How to Close Apps on iPhone 12, 11, XS, XR and X

[fairuz]

Here's proof right from Craig Federighi:

https://www.macrumors.com/2016/03/10/force-quitting-apps-doesnt-help-battery/

Edit: More documentation from Apple.

https://developer.apple.com/library...e.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007072-CH2-SW1

Federighi just says you don't have to kill apps, not that they don't use battery. Yes, suspended apps don't consume resources, but they can wake themselves and go into background state then do it. Remote notifications, both visible and silent, can wake up an app: https://developer.apple.com/documen...n_server/pushing_updates_to_your_app_silently

And so can location events: https://developer.apple.com/documen...on/handling_location_events_in_the_background

Disabling the Background App Refresh setting for the current app, or for all apps, does not prevent the delivery of location events in the background.

I remember there being a third thing that doesn't even require permission, but I can't find it. Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly. There were also tricks like playing silent audio; not sure if those are still there, but I wouldn't count those cause that's considered malware at that point and would get the app pulled if Apple found out, unless that app is Facebook.

Users are likely not aware of, or not able to prevent (without closing), the ways an app can wake itself and consume resources. For example, you've likely enabled push notifications in a messenger app, and that gives it the right to wake itself. But closing the app does prevent self-waking in all cases, and it'll probably always be that way.

Apple of course tries to optimize the user experience. But some apps abuse the system. I personally don't stress over closing apps but do stress over which apps I download in the first place.

 

[lec0rsaire]

I’m glad they took care of this. The original way is just too tedious and probably one of the reasons why I ignored the X in addition to not liking the extremely wide AR. I like to close apps. It’s second nature and what I’ve done on every computing device since the beginning.

 

[NikeSG]

Not sure why it took a year to get rid of the requirement to hold down an app in the app switcher to allow the user to swipe up to close apps. Should have been like this from day 1 on the X.
“We had to wait until we could get it just right”

 

[pubjoe]

Does no one else ever close apps accidentally with the swipe-up method? I did. It seemed very sensitive to a slight upward angle when I was side-swiping the app switcher. I’d close apps far more by accident than by intention (which is rare).

For this reason I prefer the current method on the iPhone X and I always assumed this was the reason for the change.

It currently requires one very intentional long press and then you can ignore the red minus icon and still just swipe-up to close - and in multiples of two or three at a time. Or you can use the minus icon to rapidly tap to close apps if you wish.

Closing apps is quite rare compared to switching. I like the small added step of confirmation before entering a kind of ‘close app mode’ and I also like the extra versatility with the iPhone X iOS11 method.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I always close apps when I get done with them. Mostly out of tidiness.

If I open my weather app in the morning... why do I need to keep it in the multitasking tray for the rest of the day?

Even if it's not using any resources in the background... I just don't want to see it there anymore.

Otherwise... the multitasking tray becomes "every app I've ever opened" tray...

 

[m0sher]

I like this update. It’s a natural movement to swipe up to close it (get rid of it) and tap on it to open.

 

[scrapesleon]

Back to normal in iOS 12

 

[NetMage]

Uhm, that's not all that different than what I do now. It's not necessary in iOS 11, for example, to use the red minus (I don't get a red x ??) but just swipe up on the desired app to close it.

Not on an iPhone X.
[doublepost=1532194244][/doublepost]

I don’t care what anyone says, I usually kill all the apps running each morning,pretty much from the day before and start clean..

Why keep apps running if they don’t need to be.

Because they literally are not running and all you are doing is wasting time and battery life.

 

[iapplelove]

Because they literally are not running and all you are doing is wasting time and battery life.

It takes me literally five seconds in the morning to close to few apps I won’t be needing.

I can spare the time and a half percent of battery life.

 

[Cosmosent]

It doesn't matter if an app is Backgrounded OR Suspended ... apps allocate "objects" in memory (i.e., DRAM) ... those objects are NOT DE-allocated (by the app OR by iOS) when an app transitions into the Background State OR the Suspended State.

As such, such apps are consuming precious memory that an active app could be using for it's purposes.

AAPL Execs we're just plain MIS-leading when they made their statements, a few years ago ... that was mostly Craig F., and many of us believe he was forced to make that MIS-leading statement.

AAPL Upper Mgmt loves a Dumb customer Base !

Otherwise, their House of Cards might come tumbling down !

 

[manu chao]

Apple has been saying that for years, but it doesn't change the fact that some apps (especially Facebook) are notorious for running in the background and draining your battery when (according to Apple press releases) they are supposed to be suspended.

Killing the offending app is the only way to make it stop. And since you have no way of knowing which apps are good and which are bad, it's far easier to just kill them all when you're done with a session.

Except of course that we do have a simple way of knowing which apps are draining your battery in the background. There's a list of what percentage of the power consumption the different apps are responsible for in Settings > Battery.
[doublepost=1532201133][/doublepost]

Uhm, that's not all that different than what I do now. It's not necessary in iOS 11, for example, to use the red minus (I don't get a red x ??) but just swipe up on the desired app to close it.

Yes, the article forgot to mention this method (to be clear, in iOS 11 you do have to hold for a second for the red minus to appear but then you can either tap that or swipe up). And I find swiping up to be easier than hitting the minus exactly.
[doublepost=1532201754][/doublepost]

It doesn't matter if an app is Backgrounded OR Suspended ... apps allocate "objects" in memory (i.e., DRAM) ... those objects are NOT DE-allocated (by the app OR by iOS) when an app transitions into the Background State OR the Suspended State.

As such, such apps are consuming precious memory that an active app could be using for it's purposes.

Except that the OS is re-allocating the memory of apps in the background to the foreground app (or other 'newer' things that might be happening in the background incl. system processes) the moment those need the memory. Why do you think apps have to reload content when they have been in the background for a while? Because the OS kicked them off and they have to reload resources from disk or the network.

There will always be people that don't believe that the light in the fridge is off when the door is closed. They don't believe what they cannot directly see. Same with apps in the background, they see the screenshot of the apps last view in the app switcher and thus think the app must still be running. The screenshot is like the fridge door, when you open either of them you see the app doing something (at least hogging memory) or in case of the fridge the light that is on.
[doublepost=1532201861][/doublepost]

EXACTLY.

You absolutely do and can save battery by closing the apps that use background battery (aka, facebook and instagram among others, but those are the two worst offenders). They are 100% NOT in a frozen state and they 100% use resources.

See what I just wrote above, it is fully transparent how much battery the different apps consume, background or foreground in Settings > Battery.
[doublepost=1532202118][/doublepost]

Not on an iPhone X.

See what I wrote above on this point.
[doublepost=1532202393][/doublepost]

I always close apps when I get done with them. Mostly out of tidiness.

If I open my weather app in the morning... why do I need to keep it in the multitasking tray for the rest of the day?

Even if it's not using any resources in the background... I just don't want to see it there anymore.

Otherwise... the multitasking tray becomes "every app I've ever opened" tray...

Do you also delete the history in your web browser after having visited a website? Do you delete the recently used apps or documents on computers from their respective lists? The multitasking tray is nothing but the history of your app usage (with screenshots of the last view illustrating it).
[doublepost=1532202702][/doublepost]

Does no one else ever close apps accidentally with the swipe-up method? I did. It seemed very sensitive to a slight upward angle when I was side-swiping the app switcher. I’d close apps far more by accident than by intention (which is rare).

For this reason I prefer the current method on the iPhone X and I always assumed this was the reason for the change.

It currently requires one very intentional long press and then you can ignore the red minus icon and still just swipe-up to close - and in multiples of two or three at a time. Or you can use the minus icon to rapidly tap to close apps if you wish.

Closing apps is quite rare compared to switching. I like the small added step of confirmation before entering a kind of ‘close app mode’ and I also like the extra versatility with the iPhone X iOS11 method.

There is one app I close frequently because of a persistent bug: Fitbit, from time to time (sometimes possibly related to switching networks, eg, from cellular to WiFi) claims it has no access to the internet when the phone clearly has said access. Quitting and restarting the app fixes that ... until it happens again half an hour later.

Other times I do something in app I didn't want to and don't know how to get back out. Quitting the app acts as an escape feature.

 

[NinjaHERO]

Thank goodness. Closing apps became so annoying once the home button was removed. I’m happy to hear it went back to a simple swipe up. As it should have stayed. Thank you Apple.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Do you also delete the history in your web browser after having visited a website? Do you delete the recently used apps or documents on computers from their respective lists? The multitasking tray is nothing but the history of your app usage (with screenshots of the last view illustrating it).

I'll admit I don't use web history all that much on the phone either.

My point was... I don't need a "history" of my recently run apps. The iPhone is often described as just a grid of icons... and my most used apps are on the home screen anyway. It's not difficult to find them again.

So I, personally, don't see the need for a scrolling screenshot list of recently used apps. Especially with the weather example I used above. Once I check the weather in the morning... I probably won't need it again until next morning. So why have it sitting there cluttering up the multitasking tray for the rest of the day?

Or any other rarely used app?

Tonight I used my gas station's app to display a barcode to get the discount. And once that was finished... I won't need it again until next week.

So I closed the app.

Same for my banking app. I'll open it every few days to check my balance. But I don't want to scroll past it every time I open the task switcher multiple times a day. So I close it.

McDonalds app. Scan the barcode to get the $1 cheeseburger. Then close the app.

I can go on and on... but I hope you see where I'm coming from.

Yeah it's cool that Apple basically implemented "Cover Flow" for a history of recently used apps. But I typically open other apps instead of the same apps over and over.

What I don't understand is how it would be productive to have 30+ apps in the task switcher. You'd spend more time scrolling trying to find the app.... rather than just clicking its icon on the home screen.

As usual... it's personal preference. I'm glad I can make my phone operate in the manner I want.

NOTE: I do use the task switcher when I'm doing exactly that: switching between apps in a single session.

But I don't need every app I've ever opened to remain in the task switcher for an extended period of time.

 

[manu chao]

I'll admit I don't use web history all that much on the phone either.

My point was... I don't need a "history" of my recently run apps. The iPhone is often described as just a grid of icons... and my most used apps are on the home screen anyway. It's not difficult to find them again.

So I, personally, don't see the need for a scrolling screenshot list of recently used apps. I probably won't need it again until next morning. So why have it sitting there cluttering up the multitasking tray for the rest of the day?

If you never use it, why do you care how it looks like? Or do you think you really save a lot of disk space by deleting those screenshots?

Yeah it's cool that Apple basically implemented "Cover Flow" for a history of recently used apps. But I typically open other apps instead of the same apps over and over.

What I don't understand is how it would be productive to have 30+ apps in the task switcher. You'd spend more time scrolling trying to find the app.... rather than just clicking its icon on the home screen.

Do you have the same issues with the history list in a web browser? My web browser history currently goes back seven weeks (maybe that was when I upgraded to High Sierra). Why do you feel the (pathological) need to delete one kind of history but not the other? Is it just that a visual history seems to be so much more wasteful to you than a text-based list? (Note: Safari on macOS actually does also store screenshots of recently visited websites. Not sure how long they are kept for though.)

But I don't need every app I've ever opened to remain in the task switcher for an extended period of time.

But do you need every website you've ever opened to remain in the web history for an extended period of time? And if not, why don't you obsess about that too?

 

[Michael Scrip]

Do you have the same issues with the history list in a web browser? My web browser history currently goes back seven weeks (maybe that was when I upgraded to High Sierra). Why do you feel the (pathological) need to delete one kind of history but not the other? Is it just that a visual history seems to be so much more wasteful to you than a text-based list? (Note: Safari on macOS actually does also store screenshots of recently visited websites. Not sure how long they are kept for though.)

But do you need every website you've ever opened to remain in the web history for an extended period of time? And if not, why don't you obsess about that too?

I don't know why you keep mentioning web history. I rarely view my web history in Safari on my iPhone.

HOWEVER... I see the task switcher every time I switch apps on my iPhone... a frequent thing.

So THAT'S why I don't want a bunch of old apps cluttering up the task switcher.

Once again... if I open my weather app at 7am in the morning... I don't want to keep swiping past it in the task switcher in the afternoon. Or any other app that I'm not currently using. That's why I close apps when I'm done with them.

I don't know how better to explain it.

But I can tell you one thing... it has nothing to do with my Safari history...

 

[manu chao]

I don't know why you keep mentioning web history. I rarely view my web history in Safari on my iPhone.

HOWEVER... I see the task switcher every time I switch apps on my iPhone... a frequent thing.

