Access Recent Applications and Task Manager on Samsung Galaxy S5

2 Methods:

Method 1

Method 2

Hi, you are watching VisiHow, and today we are going to show you how to access the recent applications section of your Android Smartphone, your Samsung Galaxy Smartphone, or your Samsung Galaxy S5.

1. 1
   To start with, press the 'Power' button, on your right-hand side of your Galaxy S5, yours may be elsewhere, depending on your phone model

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2. 2
   Swipe the lock-screen, which will open up the 'Home screen'

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3. 3
   The 'Recent Apps' button is right here; bottom left-side of your phone

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4. 4
   I will show you a couple of things

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   First, let us open a few apps to get started.

   

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5. 5
   Press the 'Phone' icon, then press 'Home Button'; it takes you back to the home screen

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6. 6
   Every time you open an application then press the 'Back' or 'Home' button rather than closing the application, those applications will stay active and open in the recent apps section

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   Let us get the 'Calculator' open. Go back to the 'Home Screen' by pressing the 'Home Button'.

   

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7. 7
   I will show why that could be the issue

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   We press the 'Apps' then 'S Health' and press the 'Back' soft button instead of 'Home' button.

   

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8. 8
   Let us press the 'Voice Recorder' and press the back button instead of 'Home Button'

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9. 9
   If we press the 'Home Button' to get out of here, everything looks normal on the phone

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10. 10
    Now, we can press the 'Recent Apps' button which is the soft left button at the bottom of your S5 phone

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11. 11
    Here are our 4 applications in the recent applications

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12. 12
    Let us open another application, Tap on 'Apps' icon, and we will tap on 'Facebook' to open it

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13. 13
    Press the 'Recent Apps' button, here are our open apps, we scroll up and down to see all of them

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14. 14
    The first thing I can do is to tap on the little button here it will close all the open applications

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15. 15
    Or I can press this little 'Pie Chart'; it is going to show me what is running

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    'Facebook' is using 13 MB RAM, 'Calculator' 8.28 MB and YouTube 10.76 MB. You know, I didn't open 'YouTube'; 'YouTube' should not be doing anything right now.

    

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16. 16
    I can tap on the button 'End all', however ending an application is usually not a good idea

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17. 17
    Let us press 'END' to show you

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    A warning prompt will pop up 'If you force stop an app. it may cause errors'. Let us press on 'Cancel'.

    

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18. 18
    To get back to our 'Recent Apps' menu, we need to press on this button

    

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19. 19
    Pressing on the 'Back' button, or the 'Home' button will not take us back to the 'Recent Apps' menu

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    It will take us to the 'Home Screen' and we have to repeat the process of pressing the 'Recent Apps' button to go there.

    

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20. 20
    Here we have the list, but YouTube in not there in my list

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    Yet if I press the 'Pie Chart' it is showing there, as you saw. That tells me that there is a problem with 'YouTube' it should not be running and yet there it is in my recent apps. It is 10 MB of RAM that does not need to be there.

    

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21. 21
    Let us press on the 'END' button

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    If you force stop an app that might cause an error, that means it is still running right now and it should not be running so I will click OK. Press OK to force that app to end, and it is gone.

    

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22. 22
    Back to the 'Recent Apps' list, to close one, you just need to swipe it OFF to the side and it is closed

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23. 23
    Let us try another one, swipe to close

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24. 24
    To show an example, let us swipe OFF 'Facebook'

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25. 25
    Now, let us click on the 'Pie Chart' again

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    Everything that was an active app is gone.

    

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26. 26
    I do still have few others; let us go back to the 'Recent Apps' menu, by pressing the left soft button

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27. 27
    I do have my 'Voice Recorder' and my 'Contacts' still open

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28. 28
    If I press and hold on one of them, I will have a menu with two options 'Remove from list' and 'App info'

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    I can remove from the list.

    

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29. 29
    Or I can also press and hold on the only one left now, and select 'App info'

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30. 30
    'App info' is going to give me another menu, telling me what is going on with this app

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    It can let me 'Force Stop', 'Stop Showing Notifications', 'Clear Data' and 'Clear cache'. Also, it will tell me what permissions I have got going on, and what kind of security features. Basically, everything to do in this app is listed here.

