It’s a problem only power users relying on specific apps will run into
Android 12 marks one of the biggest changes to Google’s operating system in a long time. Its brand-new Material You interface is just the most obvious difference compared to older versions — Google has also tweaked a few things in the background. Not all of these changes are necessarily for the better, though, as Google has introduced some even more drastic (but well-intentioned) battery-saving measures that kill background processes (so-called phantom processes) that take up too much power, all under the name of PhantomProcessKiller. Thankfully, it looks like Android 13 could bring a fix for those who rely on their apps’ background processes.
As XDA Developers reports, Mishaal Rahman discovered a commit in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code that points to changes to the PhantomProcessKiller. It looks like it will be possible to turn off the battery optimization feature altogether in the Developer Options if it interferes with apps you use.
Add settings to toggle the phantom process monitoring in dev options
For power users, the monitoring on phantom processes could be turned off from the Settings->Developer Options->Feature flags.
The PhantomProcessKiller kicks in when applications start child processes that use extensive resources while the main process is also active in the background. Starting with Android 12, apps are only allowed to run a total of 32 child processes, which can still be killed if they use too many resources.
All that said, the PhantomProcessKiller is likely an advantage and an actual tool helping you save precious battery life for most people. Many apps are already created in a way that prevents them from hogging up resources on Android due to changes in older versions, and the PhantomProcessKiller is mostly meant to catch rogue apps that drain your battery more than they should. There are only a few power user apps like the Linux terminal emulator Termux that actively need more resources in the background.
Since the toggle has only recently been introduced to the code, it’s likely that it will go live in Android 13 the earliest.
Read Next
About The Author
