A method for silently starting an application in background includes: monitoring running statuses of applications on a terminal and when it is detected that a first application exits running, determining whether the first application is a silently started application; and if yes, intercepting prompt information for the first application, where the first application is any one of the applications on the terminal, and the silently started application is an application recorded in a silent application list. According to this method, the prompt information for the first application of the silently started application is intercepted, so that a problem that it takes an excessively long time to cold start an application and a problem of unnecessary interference caused by the prompt information to a user are resolved, thereby improving user experience.