iPhone Apps Crashing due to Lack of Memory?

[willy101]

Hey,

So a lot of my applications crash when I run them including Safari (after about 20 mins) and Guitar Rock Tour (memory intensive game).

According SBSettings in terms of HDD space, I have 12 MB on / Free and 1700 on /var free.

My available memory is 8 MB. I installed the Processes toggle for SBSettings and it says that the processes running are Phone, Mail, iPod (no music is playing though). Sometimes my iPhone goes into airplane mode too, presumably due to low available memory.

Can anyone confirm that this is the root of my problem? How can I increase the available memory?

I also have quickgold and sbsettings installed but they don't show up in the processes menu.

[Poseidon79]

SB Settings and Quickgold are not processes.. they are mobilesubstrate plug-ins which take up available memory. If you are running an intense app and have less than 15 MB of available memory you'll have crashing issues. Go to Cydia.. manage tab.. packages... go to Mobile Substrate... go to uninstall (not not hit confirm) and see all the stuff in the list that would be uninstalled. Ignore all the themes but look at the rest. If you can deal without any of them then uninstall those.

[willy101]

Weird, I don't have a Mobile Substrate package installed...

Edit: had to search for it but I found it

Apps associated with mobile substrate I have installed
attachment=for mailto:
backgrounder
chronus
clippy
clockscreen
cylay
evo lockscreen
fallout pip-boy theme
family guy sms bubbles
firefox sms
five icon dock
gradiance v2
guitar notes
halo
igameboy buttons
iglass
iglass sbsettings
ileopard
ipod widget
jagged blue
krystal keyboard - white
leopard aurora
leopard ui
mac battery
mac ui
macbook air keyboard
metal gear codec
portal sounds only
processes
quickgold
rounded apple sliders
sbsettings
sbsettingstoggles
side to side loaders
snowbat
springbridge
stewie loaders
styld
super mario sound pack
time of day
veency
volume slider widget
wbapp
wbhd weather bundle
winterboard
XPmcePerfection

[iTouchedMyTouch]

There is an app you can get which frees up runtime memory called Free Memory in the appstore for $1.19 AUD or $0.99 USD, I use it and it seems to make a difference

[dejawoo]

Also you can use memory status on app store to free up your random memory to 35 mb...

[1hihum]

So how do you find out what is associated with mobile substrate via cydia?

Any body care to take a stab at it? How do I see what I have running in mobile substrate(I think I'm saying that correctly)?

[willy101]

Mobile Substrate isn't listed in the Manage -> Packages section.

You have to search for it in the Search Tab.

[1hihum]

Thanks for the response Willi!
Ok, so I found it in Cydia. I then hit "remove' and it brings up a list of apps. If I understand this correctly, then all of these items are basically running in the "background" so to speak, eating up my RAM? So are these items eating RAM, even if I don't have them selected in Winterboard? For example, I do not have "lightsaber sounds" on in Winterboard, but it is listed. So is SkrewCommon, but I am not running vWallpapere right now.

Thanks again for any help you guys may be able to give me!!

[crashnburn_in]

I am trying to do the same. I'd like to see some step by step guidelines on HOW TO do this and figure out which of the items that SHOW UP in the Memory we choose to keep or remove.

I've got only 15 MB RAM to 20 MB at times.

EDIT: I tried to do the REMOVE and it shows tons of items on the list before CONFIRM. Can I selectively remove some of these apps? How do I assess how much RAM each is eating?

Also you can use memory status on app store to free up your random memory to 35 mb...

SB Settings and Quickgold are not processes.. they are mobilesubstrate plug-ins which take up available memory. If you are running an intense app and have less than 15 MB of available memory you'll have crashing issues. Go to Cydia.. manage tab.. packages... go to Mobile Substrate... go to uninstall (not not hit confirm) and see all the stuff in the list that would be uninstalled. Ignore all the themes but look at the rest. If you can deal without any of them then uninstall those.

So how do you find out what is associated with mobile substrate via cydia?

Any body care to take a stab at it? How do I see what I have running in mobile substrate(I think I'm saying that correctly)?

Thanks for the response Willi!
Ok, so I found it in Cydia. I then hit "remove' and it brings up a list of apps. If I understand this correctly, then all of these items are basically running in the "background" so to speak, eating up my RAM? So are these items eating RAM, even if I don't have them selected in Winterboard? For example, I do not have "lightsaber sounds" on in Winterboard, but it is listed. So is SkrewCommon, but I am not running vWallpapere right now.

Thanks again for any help you guys may be able to give me!!

[bhz1]

I am trying to do the same. I'd like to see some step by step guidelines on HOW TO do this and figure out which of the items that SHOW UP in the Memory we choose to keep or remove.

I've got only 15 MB RAM to 20 MB at times.

