App closing - is this true!?

[skillwill]

Just watched an iPhone X review, where the reviewer said that Apple has made closing apps on the X more complicated (extra steps) because they want to stop people from habitually closing apps.

1) is that true?
2) if so, why?

I close them all the time, thought it made a difference to memory and battery but obv. I must have been wrong!

Thanks!

 

[daflake]

Apple has always said that it does nothing for the system. The apps are just put in a state that allows them to be quickly opened to their last screen. I never close them as it and when I have, I have noticed no difference in the way that the device runs.

 

[Ntombi]

If the app is running appropriately, there’s no benefit to closing it out. It’s actually worse for battery life.

https://daringfireball.net/2017/07/you_should_not_force_quit_apps

 

[chabig]

Just watched an iPhone X review, where the reviewer said that Apple has made closing apps on the X more complicated (extra steps) because they want to stop people from habitually closing apps.

1) is that true?
2) if so, why?

I close them all the time, thought it made a difference to memory and battery but obv. I must have been wrong!

Thanks!

Don’t think of it as a list of running apps. It’s more a list of recently used apps, kind of like the Recents menu in your Mac which you don’t regularly clear.

 

[bransoj]

Only time you need to force close an app is if its crashed or not working correctly in some way. I may occasionally close a mapping\navigation app to make sure its stopped using GPS if i'm wary about the battery for some reason but not very often. In terms of doing it all the time there is no point to doing it as mentioned.

 

[960design]

Just watched an iPhone X review, where the reviewer said that Apple has made closing apps on the X more complicated (extra steps) because they want to stop people from habitually closing apps.

1) is that true?
2) if so, why?

I close them all the time, thought it made a difference to memory and battery but obv. I must have been wrong!

Thanks!

Here's how I do it on the iPhoneX, cannot remember how to do it on the other iPhones.
Is this more complicated ( more steps )? Would you refresh my memory on how to 'close apps' on an iPhone7?

1. Swipe up from the bottom and pause in the center to open the app list
2. Tap and hold to turn on the "remove app from list"
3. Swipe up on each app to remove.

 

[Phil A.]

Here's how I do it on the iPhoneX, cannot remember how to do it on the other iPhones.
Is this more complicated ( more steps )? Would you refresh my memory on how to 'close apps' on an iPhone7?

1. Swipe up from the bottom and pause in the center to open the app list
2. Tap and hold to turn on the "remove app from list"
3. Swipe up on each app to remove.

On a non-X phone you double press home to bring up the app list and then just swipe up on any app to remove it (so no step 2)

 

[960design]

On a non-X phone you double press home to bring up the app list and then just swipe up on any app to remove it (so no step 2)

Thanks! Dang iPhoneX, making me do more work!

 

[Beeplance]

I think here is a good thread where you can learn something from the debate among forumers and deduce for yourself if you should continue closing apps or not.

Stop telling people that they shouldn't close apps

I don't close most apps on my phone, except after the occasional use of the Facebook app because it's crap that is proven to do **** in the background.

 

[az431]

Stop telling people that they shouldn't close apps

I don't close most apps on my phone, except after the occasional use of the Facebook app because it's crap that is proven to do **** in the background.

So you agree that people shouldn't close apps.

 

[eicca]

I’ve been on both sides. I used to close my apps, and then one day decided not to just to see what would happen.

Exactly nothing happened. Battery stayed the same as it always did.

I leave background app refresh off for the large majority of my apps. I find it makes little difference anyway.

 

[Beeplance]

So you agree that people shouldn't close apps.

I agree that people shouldn't close apps, unless 1) an app is infamous for being problematic behind the scenes (e.g. Facebook) or 2) an app randomly behaves and you discover that it is draining battery unnecessarily.

If either of the 2 cases mentioned above happens, force quit the app from the app switcher after using in order to prevent further problems.

 

[Ntombi]

I agree that people shouldn't close apps, unless 1) an app is infamous for being problematic behind the scenes (e.g. Facebook) or 2) an app randomly behaves and you discover that it is draining battery unnecessarily.

If either of the 2 cases mentioned above happens, force quit the app from the app switcher after using in order to prevent further problems.

