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General Do you close your apps on your iDevice?

Do you terminate your apps on your iDevice?

  • Yes, I do it most of the time

    Votes: 84 50.0%

  • No, I usually don't do it

    Votes: 84 50.0%

  • I have no iDevice whatsoever but feel compelled to vote in this poll

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    168
Akarin

Akarin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2011
290
17
Nyon, Switzerland
The question is simple. Do you double tap the home button and systematically terminate your running apps on your iDevice? Why? Why not?

Personally, I do. Because I *think* it saves battery and frees up resources.
 
Unless it's actively using Location Services, there's no need to... and, by forcing it when not needed, you could easily be using MORE battery power.
 
I do for those apps that constantly use location services, if I'm no longing using them. For all the others I sometimes close them, but rather infrequently.
 
I have my main aps that I always keep open safari, mail, talkatone, settings, App Store.all other apps I close them.
 
Generally no. I only force quit location services applications since they constantly are getting my location. With normal apps I don't notice a brain drain at all with leaving them suspended.
 
I do. I use the four finger swipe to move between apps and I want to remove those that get in the way.

I also close them as they serve as history too. I clear my call list, texts, and emails are moved to folders.

All you need to know about me is that I carry a S3 in my pocket and I won't hesitate chucking it at someone snooping my IPad.
 
Akarin said:
Personally, I do. Because I *think* it saves battery and frees up resources.
Click to expand...
Wrong.
It does not save battery. It needlessly frees up resources. Apple shared a saying during WWDC, "free memory is wasted memory".

This a list of recently run apps. It is NOT apps that are currently running. iOS for the most part doesn't allow 3rd party apps to continue running. Apps are suspended but remain in memory to be able to start them quicker until memory is needed for something else.

Clearing the list can consume more battery if you end up relaunching the same app again. And the time spent clearing the list is a waste of time and battery power.
 
Last edited:
I normally close all my apps when I am done with them, with the exception of Tweetbot and Messages, because I am constantly checking those. As for other apps, I only close them so they don't pick up where I left off on them. Some apps don't refresh right when they sit down there. Most of the time they do, but sometimes they don't. So, I close them so they are always opening up new when I open them.

Also, I close an app prior to updating them if there is an update available for them.
 
There are bigger things to worry about in life than your cellphone's RAM and battery usage...
So no. Also, I don't think the background apps really make a difference.
 
Akarin said:
The question is simple. Do you double tap the home button and systematically terminate your running apps on your iDevice? Why? Why not?

Personally, I do. Because I *think* it saves battery and frees up resources.
Click to expand...

No because almost all of those apps aren't running, unless they're one of the few apps that are allowed to run in the background -- like music or navigation apps.
 
shurcooL said:
You should watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmh4gqlEMMo
Click to expand...

Pretty good video. I only saw one comment I didn't agree with. He specifically said Skype continues to run in the background.

That isn't true.

iOS is very strict about apps running in background. Essentially iOS always asks an app to do something. If that app doesn't finish handling the request within a few second timeout, iOS will kill the app because its not behaving.

Even Skype, or VOIP applications that look like they run in the background act this way. iOS may periodically ask a VOIP app to do something while in the background, but that app has to complete its work within a few seconds or else. And iOS tries very hard to ask it to do something only when necessary and as infrequently as possible. As an example in the case of a VOIP app, the app can be configured so that iOS monitors a network connection and wakes up the app periodically. But the app can't rely on being woken up more frequently than every 10 minutes. The app can then run for up to 5 seconds in the background else its killed.

The bottom line is that iOS rules with an iron fist and doesn't allow apps to misbehave.

That said, Apple's own iOS apps don't have to follow these rules and can get out of hand if bugs are present. But thats rare and Apple tries hard to fix those bugs.

BTW, this is a major difference between iOS and Android. Android apps are asked to play nice, but if they don't, Android can't really do anything about them, in fact, Android probably doesn't know they're still running and consuming battery and resources. So on Android, it can be very important to close background apps or previously run apps because apps can and do misbehave.
 
Yes, constantly. And I find my dad and brother complaining about how slow Netflix is running, and so I always have to help them clear out their multitask.

Having 5 apps open in the background is fine, but then when you have 50 apps paused, and they're all games, that becomes an issue.
 
Akarin said:
The question is simple. Do you double tap the home button and systematically terminate your running apps on your iDevice? Why? Why not?

Personally, I do. Because I *think* it saves battery and frees up resources.
Click to expand...

See the 'Misconceptions about iPhone Battery Life' section at the bottom of this article :)

As for me, the only time I close iOS apps is when they screw up and need a manual reboot, or if I want to manually refresh it for whatever reason.
 
I always close apps like Runkeeper.

It uses a lot of battery while in the background, even when you complete your activity. In this case, it would be great for the app to have a close button. If anything, just to save use of double pressing the home button. We all know how fragile the home button is.

.
 
I personally close any apps that I am not using constantly. Something like Settings and Music, or even Safari and mail I don't close, other than that, once I feel I am done with an app I close. I don't have a reason for doing it, I just kept doing it, so it is hard for me to unlearn.
 
Only if an app locks up completely or has some network issue and won't refresh information. Other than that, there's no need.
 
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