EDIT: I tried to do the REMOVE and it shows tons of items on the list before CONFIRM. Can I selectively remove some of these apps? How do I assess how much RAM each is eating?

Instead of removing items from Cydia, What you can do is install SBSettings from Cydia. Then install the Processes for SB Settings (also in Cydia). You will get a toggle for processes running when you open SB Settings. You can selectively shut down running processes. What I have noticed is that Mail, Safari, iPod tend to stay running in the background even after you think youve closed the app. You can shut them off in SBSettings or...

You can close the app by holding down the home buttion for about 10 seconds unti the app closes instead of just clicking out of the app.

or

You can respring your iPhone (eiterh through SB Settings or Respring (available n Cydia)

The other point I'd like to make is that you should do a full power off/power on of your iPhone at least every day or two. It really helps with memory issues and also will greatly improve your battery life.

FWIW, I have had much less problems with memory since upgrading to 2.2.1 with Pwnage. (3G iPhone)

[crashnburn_in]

Thanks for your input. I already have the above items running on SBSettings.

The thing is I almost NEVER have anything running in PROCESSES except for Phone which even after removing runs again as a default process.

Which is why I was not happy and confused as to what was RUNNING in the background that was causing this MEMORY LOSS?

I have a 2G iPhone 2.2 QuickPwn. This LACK of MEMORY did not exist earlier but I am guessing came in to play as I went trigger happy installing a whole bunch of Apps.

I figured I could somehow CHOOSE to enable / disable which apps would ALWAYS RUN.. in MEMORY at Startup. Is there a nicer way to make that choice?

I just did a REBOOT and I show the following in SBSettings:

AVAILABLE MEMORY:
For a couple of moments after startup it showed 51MB and then in a bit it went to 20 MB > 21 MB and the only PROCESS running is Phone.

Instead of removing items from Cydia, What you can do is install SBSettings from Cydia. Then install the Processes for SB Settings (also in Cydia). You will get a toggle for processes running when you open SB Settings. You can selectively shut down running processes. What I have noticed is that Mail, Safari, iPod tend to stay running in the background even after you think youve closed the app. You can shut them off in SBSettings or...

You can close the app by holding down the home buttion for about 10 seconds unti the app closes instead of just clicking out of the app.

or

You can respring your iPhone (eiterh through SB Settings or Respring (available n Cydia)

The other point I'd like to make is that you should do a full power off/power on of your iPhone at least every day or two. It really helps with memory issues and also will greatly improve your battery life.

FWIW, I have had much less problems with memory since upgrading to 2.2.1 with Pwnage. (3G iPhone)

[cricketlang]

you can usually free up about 10mb by uninstalling unused winterbaord themes as well. backgrounder is going to eat about 3-5 mb. same for veency and actually for most other apps. winterboard takes up about 10mb. what kinds of things do you have installed that are using mobile substrate? do the above steps and find out what mobile substrate things you have going. then i can tell you what you dont really need. (kinda)

[Poseidon79]

Your statement about winterboard is incorrect. Installed winterboard themes that are not applied do not affect available memory (RAM)... they just take up hard drive space. And actually even the themes that are applied don't affect available memory unless they are widgets or animated themes. Unfortunately in the end you'll just have to make some sacrifices and delete some Mobilesubstrate plug in APPS. For instance I kept Quick Gold but got rid of categories. What sucks is the iPhone 3G with the same configuration eats up more memory than a first generation iphone so it's even worse. I am constantly using the Free Memory app from the App store.. like every couple hours... it's annoying.

[cricketlang]

^^^actually i uninstalled about 15 winterboard themes and it cleared up about 10 mb of MEMORY for me. ill even reinstall them to prove it with screen shots. for whatever reason...it cleared up memory. no joke.

[crashnburn_in]

Does generally installing a lot of apps slow down the iPhone or only if the apps are active in memory / mobile substrate all the time?

Is there any other way that something can remain in Memory undetected?

Is there any other way to Watch Memory / Processes that is better than the SBSettings "Processes" Viewer & Terminator? Are there things INVISIBLE to the Viewer and how to find out and tweak them?

(MS = Mobile Substrate)
Apps with keyword 'substrate' in Cydia Search:

iKeyEx - MS based keyboard
Mobile Substrate
PreferenceLoader
SBCustomIcon
SkrewCommon
VoIPover3G
20 Second Lock Screen

Currently my Mobile Substrate has the following items listed when attempting to remove: A lot of these were installed assuming that they would not CLOG memory. I havent gotten to evaluate all but I'd rather be LEAN than trigger happy on every new APP to try.

Can you please suggest which ones to keep and which ones to not?