Which is exactly what the articles (and most of us) say.

No one says you shouldn’t close out problematic apps.

 

[Beeplance]

Which is exactly what the articles (and most of us) say.

No one says you shouldn’t close out problematic apps.

Erm... we seem to be in agreement on the same thing, where's the confusion?

 

[C DM]

Just watched an iPhone X review, where the reviewer said that Apple has made closing apps on the X more complicated (extra steps) because they want to stop people from habitually closing apps.

1) is that true?
2) if so, why?

I close them all the time, thought it made a difference to memory and battery but obv. I must have been wrong!

Thanks!

The most likely reason they did it that way on the X is so that people won't accidentally close an app right as they are entering the app switcher.

That aside, a few existing threads cover it all fairly well already:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...just-swipe-up-to-close-the-open-apps.2087595/

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-up-in-app-switcher-to-close-an-app.2084054/

 

[Ntombi]

Erm... we seem to be in agreement on the same thing, where's the confusion?

My mistake.

It’s probably because you posted the link to that thread, the OP to which I found pretty hostile. I ascribed the tenor of that post to you.

Apologies.

 

[skillwill]

The most likely reason they did it that way on the X is so that people won't accidentally close an app right as they are entering the app switcher.

That aside, a few existing threads cover it all fairly well already:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...just-swipe-up-to-close-the-open-apps.2087595/

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-up-in-app-switcher-to-close-an-app.2084054/

I agree, I was thinking that's probably the reason as well - it was just interesting the way the reviewer made his statement as if it was a reason that Apple had officially confirmed. Had a look at those threads but was more a comment on the reason for the implementation than the fact they've done it.

Anyway thanks for all the replies, some interesting stuff here. I don't know if I'm going to be able to stop closing the apps though out of habit!

 

[daflake]

I think here is a good thread where you can learn something from the debate among forumers and deduce for yourself if you should continue closing apps or not.

Stop telling people that they shouldn't close apps

I don't close most apps on my phone, except after the occasional use of the Facebook app because it's crap that is proven to do **** in the background.

Meh, I saw that thread and it really offers nothing. Most of the points used are basically troubleshooting which is why you would WANT to use it. The privacy thing is just kind of goofy and most apps, like banking info, don't allow a freeze of information on the switcher. If you have nothing to hide, it is pointless.

As for memory and battery, it does nothing.

 

[skillwill]

I leave background app refresh off for the large majority of my apps. I find it makes little difference anyway.

That's an interesting side point, I've always been tempted to do the same thing. I have background app refresh on and still see apps refreshing when I open them so have never quite understood what it does.

 

[bransoj]

That's an interesting side point, I've always been tempted to do the same thing. I have background app refresh on and still see apps refreshing when I open them so have never quite understood what it does.

I always assumed this is down to developers not writing their apps very well to take advantage of whats on offer!!

 

[Helmsley]

Apple has always said that it does nothing for the system. The apps are just put in a state that allows them to be quickly opened to their last screen.

Very true - apart from the Facebook app which still does background stuff and eats battery, even with Background App Refresh disabled.

I wish Facebook would sort it out.

 

[Phil A.]

Very true - apart from the Facebook app which still does background stuff and eats battery, even with Background App Refresh disabled.

I wish Facebook would sort it out.

Unfortunately, the background app refresh setting doesn't really do what a lot of people think it does: Turning it on basically means iOS will wake the app up periodically so it can perform background tasks. The intention is iOS learns your usage patterns and if, for example, you always read the news at around 7:00am it may start waking the news app up a few minutes before so it can refresh the data and it's ready for you at 7:00am

Turning it off will just stop that behaviour and will do nothing to stop apps that want to from actually using data or processor in the background all the time if they use one of the approved methods.

The biggest issue is apps that mis-use APIs such as audio or navigation to allow themselves to keep running in the background and there's not really any technological way to stop this as there are valid uses for them - for example, you wouldn't want spotify being put to sleep while you're listening to music!

It's really down to the app developers to stop trying to game the system (and for Apple to come down on them when they do) and respect users' devices a bit more...