in IOS9, in settings>general>bckrnd app refresh it states: "Turning off apps may help preserve battery life."
that's from the horse's mouth!!!!
how come soooo many people think they know EVERYTHING????
i'm just going w/the V-ger's (the creator's) instructions.
It's referring to turning off background app refresh. I.e., turning off the switch for apps in the list.
If Apple is really going to suggest force closing apps, they wouldn't hide it in an ambiguous way like that. And wouldn't explicitly state otherwise in unambiguous contexts.
And they'd have a "Close All Apps" button somewhere.
I force close for three reasons. 1. To restart apps that don't work for some reason. 2. To tidy up the log. 3. For privacy reasons. Number 2 alone is enough reason there should be an option to force close all apps.
I don't know how rebooting a phone and seeing the residues apps can be a proof of anything. It'd be great if the writer has compared two phones side by side in actual test with and without the background apps running.
When I have Google Hangout app running in the background, I can get a call which is not forwarded to my actual number to ring on my iPhone. Without killing this app, it's always listening in. As soon as I kill the app, the external number calls will go right into voice mail.
I don't see any advantage in leaving apps open. Once there are too many of them in the app switcher it's faster to relaunch an app from the home screens than to swipe through all the open apps.
I hate having all those apps open - and as they build up over time they aren't saving me any time providing quick access to an app because there are too many to choose from!
For that you can switch off the "Background App Refresh" setting for that app. No need to force quit it. Apple has even made it easier with the Battery section of the settings, telling you which apps are actually running a lot in the background.
I'm typically a lurker on most boards I visit, but I felt obligated to reply since this misconception has been spreading for many years. :P
Also, nobody is saying you never have to force quit an app. Facebook is a prime example of an app that misbehaves. I'm arguing against the need to do it most of the time on a regular basis.
Completely agree! Check the battery setting if you want to know what's using significant energy. Habitually force closing everything is a waste of time.
I don't buy this author's OPINION for one second. I have three apps on my iPhone and iPad right now that OBVIOUSLY drain the battery when they "aren't running": An IP camera app, a photo filter app, and a chat app. Time and time again I've found that "force closing" will stop the battery bleeding. The chat app will even cause the phone and other apps to hang if it is running (not running?) in the background.
The point is, if you removing apps from the Fast App Switch which may or may not be running, because you have one or more apps that aren't closing out properly or using too much of processing power and battery life, you're doing it wrong. Figure out what apps are causing your battery to drain, and alter the settings accordingly or replace those apps with better apps; but first I'd delete those apps and then reinstall them as it may not be an issue with the 3rd-party app itself.
To restate, apps listed in the Fast App Switcher is not a list of apps that are running, but a list of the lasts apps you opened in the order in which you opened them. It's functionally the same as hitting '?' » Recent Items on Mac OS X.
Yes, Apple quality is degrading. The iOS app switcher does not tell which app is running. You go to Settings->Battery->Battery Usage. The info there is not very useful in emergency situation. Because it shows app usage in the last 24 hours. It should show usage in much shorter time. During the day, you notice that the battery is depleting very fast. What you need to know is which app is using a lot of battery AFTER YOU UNPLUGGED THE IPHONE!
Article is completely correct nearly all of the time – the exception being certain specific misbehaving apps. Facebook is currently one of them and needs a fix now that they have been caught cheating.
Please get up to speed on real world apps. Pretty much any app that is MEANT to provide communications will be doing so in the background. ShoreTel Mobility, as mentioned previously is one. Microsoft Lync/Skype, Cisco Jabber, chat apps etc. are others. They all are apps doing actual comm work in the background the entire time they are running. These are not misbehaving apps, these apps were designed to do background comm.
Show me definitive evidence please. I run Facebook. I have no battery drain issues. And unless it is a VOIP app, iOS won't let it run continuously in the background. It would get killed off at the very least when memory runs tight on new apps you are running.
How about every app that lets you chat and pops up messages when not running the foreground? Has nothing to do with VoIP, but everything to do with background comm.
And, are you for real when you say that iOS needs active app management as much as any other operating system? Seriously? Have you even tried Andork or Windoze? And now I'm only comparing mobile operating systems, but you say any OS. Do you have any proof whatsoever that supports that claim – because I know of a gazillion of stats that indicate the opposite? iOS and its app ecosystem are lightyears ahead of all the others when it comes to stability and constant need for rebooting. I'm not saying iOS is perfect, but as much as any other operating system???