    

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31. 31
    If you are not an advanced user generally you want to stay way from this

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    The only time you will come here is if someone told you need to go in and physically force stop or turn OFF something. Anyway, we don't need to do that, so I am going to tap back.

    

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32. 32
    In this case, the 'Back' button is going to take us right back to the 'Home Screen'

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33. 33
    To close those, tap on the 'Recent Apps'

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34. 34
    Now that we are back on the 'Recent Apps' menu

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35. 35
    Swipe the open apps of to the side to close them

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36. 36
    All are closed now and it automatically takes me to the 'Home Screen'

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    Ladies and gentlemen, that is how you can access your 'Recent Apps' feature on your Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone or any other smartphone running Android OS

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    Thank you very much for your time and for watching VisiHow. We are looking forward to seeing you in any of our other videos. Have a great day.

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The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a different function for it's lower left soft-key.

What is commonly referred to as the Menu key on other Galaxy devices is the Recent Applications key for the Galaxy S5. The Recent application button allows you to quickly open recently used applications on your phone, and most users view this as a positive development. This is because the recent applications page and task manager are accessed more frequently than the menu button. As a result, less use of the Home button is required.

Note that you can still access the Menu function by long pressing the Recent Apps key on your Samsung Galaxy S5.

To use the Recent Applications page on your Samsung Galaxy S5, follow these steps:

1. 1
   Tap on the Recent Key (left soft-key) to open the Recent Applications page

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   This can be done at any time, from wherever you are in your device.

   

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2. 2
   You will be taken to the Recent Applications page

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   Here, you'll see a list of all the applications that were recently opened on your device. The next steps will discuss what you can do on the Recent Applications page.

   

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3. 3
   You can scroll through the list of recent applications by swiping your finger up or down

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   Depending on the number of recent applications you had open, you may have many apps, or just a few to scroll through.

   

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4. 4
   To launch or use an application, simply tap it

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5. 5
   To view a list of options for an application, touch and hold it

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   • These are the things that you can do:
   • 'Remove from list' will close the application and remove it from the recent applications page.
   • 'App info' will open the application's information page in your Application manager. There, you can clear data, uninstall, or view other important details about the application.

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6. 6
   To remove an application from the list of recently used applications, tap and drag either left or right

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7. 7
   Tap on the 'Task Manager' icon on the lower-left part of the screen to view the Task Manager

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   From here, you can manage memory space, uninstall applications, and view available space on your phone.

   

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8. 8
   To close all clear all applications from the Recent Applications page, tap the 'Close Applications' icon

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   This icon is on the lower-right of your phone's screen, as shown below.

   

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9. 9
   You have learned how to access and use the Recent Applications page on your Samsung Galaxy S5.

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Task Manager allows you to manage applications and tasks on your Galaxy S5.

This feature will help you manage your device's memory, release stale system resources, and view available free space on your phone. To use the Task Manager, follow these procedures:

1. 1
   Tap on the Recent Key (left soft-key) to get to the Recent Applications page

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2. 2
   This will take you to the Recent Applications page

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   Here, you will be able to see all of the applications that were recently opened on your device. You can then perform additional actions.

   

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3. 3
   Tap on the 'Task Manager' icon on the lower-left part of the screen

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   This will open the Task Manager, where you'll be able to manage your memory, uninstall applications, and view available space on your Galaxy S5.

   

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4. 4
   You'll now be taken to the Active Apps Manager page

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   This will allow you to see the RAM status, as well as any active applications on your phone.

   

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5. 5
   Tapping the 'End' button on the right of an application will stop that application's process

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6. 6
   Tapping the 'End all' button on the lower-middle of your screen will close all active applications

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   • Note that you can only end applications that your phone that are not system-related. The Task Manager will not display running applications that are needed by your phone to function properly.

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7. 7
   You have now learned how to access and use the Task Manager on your Samsung Galaxy S5.

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Recent app in long press of home button?

I'm using Samsung Galaxy grand quattro. when I long press the home button it shows all the recently used app. Actually I do not want to store recently app in my phone and display when long press of home button. Could you please help me in this?

This is a standard option on the device meaning that you cannot change this being that this is the main function when you long press on your home button. If you no longer want to see your old apps then simply do not long press on the home button.

