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Increase available memory on iPad!

DougY said:
Im a very simple guy, just had my iPad for a few days.
Went to the Genius Bar for an unrelated question I had about the new device, and noticed that he did this on my iPad to free up memory.
Do any of you know where I can find more "tips" on getting the most out of the new iPad? Thanks. :cool:
Click to expand...

You're not simple dude. You just didn't know and you were trying to be helpful.
 
Run an app like System Activity Monitor that will free up memory every now and then. I get close to 700 mb free on the new iPad.
 
mofunk said:
e tu? :confused:

http://bit.ly/GODinV
Click to expand...

"Memory" in the context of this thread refers to RAM. The iPad 3 for example has 1GB total RAM. "Storage" refers to the non-volatile long term flash storage, which comes in 16GB/32GB/64GB options.

The thread is talking about freeing up RAM, you were talking about the amount of storage space apps take up. ;)





Anyways, the only reason to quit an app from the multitasking tray is if it's an app that actually does run in the background (eg Skype or a music playing app) or if an app is crashing or not working correctly.

In other cases, iOS will free up memory as required by removing apps that are 'frozen' from RAM.

Whether or not an app icon appears in the multitasking tray doesn't really have anything to do with whether it is taking up memory. Apps that have long been purged from memory will still appear there.
 
For the most part "quitting" apps this way will actually decrease performance for most people.

The reason is when you leave an app "open" the OS will cache it and when you return to it then it can just resume with its same RAM space. If it is closed, the app has to restart, reload all resources from the disk, then load and restore its saved state. So nearly instantaneous versus waiting a couple of seconds, depending on the app.

You get crashes on old devices is because of when the OS releases memory. If you open a bunch of small apps, then open something like Infinity Blade or Garageband that use a lot of resources, the OS has to go through and free the memory in small chunks while the app is creating large memory chunks during start up. In some cases, the new app is trying to allocate memory too fast (before it is freed) so the app will crash on startup because it can't allocate enough memory. Usually you can just open it again and it will be fine as the system will have finished freeing the resources that it was trying to free.

So if you are on a device with little RAM (iPad 1, 3GS or current iPod Touch) closing the last few "used" apps in the tray may give you a better experience. On newer devices you don't really see this issue.
 
mofunk said:
huh?? Sorry you can't read. Notice I have two separate sentences. Maybe I should have provided more info or started with a topic sentence. The first sentence was directed to the fact that CNET mention that feature of deleting Apps in the multitasking menu. The second was just from my years of knowledge. The OP said "memory" and not "free memory". I assumed that the OP was talking about "memory" which is ... well never mind :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
You should have quit when you were behind.

Now you make even less sense and it can't be blamed on "cnet."

Thanks for the laugh though.




Michael
 
Those apps in the multitasking bar are mainly "frozen" and not running. But some apps (ex: Music app) do run in the background.
 
Thank you!

randymac88 said:
Advanced maneuver (not for amateurs): place your four fingers on the screen, slide them up on the screen, and be amazed.
Click to expand...

Thank you randymac88!
Thats exactly the information I was looking for. Proof that you can lead an old horse like me to water, and I WILL drink! :p
 
yeah said:
Those apps in the multitasking bar are mainly "frozen" and not running. But some apps (ex: Music app) do run in the background.
Click to expand...

If you run a memory manager it clearly shows that apps in the tray are indeed taking up memory.
 
TheWheelMan said:
If you run a memory manager it clearly shows that apps in the tray are indeed taking up memory.
Click to expand...

Yep! And if available memory is below 50mb (give or take) performance is usually in the toilet (and some large apps may not even open, or immediately crash if they do open).

I think iOS does a fairly good job at handling multitasking and memory. But it certainly isn't perfect. So I don't get the "just let it work" mentality when it clearly does not always work.




Michael
 
mofunk said:
Not memory. I'm still waiting for that. :( I have 10 Apps on my iPad and its at 3GB vs 170 Apps on my iPod using 5GB. The math is not adding up.
Click to expand...

Wait, what? :confused: iPad only comes with 1GB of memory. No way you can be using 3GB.


Another Tip for the OP: Double click the home button at the "lock screen" to play music and have the airplay button appear without unlocking the device.
 
DougY said:
Im a very simple guy, just had my iPad for a few days.
Went to the Genius Bar for an unrelated question I had about the new device, and noticed that he did this on my iPad to free up memory.
Do any of you know where I can find more "tips" on getting the most out of the new iPad? Thanks. :cool:
Click to expand...

the best tip I can give you is to use Google.
 
