So Background App Refresh only works for apps in the multitask view, correct?

[DavidBlack]

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4211




That quote right there is towards the middle/bottom of the page linked.

Is this correct or have you guys seen other activity on your phone? There are tons of different answers when I search the forums for this. So basically you can never force quit an app if you want to use background app refresh, right?

I posted this is a other thread a while ago, so I think this will be relevant:
This is how background refresh works based on the session they had at WWDC you can view it at:https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/videos/ I know this reply is going to be long so here goes.

In iOS 6 only a selected few type of applications can run in the background or program tasks in the background:
Background Audio (Music apps like, Spotify can run in the background)
VoIP (Like Skype)
Newsstand Apps
Location Services which includes: Region Monitoring, Significant Location Changes, and Continuous Location Monitoring. I think Reminders use this when using GeoFencing.

In iOS 7 apps can continue to update there content in the background without sacrificing much battery life. Apps can take advantage of a new API called, 'Background Fetch'. For example let's say you social networking app you may notice that when your app becomes frontmost, you refresh your feed. And the user has to wait for that feed to be updated which is not the best user experience. Now with Background Fetch your social media app can update it's content before the user returns to your app, in this case the feed.

Some key points about Background fetch:
System-scheduled fetch
Coalesced across applications (Saving a lot of battery life)
Adapts to actual usage patterns on device
Sensitive to energy and data usage
Indifferent to actual app running state
Background fetch adapts to how you use your device. So say for instance you check Facebook every morning at 7:00 AM iOS will notice this and will try to give the app an opportunity to fetch content before 7:00 AM. It also coalesces fetches across apps so it doesn't drain to much power it even, avoids frequent fetching during periods of inactivity and when you have a low signal on your phone.

Remote Notifications

You may have noticed in the previous versions of iOS say, you got a message on Facebook and a notification pops up on your lock screen, and you swipe to you it there is a delay before the app downloads the message. Well in iOS 7 in Remote Notifications simply put is downloaded before you even receive the notification.
I have noticed in iMessage on iOS 7 the app is in the background, and I receive a message the app snapshot is updated, this also happens when the user is composing a message. I think that covers most of it, and I hoped I help in some way. Looking forward to your reply.

 

[aphexacid]

Yesterday I was in the car and had Navigon running. Then I got a phone call and Navigon got kicked to the background. It stopped giving me directions. I hung up the call and went back into Navigon and the gps reconnected and it started working normally again.

I have background refresh turned off completely.
Is that why Navigon stopped working when I sent i minimized it?

5S with 7.1

 

[BaldiMac]

My question is, why do these apps not work by adjusting background refresh to off if they are using the old API's and not background refresh? Obviously these apps are affected by the background refresh setting.

According to this article Google Maps uses BAR to update traffic data from Waze.

 

[gaanee]

Turn it off under data use? You can restrict which apps you allow to be used on 3G.
---------

How about on Wifi since most of the time I am on Wifi?

 

[sunking101]

Yesterday I was in the car and had Navigon running. Then I got a phone call and Navigon got kicked to the background. It stopped giving me directions. I hung up the call and went back into Navigon and the gps reconnected and it started working normally again.


I have background refresh turned off completely.
Is that why Navigon stopped working when I sent i minimized it?

5S with 7.1

Yes. Enable Navigon in the background app refresh menu.

 

[BaldiMac]

How about on Wifi since most of the time I am on Wifi?

If you don't want an email app to receive any data, what's the point?

 

[GreyOS]

How about on Wifi since most of the time I am on Wifi?

gaanee I already wrote a lengthy post for you.

1) WhatsApp doesn't run in the background checking for messages. It can be completely suspended and still receive messages, because that is initiated by apple's push servers. The single connection to apple's push server is maintained for all apps, so disabling WhatsApp won't really do much. So if you're only worried about battery: don't be.

2) If you're not worried about battery and you simply want to stop notifications for WhatsApp when it's closed, the simplest thing is probably to turn off the alert settings in the app before you exit, and turn them on again when you open it.

Is there something else you're concerned about?

 

[BaldiMac]

2) If you're not worried about battery and you simply want to stop notifications for WhatsApp when it's closed, the simplest thing is probably to turn off the alert settings in the app before you exit, and turn them on again when you open it.

To clarify this point a bit, you might as well just turn off notifications for WhatsApp. When it's open, you will receive the messages anyway. No notifications should pop up.

 

[GreyOS]

So Background App Refresh only works for apps in the multitask view, correct?

To clarify this point a bit, you might as well just turn off notifications for WhatsApp. When it's open, you will receive the messages anyway. No notifications should pop up.

I think he wanted notifications when it was running in the background, just not when it's completely exited. You won't get notifications when it's in background if you turn off notifications altogether.

edit: original post...
"Its the banner notification.. but why and how does Whatsapp checks for messages when its not open. I always force quit it after reading, so what triggers it. I want it to stop it from constantly checking for new messages all the time, it should display notifications only when its open in multitasking view."

 

[cynics]

Dropbox is another one. If you back up your photos to it and have it's location upload turned off.

You need to have background refresh turned ON and the app in multitasking to have it upload in the background.

Or have the background refresh turned OFF but keep the app in the foreground.

It will not upload anything without the app open and it will time out if it's in the background with background refresh turn OFF.

This has been an extremely convenient feature. I'll normally back up photos to it 100 or so at a time. I used to have to wait for it to do it's thing. Now I can start it and continue using my phone while it does it's thing and not worry about the app going into a suspended state.

 

[BaldiMac]

I think he wanted notifications when it was running in the background, just not when it's completely exited. You won't get notifications when it's in background if you turn off notifications altogether.

edit: original post...
"Its the banner notification.. but why and how does Whatsapp checks for messages when its not open. I always force quit it after reading, so what triggers it. I want it to stop it from constantly checking for new messages all the time, it should display notifications only when its open in multitasking view."

That's the part where I think the confusion lies. I don't think the poster understands that it doesn't keep running in the background when you switch away from it.

 

[GreyOS]

That's the part where I think the confusion lies. I don't think the poster understands that it doesn't keep running in the background when you switch away from it.

Aye, which is why part 1) from above is probably the most relevant. i.e. - don't worry gaanee!

 

[gaanee]

Thanks for clarifying how the Push works. I like to maximize the battery (though its not a major concern), more than that I am interested to understand how this Push works for apps and whether I can tweak settings to optimize the battery and user experience.
Many of the tips for extending the battery life mention turning-off push and fetch for Mail. I prefer to manually refresh the apps for new messages, so found it unnecessary for the apps to check and fetch new data without any user intervention. I guess thats the smartness of the iOS!

gaanee I already wrote a lengthy post for you.

1) WhatsApp doesn't run in the background checking for messages. It can be completely suspended and still receive messages, because that is initiated by apple's push servers. The single connection to apple's push server is maintained for all apps, so disabling WhatsApp won't really do much. So if you're only worried about battery: don't be.

2) If you're not worried about battery and you simply want to stop notifications for WhatsApp when it's closed, the simplest thing is probably to turn off the alert settings in the app before you exit, and turn them on again when you open it.

Is there something else you're concerned about?

 

[C DM]

Thanks for clarifying how the Push works. I like to maximize the battery (though its not a major concern), more than that I am interested to understand how this Push works for apps and whether I can tweak settings to optimize the battery and user experience.
Many of the tips for extending the battery life mention turning-off push and fetch for Mail. I prefer to manually refresh the apps for new messages, so found it unnecessary for the apps to check and fetch new data without any user intervention. I guess thats the smartness of the iOS!

One thing to know is that push for mail and push for app (notifications) are different things really.