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Stop telling people that they shouldn't close apps

O

orev

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 22, 2015
624
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Yes, we've all read the blog about how closing apps doesn't help with battery life [1][2][3]. This is not the only reason to close apps! so get off your high horse about it.

Reasons to close apps:
  • You want to keep only a few apps readily available for switching
  • You want to keep privacy so the screenshot of an app is not shown in the switcher
  • You have apps that behave badly and don't close out background network connections, etc...
  • You need to refresh data from the network but the app doesn't have "pull down to refresh"
  • You have an app that is badly written and has frozen up
With saving battery life, I have no doubt that technically reloading the data from flash takes more time and energy, but you'd be hard-pressed to demonstrate this in a real-world scenario, and certainly not enough to keep beating the drum about it. Battery life will be affected by many other factors before this one.

If you see people spreading the false information that closing apps saves battery life, go ahead and dispel the notion, but please stop jumping on people at the mere mention of closing apps with no other context.


[1] http://www.speirs.org/blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-multitasking.html
[2] https://daringfireball.net/2012/01/ios_multitasking
[3] https://daringfireball.net/2017/07/you_should_not_force_quit_apps
 
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orev said:
Yes, we've all read the blog about how closing apps doesn't help with battery life [1][2][3]. This is not the only reason to close apps! so get off your high horse about it.

Reasons to close apps:
  • You want to keep only a few apps readily available for switching
  • You want to keep privacy so the screenshot of an app is not shown in the switcher
  • You have apps that behave badly and don't close out background network connections, etc...
  • You need to refresh data from the network but the app doesn't have "pull down to refresh"
  • You have an app that is badly written and has frozen up
With saving battery life, I have no doubt that technically reloading the data from flash takes more time and energy, but you'd be hard-pressed to demonstrate this in a real-world scenario. Battery life will be affected by many other factors before this one.

If you see people spreading the false information that closing apps saves battery life, go ahead and dispel the notion, but please stop jumping on people at the mere mention of closing apps with no other context.


[1] http://www.speirs.org/blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-multitasking.html
[2] https://daringfireball.net/2012/01/ios_multitasking
[3] https://daringfireball.net/2017/07/you_should_not_force_quit_apps
Click to expand...
I agree 100%.

Just to add: some apps do things in the background I don’t want them to (i.e. Uber).
 
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orev said:
Yes, we've all read the blog about how closing apps doesn't help with battery life [1][2][3]. This is not the only reason to close apps! so get off your high horse about it.

Reasons to close apps:
  • You want to keep only a few apps readily available for switching
  • You want to keep privacy so the screenshot of an app is not shown in the switcher
  • You have apps that behave badly and don't close out background network connections, etc...
  • You need to refresh data from the network but the app doesn't have "pull down to refresh"
  • You have an app that is badly written and has frozen up
With saving battery life, I have no doubt that technically reloading the data from flash takes more time and energy, but you'd be hard-pressed to demonstrate this in a real-world scenario. Battery life will be affected by many other factors before this one.

If you see people spreading the false information that closing apps saves battery life, go ahead and dispel the notion, but please stop jumping on people at the mere mention of closing apps with no other context.


[1] http://www.speirs.org/blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-multitasking.html
[2] https://daringfireball.net/2012/01/ios_multitasking
[3] https://daringfireball.net/2017/07/you_should_not_force_quit_apps
Click to expand...

You shouldn’t close apps. There is no positive effect on battery life. You especially shouldn’t close frozen or buggy apps—doesn’t make a lick of sense. Closing for privacy sake? Pffft.
 
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Facebook is a prime example of why you shouldn’t just blindly leave any/all apps in the app switcher.

Besides, leaving an app in the switcher is only beneficial if by the time you get back to that app again it hasn’t been booted from the RAM. If it’s been long enough to have been booted from RAM, then you are having to fully reload the app again anyways. Negating the whole “battery saving benefit”
 
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I’ve done both and can’t really tell any difference in battery life. I usually leave messages and email open. I shut others down when not using them..
 
tromboneaholic said:
I agree, but there is something cult-like about the constant admonition against closing apps.
Click to expand...

It's not a constant admonition. Close 'em if you really want, just understand that in the long run you'll be hurting your battery performance if it's something you do all the time.

Yes, there are times when force-closing an app is beneficial (the app is buggy, etc), but for the most part, the idea that constantly closing all your apps is going to help your battery life is an Android-ism that runs counter to how iOS is designed.
 
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eoblaed said:
It's not a constant admonition. Close 'em if you really want, just understand that in the long run you'll be hurting your battery performance if it's something you do all the time.

Yes, there are times when force-closing an app is beneficial (the app is buggy, etc), but for the most part, the idea that constantly closing all your apps is going to help your battery life is an Android-ism that runs counter to how iOS is designed.
Click to expand...
The point of the thread is there are reasons beside battery usage to close apps. Some of these concerns are more important than battery. Uber was able to record screens when it was in the background. Facebook was capturing audio while in the background. It’s been reported that apps with access to the camera may be able to abuse that from the background.

I’d rather close apps than put tape over my front facing camera like I see some people do.
 
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tromboneaholic said:
The point of the thread is there are reasons beside battery usage to close apps. Some of these concerns are more important than battery. Uber was able to record screens when it was in the background. Facebook was capturing audio while in the background. It’s been reported that apps with access to the camera may be able to abuse that from the background.

I’d rather close apps than put tape over my front facing camera like I see some people do.
Click to expand...

Of course there are. Every time I've seen someone caution against closing of apps, the spirit of the conversation was "don't close apps just for the sake of closing them because you think it'll save battery."

I don't think anyone is saying "never close apps no matter what no matter how bugged the app is".

That said, taping over the camera is a sign of unhealthy paranoia no matter what ;)
 
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mazdamiata210 said:
OKAY lololol
Click to expand...

Good rebuttal. I spend more time on Facebook than I should probably admit, only close it when I go to bed at night (and it’s usually the first app I open in the morning) and I’ve still being getting really good battery life on my 8 Plus.

You can’t see it in the screenshot, but Facebook is my number 1 power drainer, but it’s about the same whether I leave it open or closed.
 

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joeblow7777 said:
Good rebuttal. I spend more time on Facebook than I should probably admit, only close it when I go to bed at night (and it’s usually the first app I open in the morning) and I’ve still being getting really good battery life on my 8 Plus.

You can’t see it in the screenshot, but Facebook is my number 1 power drainer, but it’s about the same whether I leave it open or closed.
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Close them. Don’t close them. Its up to you. Any difference in battery is minimal. A few % here or there at the end of a day.
 
I have to close my Verizon app every time I open it the crazy thing crashes/freezes. Takes two tries every single time. I need to delete and reinstall but haven’t yet.
 
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