Short keys:

?? - How can this help? Do I really need it? Should I keep it? Whats the benefit v/s one of the other similar apps?
NYU - Not Yet Used - Was installed but doesnt come in use as yet.
Y - Yes. I use it. YY - More. YYY - More More.. etc
S - Sometimes used
AED - Aesthetic Element Disabled - Were installed but now disabled to save memory - Is it worth having? If I like one theme can I / should I keep only one installed at a time? Uninstall all? Or are they never loaded into memory?
ODO - On Demand Only - Might be needed on demand only. Not needed in memory / startup all the time. Your thoughts/ comments?
NTH - Nice to Have.. Not too heavy I hope?

attachment for mailto: - NYU
Backward Compatability - ?? Helps with older apps but not sure if I still need it.
Chronus - ?? - ODO ??
Clippy - YY
Clock Widget - ??
Fast Notes - S
Five Icon Dock - YY
Glass Orb - AED
gPower - ??
Green Matrix Theme - AED
Instinctive Shuffle - ??
iPod Widget - ??
iRealSMS 2.0.6. - YYY
Location Services Toggle - ?? How does this matter?

NTH.....
MCallShow
MCallShow
MCallShow_DB_Australia
MCallShow_DB_England
MCallShow_DB_India
MCallShow_DB_USA_Canada

MCleaner - ??
Mobile Substrate - ?? - Needed I guess
MobileFinder - ?? What is this for
Notifier - ?? - Purpose?
PocketTouch - ??
Processes - Y
PwnPlayer - Can it be used as easily as the original iPod app?
Pysl (2.0b2) - ??
QuickGold - Nice - YY
SBSettings - Nice - YY
sbsettingstoggles - ??
SpringJumps - Not Used
StatusNotifier - ??
The Ultimate Matrix Theme - AED
Transparent Icons - ??
TVOut - NYU - ODO
UserAgent Faker - ??
Veency - NYU - ODO
Vista Maximus Perfection - AED
Volume Slider Widget - NYU
WinterBoard - Would like lean low memory version or not at all
xSellize Wallpaper Pack - Why is this in memory? & How?

[bhz1]

I was fooling around with this the other day and discovered that even if I pulled all of my apps out of Categories folders, and un-applied all my Winterboard stuff, i didnt have much of a change in free memory. I then uninstalled Categoris and had a slight increase in available memory. So Poseidon is right, you need to uninstall some mobile substrate apps.

I tend to run Winterboard, Five icon Dock, Five Row Springboard, Five Column Springboard, Categories (I like having everything on one page), SB Settings . I generally run about 39MB free if the phone is idle. This will drop into the high teens if I use Mail although that never crashes. Safari will also drop available memory too, and if I try to load memoryintensive pages, it will crash to Springboard. Clearing the Safari cache and making suure no other processes are running (with SBSettings) will help Safaril hold out longer.

For me its worth the little hastle to get the look I want.

[crashnburn_in]

I might have to try it your way.

I was fooling around with this the other day and discovered that even if I pulled all of my apps out of Categories folders, and un-applied all my Winterboard stuff, i didnt have much of a change in free memory. I then uninstalled Categoris and had a slight increase in available memory. So Poseidon is right, you need to uninstall some mobile substrate apps.

I tend to run Winterboard, Five icon Dock, Five Row Springboard, Five Column Springboard, Categories (I like having everything on one page), SB Settings . I generally run about 39MB free if the phone is idle. This will drop into the high teens if I use Mail although that never crashes. Safari will also drop available memory too, and if I try to load memoryintensive pages, it will crash to Springboard. Clearing the Safari cache and making suure no other processes are running (with SBSettings) will help Safaril hold out longer.

For me its worth the little hastle to get the look I want.

[bhz1]

In fooling with this memory thing, I took some advice i read and installed "Wigglefree". The freed up a few MB. Then by pure chance I accidentally toggled my 3G off while in SBSettings and noticed my free memory went down. I toggled ity back on and not only did my free memory go back up, it went up ABOVE where it usually sits.

I found that while trying to replicate this, I didnt get as large an increase in free memory. I had an idea to use MemTool to "Clean" memory and gained 10MB free according to that app. However, SBSettings showed o change, that is until I toggled 3G off then on again. It picked up the 10 MB. I also know it has to be "real" memory because everything on the iPhone was significantly snappier and no Safari crashes.

[crashnburn_in]

I've got WiggleFree and I like how MemTool frees 10 MB memory.

I have a 2G iPhone so I wonder if I can still do that 3G thing somehow?

Can someone with a 2G iPhone point out how much memory they have?

[bhz1]

I've got WiggleFree and I like how MemTool frees 10 MB memory.

I have a 2G iPhone so I wonder if I can still do that 3G thing somehow?

Can someone with a 2G iPhone point out how much memory they have?

Try refreshing in SB Settings instead. I dont wonder if that is what was happening when Id toggle 3g. It only seemed to work anyway if fdor whatever reason I did all the other stuff and the free memory number as shown in SB Settings remained unchanged.