Background apps?

[Melie]

Hi all,

Back to the well for more knowledge.
I got my new iPad 10th generation today.
My old iPad (7th generation) with the home button allowed double clicking and swiping up to close apps.
This one, without a home button lets me swipe upwards to dismiss an app.
My question is…..is the app then still running in the background and using processor resources or are they stopped?

Thank you,
Mark

 

[twerppoet]

Mostly they are stopped/frozen. Some background services will continue in the background depending on the app. Things like location/navigation for map apps, audio for music and podcasts, and a few others. What services and background activities are being used are often signaled by small icons at the home screen's top.

The services that are allowed to operate in the background is limited by iOS/iPadOS. Apps are are not allowed to run just anything they like. Some apps, like Weather apps will occasionally bug you to make sure you know and want them to be doing stuff in the background. Other's will have settings to turn on/off background services.

There is no way (that I know of) to know exactly what is active at the time. However, you can see what apps were using background tasks by going to the Battery settings and looking at the list of apps. Tapping on Show Activity at the top right of the lists will show you screen time and background time over the period selected (If it says Show Battery Usage you are already looking at the right data).

Some apps like Mail can show a lot of background use as they check for and download email in the background. Other's like Pages will show no background use.

 

[giradman]

Hi all,
Back to the well for more knowledge.
I got my new iPad 10th generation today.
My old iPad (7th generation) with the home button allowed double clicking and swiping up to close apps.
This one, without a home button lets me swipe upwards to dismiss an app.
My question is…..is the app then still running in the background and using processor resources or are they stopped?

Thank you,
Mark

Hi Mark - just to add to TP's excellent post and for those who are wondering about the need to close apps when done - the simple answer is NO. When I open the 'App Switcher' on my iPad Pro, the screen below appears and dozens of more icons swiping from left to right - these are 'suspended' apps etc. that are not using resources or battery power (except for background processes as mentioned above). But when reopened will return to the state when the app was closed saving the need to re-start the app. I enter the 'App Switcher' sometimes to switch apps but usually to close an app that has frozen or is not working correctly which is Apple's advice, as stated below and more in the link, if interested. Dave

According to Apple, force quitting a working app will not improve your battery life, and it's possible that doing so can actually drain battery because it causes the ‌iPhone or ‌iPad‌ to load it all over again. (Source)

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