How to identify rogue apps by monitoring memory drain in Android Marshmallow
Hang around techies long enough, and before long, you'll be listening about this or that Android app being a memory drain. "What's a memory drain ?", you might wonder. Simply put, it typically means that a given app is either poorly coded and inefficient with the amount of RAM it requires to operate, or does stuff when you're least expecting — like when it's supposedly not being used.
On lower memory devices, or ones with overly heavy Android skins, RAM can be a precious resource, even though Google's OS operates best when most of it is filled. In many cases, overflowing RAM will cause Android to take drastic measures, such as killing off apps it deems least likely that you'll use next. As you can imagine, that's not a necessarily desirable outcome.
But what if you have a ton of apps, and you just can't figure why all of a sudden your device is acting out? In those cases, you'll need to investigate, and that's made easier than ever with Android 6.0 Marshmallow's Memory tool. Here's how to make sense of it and use it.
Things that are NOT allowed: