Is it ideal to close background apps on iPhone to avoid battery drain?

iphonerrr wrote:

Oh okay. Btw do you know if it's normal for an app to have background activity time in battery metrics while background refresh is off?

It's not normal for Apple owned apps, but as I've said, for 3rd party apps, while they shouldn't, that doesn't guarantee they won't.

I think you're going to drive yourself crazy micromanaging your battery on your iPhone. If it will give you peace of mind, force close apps you're not using often and go enjoy your day. If you're thinking or hoping you can stop battery health decline. You can't. Battery health will decline no matter what you do. When the day comes that the health of your battery declines to 80% or less, which it will if you own the phone long enough, you pay Apple to replace the battery.

Until then, follow the advice in this link --> Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple

• Don't ever fully deplete the battery of your iPhone.
• Don't regularly let the phone go below 20%.
• DO, plug your phone in to charge when you go to bed at night and leave it plugged in, connected to Wifi and leave it charging ALL night, EVERY night.

You should not close apps in the background. This does not help your iPhone’s performance or battery life. In fact, it makes it worse because when you reopen an app, it has to reload everything instead of returning to its original state. Your apps are also idle in the App Switcher, until you decide to reopen them, so they have no effect to your iPhone there. The only time you should close an app from the background is if it is not performing as expected.

Senior member Lawrence Finch has written a very informative User Tip regarding this, which I recommend you read:

Do not close iPhone and iPad 'background'… - Apple Community

Jeff Donald wrote:

Are you going to continue to post in all 5 threads you started on the same topic?

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/2a70781d-e2e3-4ae3-ab48-98c441a293bb

OK. I'm done. I had no idea the Author has many threads on the same topic.

You are going to need to head to the Genius Bar or authorized Apple service shop so they can run further checks and diagnostics on the battery.

We have gone as far as we can without the ability to connect to your phone to test your battery.

You can find a list of authorized shops in your area using this link: Find Locations

I will be surprised if the tech can provide you with an answer that you find acceptable, but hopefully I am wrong. Batteries can do some strange things.

Good luck.

iphonerrr wrote:

Yes i agree but the issue still happens

It is possible that a 3rd party app, may still be using system resources while suspended. This isn't all that uncommon with apps from Meta, like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram. If I'm not going to use a 3rd party app for some time, I do force close apps I don't use all that often. If I know I'm going to go back to app more often, I don't force close it. I know the conventional advice is you don't need to force close apps. And for the most part I agree. But bets are off, with apps not owned by Apple.

iphonerrr wrote:

Oh i see. So basically there's nothing i can do?

You can test this. Leave the apps suspended for a full day, but don't use them. Then the next day, open Settings > Battery and look at what used battery power in the list. If you see for example that Facebook used the battery, while it was suspended, you'll know it's an app which isn't playing well with the system resources on your iPhone.

iphonerrr wrote:

Okay. What do i do after i find that the X app does that? Also when i do that test i should have wifi turned off right? cause otherwise i will get notifications

You'll get notifications with or without Wifi. If you don't want notifications fron X, turn off notifications for X. If you don't want notifications when you sleep, use Focus for either sleep or Do Not Disturb. My iPhone turns on Do Not Disturb every night at 11 PM and off at 7:00 AM using Focus. If X is an offending App, then Force Close it. Apple has nothing to do with X, nor their app.

Jeff Donald wrote:

Yah, I posted in 3 or 4 of them too. Same answers, just different faces. 😃

I won't be responding again. They've surely been given enough good suggestions by now. Anything else is pure paranoia.

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There is no need to close apps in the background

When you close an app, the battery has to work harder to reopen the app again.

There is no need to close an app unless you are having problems with the app.

Jeff Donald wrote:

Yah, I posted in 3 or 4 of them too. Same answers, just different faces. 😃

And I should have read the entire thread before responding....

100%. and 101 charge circles. my phone is only 5 months old

On average, Battery Health will decline about 1% for every 50 Charge Cycles. So, with 101 Cycles, your battery should be at 98%.

The fact that it is still at 100% indicates that you have a better than average battery.

You have apps still running in the background. We have discussed this in the past. Your app may have a bug, preventing your iPhone from being able to shut it down.

Those 4 apps are consuming over 90% of your battery as I recall from your other posts. You need to keep the apps updated and wait for Meta, Google and TikTok to update their apps. You should minimize your use of the apps or use them only while your iPhone is charging.