunningAppProcesses()) {
    Log.i("process name " , service.processName);
    
    android.os.Process.killProcess(service.pid);
    }

So where did I make a mistake in the code?

Let me tell you i have tested it in AVD not in device .So is there any way it only runs in real device ? — Nandlal Virani, Sep 13 '11 at 06:29

score 24 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

24

You can use Process.killProcess(int pid) to kill processes that have the same UID with your App.
You can use ActivityManager.killBackgroundProcesses(String packageName),with KILL_BACKGROUND_PROCESSES permission in your manifest(for API >= 8) or ActivityManager.restartPackage (String packageName)(for API < 8) to kill specified process,except of forground process.

So if you would to kill all other processes when your program is foreground process,you would to use ActivityManager.killBackgroundProcesses or ActivityManager.restartPackage:

List<ApplicationInfo> packages;
    PackageManager pm;
    pm = getPackageManager();
    //get a list of installed apps.
    packages = pm.getInstalledApplications(0);

   ActivityManager mActivityManager = (ActivityManager)context.getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
   String myPackage = getApplicationContext().getPackageName();
   for (ApplicationInfo packageInfo : packages) {
        if((packageInfo.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_SYSTEM)==1)continue;
        if(packageInfo.packageName.equals(myPackage)) continue;
        mActivityManager.killBackgroundProcesses(packageInfo.packageName);
   }

In above snippet code,each process will be killed unless it be process of your App or system process.
References:
How to close all active applications from my Android app?
How do task killers work?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

Community

1
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answered Jul 26 '12 at 10:09

hasanghaforian

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I dont understand what the line -------- if((packageInfo.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_SYSTEM)==1)continue; does..!! could you please explain – Lalith B Nov 29 '12 at 12:23
1

@lalith If ((packageInfo.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_SYSTEM)==1) be true,it means that this App is a system App (and we have not stop a system App),so we continue. – hasanghaforian Nov 29 '12 at 12:40
3

will it remove apps from recent apps list (displayed by long pressing the home button)? – Umer Farooq Jan 26 '14 at 18:37
@UmerFarooq I mentioned it before in the answer: `In above snippet code,each process will be killed unless it be process of your App or system process.` – hasanghaforian Jan 27 '14 at 02:32
1

recent apps are not being removed – Kaushal28 Nov 21 '17 at 17:33
How to kill foreground apps if we are running this from a background service? – zeitgeist Jun 08 '22 at 06:29

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 13 '11 at 07:47

You have another possibility if the device is rooted (has superuser rights).

You can invoke an external process that would use the su rights. But note that it's probably a bad design as Android OS should be the only one to kill processes.

try {
   Process rootProcess = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] { "su" });

   String command = "kill - 9 <pid>";

   BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(rootProcess.getOutputStream()), 2048);
   try {
      bw.write(command);
      bw.newLine();
      bw.flush();
   } catch (IOException e) {
    // Handle error
   }
} catch (Exception e) {
   e.printStackTrace();
   // Device not rooted!            
}

I tested it and still app running but killed – Nandlal Virani Sep 13 '11 at 09:05 — Nandlal Virani, Sep 13 '11 at 09:05
Your phone has to be rooted – Overblade Dec 09 '16 at 16:22 — Overblade, Dec 09 '16 at 16:22

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 13 '11 at 07:08

2

According to doc enter link description here

Note that, though this API allows us to request to kill any process based on its PID, the kernel will still impose standard restrictions on which PIDs you are actually able to kill. Typically this means only the process running the caller's packages/application and any additional processes created by that app

I test it, and it only kill process hosted my App.

answered Sep 13 '11 at 07:08

Bandzio

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Then is it impossible to kill others running applications ? – Nandlal Virani Sep 13 '11 at 07:17
2

I do little search about killing external app. But, nothing usefull find. In the other hand, we have many Task Managers app who can kill any external process. So, this is possible - but unfortunatelly i don't know how yet. – Bandzio Sep 13 '11 at 08:01

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 06 '17 at 07:29

1

Reflect to force stop

ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE); Method method = Class.forName("android.app.ActivityManager").getMethod("forceStopPackage", String.class); method.invoke(am, pkgName);

You should add this system permission:

android.permission.FORCE_STOP_PACKAGES

answered Feb 06 '17 at 07:29

jp1017

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android studio warning that it will only be granted to system apps. – sajad abbasi Jan 12 '18 at 01:30

How to kill all running applications in android?

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