Tap on the button fast in order to be taken back to the main menu or home screen on your device. There is no way to take this function off of your device. The only way to no longer allow this to happen will be for you to not long press on the home button being that this is the only option to not be taken to the recently used apps menu.

The generic help message on the recent apps button?

It's not a big deal (but then again I'm asking), the lady at the Sprint store was quick to close the generic explanation of the RECENT APPS button by clicking "Do not show this message again". I want to restore this generic help message until I'm ready to close it. Is there a way to recover this without a complete Factory Reset?

You may need to clear data. Press the home button, tap on "Apps", and tap on "Settings". Scroll down to "Application manager". Tap on "Application manager". Swipe to "ALL" and tap on "Samsung Apps". Tap on "Force stop" and "Clear data". Reboot your device.

If this did not help, you can press the home button, tap on "Apps", and tap on "Settings". Scroll down to "Application manager and tap on it. Swipe to "ALL". Tap the three vertical dots in the upper-right corner and select "Reset app preferences". Now, reboot your device.

How can I open task manager without home key in Galaxy Grand 2 please?

My home key is damaged, so I want to find alternative key instead of home key

Install a task killer from Google Play. This way you can use the touch screen to stop all processes.

Hi Walakobay - I have a problem with recent apps on my Galaxy S5?

Until recently touching the button at the bottom left of the phone has always displayed my recently opened apps - but this has stopped working and it now simply says "no recently used apps" - when I know there are

Reboot your phone. Try again and see if it shows the active applications. If you have ActiveSync enabled in the Exchange Server for Microsoft, there is a conflict that is stopping the process. The fix to this is to disable the Exchange Server and use the stock Outlook app.

In application manager I'm not able to view transfer to SD card, it's not listed nor the app was downloaded?

I want to transfer app to SD card. I have tried: Unable to view SD card selection on app. I think it was caused by: Unknown

Use Apps2SD from Google Play. This makes it a much easier way to manage what is on the SD card. Keep in mind that even though you manually transfer the apps to the SD card, the internal memory option will still take first priority with some apps and they will revert regularly.

Hello my Galaxy screen pops multiple windows?

My Galaxy screen have been showing recent screens multiple times and it makes it difficult for me to do anything with the phone.. how can I solve this problem.

Install MultiWindow Toggle from the Google Play Store. Some Samsung devices allow you to disable MultiWindow from the Display menu but their newer devices do not have it. This app supports even the S7 so you should be able to install the app and disable the multiwindow feature.

In TeamViewer Quick Support for Samsung Android remote click for Recent Apps is not working?

In TeamViewer Quick Support for Samsung Android remote click on Home and Back buttons work but click I have a menu button instead of a Recent Apps (active Apps - Task manager like) button

You recently must have updated the OS on your device. Follow the suggestions in the above answer for how to correct this.

I would like to know why for some reason my recently used apps is not saving were I have going to on my Samsung 5?

What can I do to make this work again. I have tried: Reset the defaults. I think it was caused by: Quite frankly I don't know

Put your phone into Recovery and choose Wipe Cache Partition. If it still does not disable the active applications then consider using a third party app.

I bought this of eBay, started using it and it asked me to enter my Samsung account, and I did, it said wrong account was given and now I've tried everything and to no avail, its locked up, any help would be thankful?

Samsung GS5, I bought this of eBay, started using it and it asked me to enter my Samsung account, and I did, it said wrong account was given and now I've tried everything and to no avail, its locked up, any help would be thankful?

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Galaxy 6 edge is flipping between recent App visited and home screen?

The recent app appears that it is pressed down even when my hand is not on it. it keeps flipping between recent apps visited and home screen. I have trouble using the phone as this situation persists. Any advise to fix it will be helpful.. . T.J.

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I have a S5 neo but the recents screen has stopped working?

S5 Neo but recents screen now does not work.. With apps open I go to the recents screen and it says that there are no open apps. This function worked until 2 weeks ago. Any idea how I get them back? The article assumes that the recents screen is OK but it is not working. I know how to use it. I have tried: Powering off and on. Selecting apps and then trying recents screen but nothing seems to work. I think it was caused by: No idea. I am assuming that it is aandroid or Samsung issue.

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