Amazing.. the OP comes here in hopes to be helpful and everyone rags on him and downgrades his post. :rolleyes:

The fact you can swipe left and right between apps without a delay in switching apps is proof that programs are still active in memory, iOS memory management isn't perfect, there have been several times where the device hiccups (starts running slow) after not closing apps for a long period of time, specifically on my iPod Touch with the pathetic 256MB of memory.

Really shows the arrogance and ignorance that exists on this board. You all weren't pros at using an iOS device at one time either.

Some other tips for ya OP:
- Four finger swipe left and right will allow you to swipe between open apps seamlessly.
- you can lock the screen rotation by opening up the app bar, swiping left and clicking the icon on the far left. Even better, you can set the side button to lock rotation through settings - general - use side button to: lock rotation.
- you can split the keyboard by "zooming" with two fingers on the keyboard which allows you to use your thumbs to type easily in landscape mode.
- you can clear history, cookies and data as well as set Safari in private mode (which doesn't store history or any other data from websites) in the settings > touching Safari on the left and all your options will appear on the right.
....

more tips here:
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20115413-285/15-ios-5-tips-and-tricks
http://www.macstories.net/tutorials/ios-5-tips-tricks-hidden-features/
http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/always_current_ios_5_tips_and_tricks_guide
 
iEvolution said:
Amazing.. the OP comes here in hopes to be helpful and everyone rags on him and downgrades his post. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

It's because it's not helpful information, it's wrong information. Closing those apps will actually downgrade performance, as has been noted by other people in here. It's the iOS equivalent of the "RAM clearing" apps in the Mac App Store. Doesn't help at all, and more often than not actually causes problems.
 
bpaluzzi said:
It's because it's not helpful information, it's wrong information. Closing those apps will actually downgrade performance, as has been noted by other people in here. It's the iOS equivalent of the "RAM clearing" apps in the Mac App Store. Doesn't help at all, and more often than not actually causes problems.
Click to expand...

LOL, its not wrong information. Nothing in the original post says that it will improve or decrease performance he simply was telling how to kill programs to free up memory and it is the correct way to end tasks if you want to free up memory.
 
iEvolution said:
Amazing.. the OP comes here in hopes to be helpful and everyone rags on him and downgrades his post. :rolleyes:

The fact you can swipe left and right between apps without a delay in switching apps is proof that programs are still active in memory, iOS memory management isn't perfect, there have been several times where the device hiccups (starts running slow) after not closing apps for a long period of time, specifically on my iPod Touch with the pathetic 256MB of memory.

Really shows the arrogance and ignorance that exists on this board. You all weren't pros at using an iOS device at one time either.

Some other tips for ya OP:
- Four finger swipe left and right will allow you to swipe between open apps seamlessly.
- you can lock the screen rotation by opening up the app bar, swiping left and clicking the icon on the far left. Even better, you can set the side button to lock rotation through settings - general - use side button to: lock rotation.
- you can split the keyboard by "zooming" with two fingers on the keyboard which allows you to use your thumbs to type easily in landscape mode.
- you can clear history, cookies and data as well as set Safari in private mode (which doesn't store history or any other data from websites) in the settings > touching Safari on the left and all your options will appear on the right.
....

more tips here:
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20115413-285/15-ios-5-tips-and-tricks
http://www.macstories.net/tutorials/ios-5-tips-tricks-hidden-features/
http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/always_current_ios_5_tips_and_tricks_guide
Click to expand...

People are being unfair to the OP. However, this is a Mac enthusiasts site and the "tip" he provided was very basic. One would think you might assume that such info was common knowledge amongst the majority of this crowd.
 
iEvolution said:
LOL, its not wrong information. Nothing in the original post says that it will improve or decrease performance he simply was telling how to kill programs to free up memory and it is the correct way to end tasks if you want to free up memory.
Click to expand...

Nope. It doesn't free up memory. That's the point. It's a fallacy. You (and the OP) clearly don't have any idea how iOS handles memory.

Read carefully: What he is suggesting will DECREASE performance, not increase it.
 
Though this is rather widely known information for most Apple Mobile Devices. Thank you for your contribution and thoughtfulness to the community :)
 
likemyorbs said:
This sounds like my dad. His iPhone froze and instead of holding down the power and home buttons, He went to the Apple store and they told him how to restart his phone. I told him he could've just called me.
Click to expand...

LMAO

And the only time I do this is when I want to help save battery life, but I really need to as I almost always have away to charge my phone and really I haven't even noticed any real difference in the battery but it was something I read somewhere.
 
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