Also, your technical brilliance is blinding: more than half a dozen apps leads to sluggishness. Yeah, everybody knows that it's the number of apps that matters – nothing else.
I'm seeing iOS with a higher crash rate than Android, but there aren't "lightyears" distance between any of the stats.
Everyone in this comment thread who disagree with the parent article are wrong.
As a developer, and as other developers here have stated, and as many many tech blogs have proved with detailed testing, I know for a fact the parent article is correct.
Force quitting most apps in iOS does absolutely nothing to help - and can actually hurt your battery life and performance. This is an indisputable fact about how iOS 9 works.
Your personal anecdotal experience doesn't change the facts of how the OS actually works, and no amount of madly typing out comments will change it either.
HOWEVER: certain *pieces* of apps can be allowed to background process in some ways, as others have mentioned, such as GPS or Music or VoIP. These are structurally limited to what they can do - but if something goes wrong, they can spin out of control and kill battery.
This is why Apple exposes the battery consumption information - so you can check and make actual informed decisions. If an app doesn't show up there in the battery consumption list - closing that app will have zero effect.
Facebook was cheating. They got caught and are fixing it. They essentially reported to the OS that they were a VoIP or GPS application so that they could stay alive all the time. This violates Apple app policy and if they don't fix it they'll be removed from the App Store.
So the parent article is 100% factual. Unless you *know* that an app is completely misbehaving - there is zero reason to kill it.
The way you know is by looking at the battery drain statistics.
It's amazing how this is still an issue after all these years despite this setup being quite clear from when Apple first announced their multitasking APIs.
I don't know how rebooting a phone and seeing the residues apps can be a proof of anything. It'd be great if the writer has compared two phones side by side in actual test with and without the background apps running.
Test it. Load apps that have a splash screen. Typically games fit this criteria. Hit the Home Button once to go to some other app like Mail, and then back to that game. Did you see the splash screen again? No, because it's still loaded in RAM.
Now, power cycle your device. After you log in double-tap the Home Button or use 3D Touch to bring up the Fast App Switcher. What you'll see in there are the last apps you ran in the order in which you accessed them before you restart. Now click on the most recent app, which will be the game you loaded right before the restart with the splash screen. You see that splash screen again because it wasn't loaded in RAM.
When I have Google Hangout app running in the background, I can get a call which is not forwarded to my actual number to ring on my iPhone. Without killing this app, it's always listening in. As soon as I kill the app, the external number calls will go right into voice mail.
I don't buy this author's OPINION for one second. I have three apps on my iPhone and iPad right now that OBVIOUSLY drain the battery when they "aren't running": An IP camera app, a photo filter app, and a chat app. Time and time again I've found that "force closing" will stop the battery bleeding. The chat app will even cause the phone and other apps to hang if it is running (not running?) in the background.
Same. This is a strong opinion piece that I disagree with. Who says that swiping up "force" quits the app? Where's the proof of that? I need to quit apps regularly to retain battery and performance on my iPhone 4.
To restate, apps listed in the Fast App Switcher is not a list of apps that are running, but a list of the lasts apps you opened in the order in which you opened them. It's functionally the same as hitting '?' » Recent Items on Mac OS X.
Yes, but it does function as an app switcher since you are not supposed to really "know" that an app is running or not. (There is not an official way for an app to quit, for example -- it is always supposed to be running and if it has to restart due to being force quit by the OS, or a crash, most apps should try and restore their state to where they were at, for example). So the illusion is meant to be maintained that apps are always active and available so in effect it is an app switcher. It just launches an app if it is not already running to maintain the illusion. The user is not supposed to know or care if an app is actually running or not (in terms of UX). (And Mac OS X "Recent Items" will switch to a running app as well and they do behave the same or very similarly, the iOS and Mac OS X versions).
This is true but it is also why this article is complete nonsense. It only takes one badly behaved app to siphon off a lot of battery power.
This largely depends upon the apps involved. However I've not seen many suggest doing this all the time for all apps. Instead the general idea is to avoid running problem apps and then suspending them. The other issue is simply having to many suspended apps in the task bar. I try to keep no more than about a half dozen active in the task bar, too many more just leads to sluggishness.
In the course of two sentences you both agree and disagree with the author. The reality is this the categorical statement made by the author is completely bogus. IOS needs active app management as much as any other operating system. I can easily go for days or even weeks and never have to manage my phone or iPad but eventually you have too much junk active and have to deal with it manually to get performance back to where it should be.
Come on, man! You know damn well it's not a Task Bar. You're also smart enough to know that these apps aren't "suspended" in they are in the Fast App Switcher.
