How to tell if apps are running in the background

double tap home button, then a row across the bottom comes up, then do the hold and hit X

 

No apps are 'running' in the background.

The list you are seeing is a 'recently used' list.

There is no need to hold them and tap 'x' unless an app is acting funny.

The apps in this list aren't running and they aren't using up any battery.

I haven't closed any apps for weeks... and my iPhone works just fine.

SOme people will tell you I'm wrong and that you need to manage the open apps and keep closing them, but these people are confused.

Here's some useful articles:

http://speirs.org/blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-multitasking.html

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/01/05/how-ios-multitasking-really-works/

 

While they technically aren't running, then're not closed either. They're in more of a suspended state until opened again or closed.

 

I know.

 

Open Springtomize 2, go to App Switcher, in Inactive Apps Handling, choose Dim Icon. That way, any app that has been killed by the system will appear dimmed in your app switcher and you'll know what isn't being used and what is.

 

It would be nice to have an app that closed everything except what you HAD to have running with a single push of an Icon.

 

Obviously u don't. That list is NOT simply "recently used apps". And not closing those apps can cause issues.

 

don't worry about what is "running" when you double tap. I want to say I read somewhere that the only thing that will have an effect on your battery are things that use location services...e.g maps. If you see the little directional arrow in the top right of your screen, then you may want to close the program associated with that. It is not like a droid though, so you do not need a task killer.

 

While the recent apps tray is exposed, double pressing on the home screen, then press and hold down on one of the apps until it wiggles. You will see a red circle with a "-", not a black circle with an "x". This will remove them from the recent apps tray, but not delete them.

Now, that being said its important to remember that the majority of those apps are not doing anything other than sitting there. But even the ones that are doing something aren't running the entire app, just a specific process. For example, if you have Pandora playing music in the background, the entire application isn't running, only the specific part of pandora that plays themusic and gives you access to its play/pause/next controls.

Now apps that are in there are using a little bit of RAM to keep track of their saved state, so when you return you return back to where you were. If you were on a 3GS you might have a valid reason to want to free that RAM, but on a powerful device like the 5 the impact is negligible unless you have 50 or so in there.

 

Some apps run in the background, some don't.
Example, Spotify(music app) streams music while the app is "closed",
It the pends on if the programmer used the multitasking API.

 

No, apparently you don't. And it's not referred to as the "recently used list", the feature is called Multitasking.

Read up on it, you're obviously confused...http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4211

Oh, really?? Straight from Apple's support website from the link above...

"For additional tips on how to optimize your settings for maximum battery life for your iOS device..."


I'd read up and do some homework before spreading disinformation. That doesn't help anyone and only serves to confuse people.

 

I am fully aware and literate on how the multitasking in iOS works.

Maybe I used the wrong term when describing it as a list of recently used apps, but I was trying to use simple terms because the OP didn't seem to fully understand how iOS handles multitasking.

I was only trying to help, and explain there is no need to 'close' apps in the multitasking tray. Which is true.

http://ryantrotz.com/2012/05/ios-multitasking-stop-force-quitting-applications/

http://helpwithios.com/2012/01/16/ios-5-multi-tasking-explained/

http://speirs.org/blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-multitasking.html

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2012/01/...n-the-ios-multitasking-bar-boosts-performance

 

Agreed. Still can't believe 2 years later people are still worried about 'killing' apps.

Didn't Steve at the time say that if you need a task manager then you did it wrong? I don't think he wanted the recent used apps to be used as a task manager.

 

Steve said a lot of things he later changed his mind on.

Regardless, on a less powerful phone I think its better to kill all the apps to free up memory, but on something as powerful as the 5 I don't think its necessary.

 

Is the worry on a slower phone or with less ram to kill suspended apps?

I would hope iOS being the world's most advanced mobile OS (lol) is advanced enough to know when to drop those suspended apps from memory.

 

Yes. If iOS needs RAM it will "quit" the oldest app(s) in that tray to free up resources so you don't need to worry about it. Especially if you are on a modern, powerful device like the iPhone 5. A slower devcie with limited RAM is still a slower phone with limited RAM regardless of how advanced the OS is. By this I mean, lets say you have a bunch of apps in your tray which have used most of your working RAM. If you launch a heavy app the OS needs to quit one or two apps before loading the new one. Doing this takes some time, but if you had already closed those apps then the new one will launch faster. So while its not necessary on an older iPhone, it can make it feel snappier.

Regardless, iOS is designed to take care of this for you.