HMD turns off ‘app killer’ on Nokia smartphone with Android Pie

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HMD turns off the software it shipped with to “optimize performance and battery life” on all its smartphones when they upgrade to Android Pie. The software that the company used, Evenwell, is no longer necessary because Android 9 has such a function built in.

Many users and developers had complained about Evenwell for aggressively shutting down apps in the background, something HMD has been investigating since early this year. Now HMD has announced on its own forum that Evenwell is off on older phones that have had the upgrade to Android Pie. Instead, HMD just uses Adaptive Battery, Pie’s built-in Android feature for the same purpose.

Nokia now says it is removing the feature from phones starting with Android 9 Pie. Google has put its own battery tool in that version of the operating system called ‘Adaptive Battery’. This should improve the battery life, whereby applications are not unnecessarily closed. “If devices shipped with Android N or Android O are upgraded to Android 9 Pie, we’ll close Evenwell. In the meantime, we’ll continue to monitor user feedback,” a Nokia employee wrote on the forum.

The tool was included in virtually all Nokia phones with operating systems prior to Android 9. However, Nokia was criticized for it, because Evenwell made it much more difficult for applications to run in the background. The website Don’t Kill My App, which keeps track of which smartphone makers carry out that process most aggressively, gave Nokia the lowest score a year ago. Users also complained that on Android phones, the software shuts down apps in the background, such as alarm clocks and location-tracking apps for users.

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