It's amazing how this is still an issue after all these years despite this setup being quite clear from when Apple first announced their multitasking APIs.
Test it. Load apps that have a splash screen. Typically games fit this criteria. Hit the Home Button once to go to some other app like Mail, and then back to that game. Did you see the splash screen again? No, because it's still loaded in RAM.
Now, power cycle your device. After you log in double-tap the Home Button or use 3D Touch to bring up the Fast App Switcher. What you'll see in there are the last apps you ran in the order in which you accessed them before you restart. Now click on the most recent app, which will be the game you loaded right before the restart with the splash screen. You see that splash screen again because it wasn't loaded in RAM.
That's different.
Pretty much any app that has a notification that can occur when the app is not in the foreground is going to be running SOMETHING in the background. Now - go check all the apps that have notification settings and tell us again about apps not needing to be closed.
Every majors news app does this, every major weather app does this, your bank app does this, etc.
How about every app that lets you chat and pops up messages when not running the foreground? Has nothing to do with VoIP, but everything to do with background comm.
You can schedule yourself to be woken up periodically, or they can send a push (silent push) that will cause you to be woken up. They are not in the background polling.
It's amazing how this is still an issue after all these years despite this setup being quite clear from when Apple first announced their multitasking APIs.
Test it. Load apps that have a splash screen. Typically games fit this criteria. Hit the Home Button once to go to some other app like Mail, and then back to that game. Did you see the splash screen again? No, because it's still loaded in RAM.
Now, power cycle your device. After you log in double-tap the Home Button or use 3D Touch to bring up the Fast App Switcher. What you'll see in there are the last apps you ran in the order in which you accessed them before you restart. Now click on the most recent app, which will be the game you loaded right before the restart with the splash screen. You see that splash screen again because it wasn't loaded in RAM.
That's different.
And your point is? LOL. Are you defending the accuracy of this article? I don't see any asterisk on any of the comments the write talks about. Without any solid proof, I'm afraid the actual waste of time is to read this article.
Comments
If Apple is really going to suggest force closing apps, they wouldn't hide it in an ambiguous way like that. And wouldn't explicitly state otherwise in unambiguous contexts.
And they'd have a "Close All Apps" button somewhere.
1. To restart apps that don't work for some reason.
2. To tidy up the log.
3. For privacy reasons.
Number 2 alone is enough reason there should be an option to force close all apps.
When I have Google Hangout app running in the background, I can get a call which is not forwarded to my actual number to ring on my iPhone. Without killing this app, it's always listening in. As soon as I kill the app, the external number calls will go right into voice mail.
It would be great to have an official statement from Apple on the matter.
Completely agree! Check the battery setting if you want to know what's using significant energy. Habitually force closing everything is a waste of time.
The point is, if you removing apps from the Fast App Switch which may or may not be running, because you have one or more apps that aren't closing out properly or using too much of processing power and battery life, you're doing it wrong. Figure out what apps are causing your battery to drain, and alter the settings accordingly or replace those apps with better apps; but first I'd delete those apps and then reinstall them as it may not be an issue with the 3rd-party app itself.
To restate, apps listed in the Fast App Switcher is not a list of apps that are running, but a list of the lasts apps you opened in the order in which you opened them. It's functionally the same as hitting '?' » Recent Items on Mac OS X.
Yes, Apple quality is degrading. The iOS app switcher does not tell which app is running. You go to Settings->Battery->Battery Usage. The info there is not very useful in emergency situation. Because it shows app usage in the last 24 hours. It should show usage in much shorter time. During the day, you notice that the battery is depleting very fast. What you need to know is which app is using a lot of battery AFTER YOU UNPLUGGED THE IPHONE!
Please get up to speed on real world apps. Pretty much any app that is MEANT to provide communications will be doing so in the background. ShoreTel Mobility, as mentioned previously is one. Microsoft Lync/Skype, Cisco Jabber, chat apps etc. are others. They all are apps doing actual comm work in the background the entire time they are running. These are not misbehaving apps, these apps were designed to do background comm.
@wizard69 First, what the h@ll is a task bar???
And, are you for real when you say that iOS needs active app management as much as any other operating system? Seriously? Have you even tried Andork or Windoze? And now I'm only comparing mobile operating systems, but you say any OS. Do you have any proof whatsoever that supports that claim – because I know of a gazillion of stats that indicate the opposite? iOS and its app ecosystem are lightyears ahead of all the others when it comes to stability and constant need for rebooting. I'm not saying iOS is perfect, but as much as any other operating system???