Sure, but do you see 30 apps? When I open the app switcher on my iPhone I see, three apps and then when I swipe I see four apps. Is seeing your last three to five apps such a visual clutter? Or is your goal simply to edit your app history into something more like list of bookmarked apps?

So THAT'S why I don't want a bunch of old apps cluttering up the task switcher.

Again, you never see more than four apps at the same time.

But I can tell you one thing... it has nothing to do with my Safari history...

Oh yes, it has, because it simply shows exactly the same thing: a list of your most recently visited sites / used apps. You seem to constantly edit the app switcher history to only contain the apps you most use. It's like using the history view in a web browser and deleting all entries except for the couple of websites you use most, such that you can use it as if it were a list of bookmarks.

And there is nothing wrong in wanting to have a list of bookmarked apps to quickly switch between. Of course the dock in iOS (in particular on the iPad) is the official solution for that (and the first screen of the home screen as well to a lesser degree). And if this works for you, editing your app history into a list of 'bookmarked' apps is perfectly reasonable. You just should be able to see is that this is what you are doing.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Sure, but do you see 30 apps? When I open the app switcher on my iPhone I see, three apps and then when I swipe I see four apps. Is seeing your last three to five apps such a visual clutter? Or is your goal simply to edit your app history into something more like list of bookmarked apps?

Again, you never see more than four apps at the same time.

This is what I'm talking about:

https://imgur.com/KSvKpmH

Those are the last 22 apps I had opened on my phone. But what exactly is the point of keeping them all in the task switcher?

I wouldn't scroll left and right through all of them to find a particular app anyway. It would be much easier to open an app from the homescreen.

So to answer your question... yes... I like to keep the task switcher with only the apps I'm using at the moment.

Then I close them when I'm done.

And there is nothing wrong in wanting to have a list of bookmarked apps to quickly switch between. Of course the dock in iOS (in particular on the iPad) is the official solution for that (and the first screen of the home screen as well to a lesser degree). And if this works for you, editing your app history into a list of 'bookmarked' apps is perfectly reasonable. You just should be able to see is that this is what you are doing.

The entire homescreen is a list of bookmarked apps.

So that's why I don't see the point of keeping an additional (and clumsily scrolling) list of apps in the task switcher.

The task switcher is great to pop between two or three apps at the moment.

But I don't keep an entire day's worth of apps in there.

 

[pubjoe]

The long list of suspended apps is a mess I don’t see. I just flick between the recently used ones which are always ordered to the front. I use it exactly as though there are only a handful of apps on it.

It’s perfectly reasonable to want to close them but I can not be bothered since long ago.

I’m from the early computer generation so this laziness did take some getting used to.

—

I like the long tap to confirm before closing apps on the iPhone X and I’d rather they didn’t change it. But oh well, I guess it’s a very minor thing either way.

 

[zmunkz]

I always close apps when I get done with them. Mostly out of tidiness.

If I open my weather app in the morning... why do I need to keep it in the multitasking tray for the rest of the day?

Even if it's not using any resources in the background... I just don't want to see it there anymore.

Otherwise... the multitasking tray becomes "every app I've ever opened" tray...

Yes!!!! Thank you!

Every time I organize my multitask tray by deleting the crap I don’t want to see (and don’t want to have to sort through when switching between my regular workflow apps), someone watching waggles a finger. “That’s not saving you battery, you know.”

F&$K the battery, I never run out of charge in a day anyway. I just don’t want it to look like garbage and be uselessly disorganized!

 

[marty1980]

I do appreciate how iOS manages suspended apps. However, I have to insist that there are ways to completely kill apps. It has been especially annoying on iPhone X compared to Home Button iPhones. I’d really appreciate a Kill All option as well.

One of many examples is Pokemon Go. I enjoy the game and bugs don’t deter me from playing, but combined with how iOS behaves, it becomes irritating. There are many issues with Pokémon Go that requires the app to be killed. Playing on a daily basis means frequent trips to the app switcher to kill of the app before reloading. Double-click > swipe up was super efficient. Swipe up and hold until switcher appears, hold app until force quit icons appear, then click icon is super inefficient in comparison. It’s time consuming.

Apple wants it to be time consuming because of their internal beliefs that their process management is so good that this should never happen. They don’t want users force quitting apps. Which makes me happy to hear they’ve taken this concern seriously and tried improving it somewhat in iOS12. I hope it makes a difference because I force quit apps more than the average user.

