RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
March 9, 2022
If you are constantly closing apps on your iPhone while attempting to speed things up or save battery life, you are doing the opposite and making your iPhone perform worse. Let’s explore why.
This is for the iPhone
iPhone and Resources
If you are like us, you might be familiar with how apps run on a Mac or a Windows PC. On those platforms, if an application is running in the background, it can still be using up CPU cycles or taking up RAM. Conventional wisdom says that closing those programs will make your Mac or PC perform better. Refer to the below image:
On an iPhone, things work differently. When you switch away from an app, the app enters a suspended state, and iOS automatically frees up CPU cycles and RAM that were devoted to running the app. iPhone’s automatic resource management is so good that you never need to worry about an app paused in the background slowing down the app you are using in the foreground. On our iOS 15.2, we have 237 apps running in the background with no problems.
Officially, Apple says “You should close an app only if it’s unresponsive.”
Re-launching Apps Hurts the System
In fact, when you force an app to close on your iPhone, it will not only slow down your app experience but will also use up more battery life. That’s because, once an app is closed completely, it needs to re-launch and reload all of its resources the next time you open the app. That takes extra CPU power, which uses up your battery faster. Re-launching a completely closed app is also slower than switching quickly to a suspended app.
So, instead of increasing performance and saving battery life, regularly closing apps on iPhone will actually do exactly the opposite.
There is one exception. Sometimes a background app can check for new information. If that app is programmed improperly, it might use more battery life than usual. If an app is abusing its resources in the background, you might see evidence of it in the Battery section of the Settings app. In that case, do not force-close. Instead, you can disable Background App Refresh in Settings. Head to:
Settings > General > Background App Refresh
Here, you can turn it off on an app basis.
When to Close Apps
Despite everything we just wrote, there are still a few legitimate reasons you might need to force-close an iPhone app. If an app stops responding or is not working properly, it’s a good idea to bring up the App Switcher and close the app completely. To do so, you will need to perform a different action depending on the type of iPhone you have:
- On iPhone X or later: Swipe upward from the bottom of the screen toward the middle of the screen, then lift your finger.
- On iPhones with Home buttons: Double-press the Home button located below the screen.
When the App Switcher opens, you will see thumbnails of apps that are suspended in the background. To force-close an app, swipe its thumbnail upward, off the screen. See the below image:
When the app disappears, the app has been completely closed. The next time you tap its icon, it will re-launch itself.
Even though Apple allows you to force-close apps in this manner, doing so should be a very rare occurrence. iOS takes care of multitasking in an efficient way.
Quote For the Day
It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.
Warren Buffett
That’s it. Please feel free to share this post! One way to share is via Twitter.
Just click the Tweet icon below. This will launch Twitter where you click its icon to post the Tweet.
Check out TechSavvy.Life for blog posts on smartphones, PCs, and Macs! You may email us at contact@techsavvy.life for comments or questions.
Tweet
I Would Like to Hear From You
Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love to hear from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Just send an email to contact@techsavvy.life. Please mention the device, app, and version you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.
Author’s E-book
You can access the e-book from a Kindle device, the Kindle App for the desktop or smartphone, which is a free app.
Tech Savvy Life 