'You're wasting battery, data and time' warns iPhone owner of common mistakes
MILLIONS of iPhone owners may be making a big mistake that is causing their mobile phone to slow down.
It is a common practice to close apps on the switch screen.
People often think this is their thing iPhone faster – but the opposite is true.
One user noted this in a reply to a Reddit thread asking for iPhone tips.
“For God's sake, don't waste your life closing all the apps,” the comment said.
“iOS has always been very efficient and intelligent when it comes to RAM management.”
The user continued: “Closing apps wastes battery, data and your time.”
Apple itself has warned users not to close apps to extend battery life; instead, only close apps if they're not working.
“Normally, there is no reason to stop an app,” Apple explains.
“If you stop using it, you won't save battery power, for example.”
A separate memo from Apple notes: “You should only close an app if it has become unresponsive.”
Another user explained in another thread: “Restarting an app you closed takes more resources to bring it back online and retrieve all your settings than just running the minimal background process.
“So counterintuitively, you slow down your phone by closing and restarting the apps.”
The only time you should force close an app is when it is not working properly.
Background drain
If you're worried about apps running in the background draining your battery, there's a simple solution.
Just go to Settings > Battery and view the list of apps that are putting the most strain on your device.
If it's an app you barely use, consider simply uninstalling it.
But a better solution is to disable Background App Refresh for those apps.
Some apps (such as email services) rely on running in the background (for example, to check for new emails).
But for some apps, it is preferable to disable this feature to reduce the burden on your battery.
Apple's battery settings will even reveal how much charge the app used in the background and when it was in use.
So pay attention to the information in your Settings app to limit battery drain.