When you are done checking email or scrolling through social feeds, the instinct on many iPhones is to swipe the app away from the top of the screen. This action, often called closing or killing the app, feels like a definitive way to stop it from running. The question of whether you should close apps on iPhone, however, is more about myth than management.
The Reality of iPhone Memory Management
To understand why closing apps is usually unnecessary, it helps to look at how iOS handles your device’s RAM. Apple’s iOS is engineered with a sophisticated memory management system that automatically allocates and deallocates resources. When you open an app, it loads into memory, and when you leave it, it transitions to a suspended state. In this suspended state, the app remains open but consumes minimal resources, allowing you to return to exactly where you left off instantly.
Background App Refresh: The Silent Efficiency
Many users worry that apps running in the background are secretly draining their battery and data. While apps can run in the background, they do so under strict supervision via a feature called Background App Refresh. This feature allows certain apps to update content, like fetching new emails or refreshing social media feeds, but only when conditions are optimal—usually when the phone is charging, connected to Wi‑Fi, and during short maintenance windows. Force-closing these apps often leads to the phone working harder later to reload fresh content, which can actually be less efficient.
When Closing Apps Actually Makes Sense
Despite the efficiency of iOS, there are specific scenarios where you should close apps. If an app becomes unresponsive or frozen, force-closing it is the standard troubleshooting step. You can identify a troubled app by its persistent state in the app switcher, often highlighted with a small grey underline. Additionally, if you are actively managing storage space and notice a specific app consuming an inordinate amount of storage in its cached files, clearing that app can free up room. Finally, if you are concerned about a specific app tracking your activity for privacy reasons, closing it prevents it from quickly resuming background processes.
The Battery and Performance Myth
A persistent piece of advice suggests that closing apps saves battery life and makes the phone faster. In reality, the act of closing and reopening apps frequently can have the opposite effect. Reloading an app from a completely closed state requires more processing power and energy than resuming a suspended one. Furthermore, iOS is designed to keep your most used apps in a state of readiness; if you close them, the system simply reloads them the next time you tap the icon, using more battery in the long run than maintaining them in a suspended state.