Also, your technical brilliance is blinding: more than half a dozen apps leads to sluggishness. Yeah, everybody knows that it's the number of apps that matters – nothing else.
I'm seeing iOS with a higher crash rate than Android, but there aren't "lightyears" distance between any of the stats.
http://data.crittercism.com/
I'm interested in your gazillion of stats though.
You mean like this one?
"Generally, there's no need to force an app to close unless it's unresponsive."
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201330
Everyone in this comment thread who disagree with the parent article are wrong.
As a developer, and as other developers here have stated, and as many many tech blogs have proved with detailed testing, I know for a fact the parent article is correct.
Force quitting most apps in iOS does absolutely nothing to help - and can actually hurt your battery life and performance. This is an indisputable fact about how iOS 9 works.
Your personal anecdotal experience doesn't change the facts of how the OS actually works, and no amount of madly typing out comments will change it either.
HOWEVER: certain *pieces* of apps can be allowed to background process in some ways, as others have mentioned, such as GPS or Music or VoIP. These are structurally limited to what they can do - but if something goes wrong, they can spin out of control and kill battery.
This is why Apple exposes the battery consumption information - so you can check and make actual informed decisions. If an app doesn't show up there in the battery consumption list - closing that app will have zero effect.
Facebook was cheating. They got caught and are fixing it. They essentially reported to the OS that they were a VoIP or GPS application so that they could stay alive all the time. This violates Apple app policy and if they don't fix it they'll be removed from the App Store.
So the parent article is 100% factual. Unless you *know* that an app is completely misbehaving - there is zero reason to kill it.
The way you know is by looking at the battery drain statistics.
Test it. Load apps that have a splash screen. Typically games fit this criteria. Hit the Home Button once to go to some other app like Mail, and then back to that game. Did you see the splash screen again? No, because it's still loaded in RAM.
Now, power cycle your device. After you log in double-tap the Home Button or use 3D Touch to bring up the Fast App Switcher. What you'll see in there are the last apps you ran in the order in which you accessed them before you restart. Now click on the most recent app, which will be the game you loaded right before the restart with the splash screen. You see that splash screen again because it wasn't loaded in RAM.
That's different.
Same. This is a strong opinion piece that I disagree with. Who says that swiping up "force" quits the app? Where's the proof of that? I need to quit apps regularly to retain battery and performance on my iPhone 4.
To restate, apps listed in the Fast App Switcher is not a list of apps that are running, but a list of the lasts apps you opened in the order in which you opened them. It's functionally the same as hitting '?' » Recent Items on Mac OS X.
Yes, but it does function as an app switcher since you are not supposed to really "know" that an app is running or not. (There is not an official way for an app to quit, for example -- it is always supposed to be running and if it has to restart due to being force quit by the OS, or a crash, most apps should try and restore their state to where they were at, for example). So the illusion is meant to be maintained that apps are always active and available so in effect it is an app switcher. It just launches an app if it is not already running to maintain the illusion. The user is not supposed to know or care if an app is actually running or not (in terms of UX). (And Mac OS X "Recent Items" will switch to a running app as well and they do behave the same or very similarly, the iOS and Mac OS X versions).
Come on, man! You know damn well it's not a Task Bar. You're also smart enough to know that these apps aren't "suspended" in they are in the Fast App Switcher.
Every majors news app does this, every major weather app does this, your bank app does this, etc.
The article is inaccurate. Move on.
How about every app that lets you chat and pops up messages when not running the foreground? Has nothing to do with VoIP, but everything to do with background comm.
You can schedule yourself to be woken up periodically, or they can send a push (silent push) that will cause you to be woken up. They are not in the background polling.
It's amazing how this is still an issue after all these years despite this setup being quite clear from when Apple first announced their multitasking APIs.
Test it. Load apps that have a splash screen. Typically games fit this criteria. Hit the Home Button once to go to some other app like Mail, and then back to that game. Did you see the splash screen again? No, because it's still loaded in RAM.
Now, power cycle your device. After you log in double-tap the Home Button or use 3D Touch to bring up the Fast App Switcher. What you'll see in there are the last apps you ran in the order in which you accessed them before you restart. Now click on the most recent app, which will be the game you loaded right before the restart with the splash screen. You see that splash screen again because it wasn't loaded in RAM.
That's different.
And your point is? LOL. Are you defending the accuracy of this article? I don't see any asterisk on any of the comments the write talks about. Without any solid proof, I'm afraid the actual waste of time is to read this article.