A method for controlling application, comprising: obtaining (S101, S201) a first central processing unit utilization of a system of a mobile terminal in response to a selection operation for a target application of the mobile terminal, and determining whether the first CPU utilization of the system is higher than or equal to a first preset utilization; obtaining (S102, S202) a launch priority of each of n applications running in the background of the mobile terminal based on a determination that the first CPU utilization of the system is higher than or equal to the first preset utilization, wherein n is a positive integer; determining whether the launch priority of each of the n applications is higher than or equal to that of the target application; obtaining a CPU utilization of each of the n applications based on a determination that the launch priority of each of the n applications is higher than or equal to that of the target application; determining, according to the CPU utilization of each of the n applications, at least one application among the n applications, wherein each of the at least one application has a CPU utilization higher than or equal to a second preset utilization; changing a state of each of the at least one application to a pause state or a stop state to control the CPU utilization of the system of the mobile terminal to be a second CPU utilization which is lower than the first preset utilization; launching the target application via the CPU when the CPU utilization of the system is the second CPU utilization; changing a state of at least one of m applications among the n applications based on a determination that each of the m applications has a lower launch priority than the target application, so as to control the CPU utilization of the system of the mobile terminal to be a third CPU utilization which is lower than the first preset utilization, wherein m is a positive integer less than or equal to n; and launching the target application via the CPU when the CPU utilization of the system is the third CPU utilization. obtaining (S101, S201) a first central processing unit utilization of a system of a mobile terminal in response to a selection operation for a target application of the mobile terminal, and determining whether the first CPU utilization of the system is higher than or equal to a first preset utilization; obtaining (S102, S202) a launch priority of each of n applications running in the background of the mobile terminal based on a determination that the first CPU utilization of the system is higher than or equal to the first preset utilization, wherein n is a positive integer; determining whether the launch priority of each of the n applications is higher than or equal to that of the target application; obtaining a CPU utilization of each of the n applications based on a determination that the launch priority of each of the n applications is higher than or equal to that of the target application; determining, according to the CPU utilization of each of the n applications, at least one application among the n applications, wherein each of the at least one application has a CPU utilization higher than or equal to a second preset utilization; changing a state of each of the at least one application to a pause state or a stop state to control the CPU utilization of the system of the mobile terminal to be a second CPU utilization which is lower than the first preset utilization; launching the target application via the CPU when the CPU utilization of the system is the second CPU utilization; changing a state of at least one of m applications among the n applications based on a determination that each of the m applications has a lower launch priority than the target application, so as to control the CPU utilization of the system of the mobile terminal to be a third CPU utilization which is lower than the first preset utilization, wherein m is a positive integer less than or equal to n; and launching the target application via the CPU when the CPU utilization of the system is the third CPU utilization.