 

[manu chao]

This is what I'm talking about:

https://imgur.com/KSvKpmH

Those are the last 22 apps I had opened on my phone. But what exactly is the point of keeping them all in the task switcher?

You mean it is bad for people with an obsessive behaviour who cannot stop themselves from scrolling to the end of every list?

So to answer your question... yes... I like to keep the task switcher with only the apps I'm using at the moment.
Then I close them when I'm done.
So that's why I don't see the point of keeping an additional (and clumsily scrolling) list of apps in the task switcher.

So you would like it keep only, maybe, the last three or four most recently used apps because having more just tempts you to keep scrolling or it is just seeing a sliver of the fourth or fifth app that distracts you?

The task switcher is great to pop between two or three apps at the moment.

Then never scroll in it horizontally. When you swipe up (on the iPhone X), you'll see exactly three apps, not 22.

But I don't keep an entire day's worth of apps in there.

Why should you being bothered (or whatever) by knowing that there is a complete list (that could be accessed by horizontal scrolling) deprive others from being able to go back five or ten apps when they might need it?

I really think, it's the knowing that there is this long list that bothers you, not the seeing, because without scrolling you don't see it.

And btw, on the iPad, the right side of the dock holds the last three most recently used apps (maybe it's even a bit more refined and it's the last three most heavily used apps). But that doesn't come at the expense of not having the full history via screenshots on top.

I have my obsessions as well. On the Mac, I keep emptying the trash almost immediately after having put something into it. The obsession was born because I frequently enough over the years was running low on disk space and deleting the trash always immediately does help with that, even if almost always only very marginally.

 

[Michael Scrip]

You mean it is bad for people with an obsessive behaviour who cannot stop themselves from scrolling to the end of every list?

So you would like it keep only, maybe, the last three or four most recently used apps because having more just tempts you to keep scrolling or it is just seeing a sliver of the fourth or fifth app that distracts you?

Then never scroll in it horizontally. When you swipe up (on the iPhone X), you'll see exactly three apps, not 22.

Why should you being bothered (or whatever) by knowing that there is a complete list (that could be accessed by horizontal scrolling) deprive others from being able to go back five or ten apps when they might need it?

I really think, it's the knowing that there is this long list that bothers you, not the seeing, because without scrolling you don't see it.

And btw, on the iPad, the right side of the dock holds the last three most recently used apps (maybe it's even a bit more refined and it's the last three most heavily used apps). But that doesn't come at the expense of not having the full history via screenshots on top.

I have my obsessions as well. On the Mac, I keep emptying the trash almost immediately after having put something into it. The obsession was born because I frequently enough over the years was running low on disk space and deleting the trash always immediately does help with that, even if almost always only very marginally.

Like I said in my first comment in this thread... I always close apps when I get done with them. Mostly out of tidiness.

That's just me.

I'm obsessive on my computer too. I'm very organized. Files and folders have to be in the proper place... sorted by date, project, etc. And my Synology NAS is a carefully curated archive of almost 20 years of work.

 

[HiRez]

Good. This is how it always should have worked.

 

[MrX8503]

Apple has been saying that for years, but it doesn't change the fact that some apps (especially Facebook) are notorious for running in the background and draining your battery when (according to Apple press releases) they are supposed to be suspended.

Killing the offending app is the only way to make it stop. And since you have no way of knowing which apps are good and which are bad, it's far easier to just kill them all when you're done with a session.

Facebook bypassed app suspension by playing silent audio. They were caught doing this shady practice and supposedly "fixed" it. Google was doing something similar with YouTube and supposedly "fixed" it too.

Very few apps do this and you can tell which apps are doing it by checking background activity in battery info. I would say force closing Youtube, Facebook, and Google Maps should be enough.

 

[manu chao]

Like I said in my first comment in this thread... I always close apps when I get done with them. Mostly out of tidiness.

That's just me.

I'm obsessive on my computer too. I'm very organized. Files and folders have to be in the proper place... sorted by date, project, etc. And my Synology NAS is a carefully curated archive of almost 20 years of work.

There are also people who keep wiping off fingerprints constantly from their phones. It's one thing to be tidy with the things you have control over, but cleaning up after things constantly showing up automatically seems to be Sisyphus-type of work.