How to Enable or Disable Autostart for Android Apps

Quick Tips

• Autostart lets an app restart itself in the background to complete important tasks after it is closed.
• Tap and hold an app icon, select App Info, and enable/disable autostart or auto-launch.
• If you don’t find the autostart option, you can enable/disable battery optimization for the app.

What is Autostart on Android

Autostart means that apps will start themselves in the background after they are closed. An example can be downloading a large file on Google Chrome. It’s like watching paint dry if you keep the app open until the file is downloaded. Hence when it is manually or automatically killed, it needs to restart to complete the download.

Autostart is also necessary for time-sensitive applications that need to send notifications regularly. Even if you don’t manually close the app, they are automatically shut down if there is a lack of available RAM. Therefore, keeping Autostart enabled is essential.

Why Disable Autostart?

However, some applications needlessly autostart. Their functionality in the background has barely any meaning, and in such cases, you may consider disabling the same. But if you are using an older device, and prioritize performance above everything else, disabling autostart for apps will free up memory. However, you may lose out on a few features of the app.

Note: Throughout the article, we have used a OnePlus device to demonstrate the process. The steps will remain more or less similar on other Android devices.

How to Autostart Applications on Android

Ideally, if an app needs to remain in the background to perform an important task, it will ask you to turn on autostart for it the very first time you use the app.

However, if an app is not performing an activity that is expected to take place in the background when you are not using it, you can manually turn on autostart.

Method 1: Enable Autostart for an Individual app

Step 1: Long-tap on the app icon in the launcher and tap on the app info icon.

Step 2: Tap on Battery usage. Enable the toggle for Allow auto-launch.

Autostart is now enabled for the app, and when necessary, it can launch a few background activities on its own.

Method 2: Enable Autostart in the Settings App

If you want to enable autostart for multiple apps, it is time-consuming to open the settings page for each of them and turn on autostart. Thankfully, you can enable autostart for multiple apps at once using the Settings app. Here’s how.

Step 1: Open the Settings app. Tap on Apps, and select Auto launch.

Step 2: You will now find a list of apps that do not have autostart enabled. Simply turn on the toggle for the apps you want.

If the app still doesn’t run in the background, you can try disabling the battery saver for the same.

Optional: Turn off Battery Optimization for Apps

The battery saver or battery optimization features on your device restrict a few activities of an app to help improve the battery life. However, there is a good chance that this battery saver is also preventing apps from automatically starting a few background services.

Step 1: Open the Settings app. Tap on Battery > More Settings > Optimise battery use.

Step 2: Select the app that you want to turn off battery optimization for. Tap on Don’t Optimize.

How to Disable Autostart for Apps on Android

While all system apps need to run in the background, some installed applications don’t necessarily need to. They don’t perform any important activity that requires them to start themselves again in the background. In that case, you can identify these apps and turn off autostart for the same.

Besides, disabling autostart saves memory on your phone and can help improve performance and even save some battery.

Note: Turning off autostart for a few apps may prevent you from getting notifications from the app. If you consider an application to be important enough not to miss any notification, we recommend against turning it off.

Method 1: Turn off Autostart in Settings

Step 1: Open the Settings app. Tap on Apps, and tap on Auto Launch.

Step 2: You will see a list of apps that have autostart turned on. You can turn off the toggle to disable autostart for the desired apps.

Method 2: Force Stop Apps

When you force-stop an application, it will not launch itself in the background until you open the app again. Doing this for an app can prevent it from automatically starting.

This is especially helpful if you don’t want to disable the autostart for it but just prevent it from autostarting for a specific period.

Long-tap on the app icon. Tap on the app info button, and select Force Stop. This will now close the application, free up the occupied memory, and will not start itself in the background.

Method 3: Use Developer Options to Limit Background Processes

There is an option to automatically shut down apps every time you exit them. For that, we first need to enable developer options.

Note: These are experimental features meant for development. Proceed with caution and at your own risk.

Open Settings > About Device > Version. Tap several times on the Build number until you get a message that says You are now in Developer mode.

Step 1: We now need to open developer options. Open the Additional Settings menu in the settings app.

Step 2: Tap on Developer options.

Step 3: Scroll down to find the Background process limit option. Check the box for No background processes.

This will ensure that no third-party apps run in the background.

Alternatively, you can also turn on the toggle for Don’t keep activities which destroys all background activities of the application as soon as you leave the app.

Wondering if the iPhone has an autostart-like feature? Yes, it is called Background App Refresh.