Apple confirms that swiping apps to close does not save iPhone battery

Many users will feel uncomfortable when they pick up their iPhone and notice that the phone does not close applications after using them because they think it is wasting battery life. But this seems to be completely wrong because Apple has confirmed that swiping up to close apps on the iPhone actually does not help save battery as expected.

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In a report by 9to5Mac, iOS Director Craig Federighi answered a question about whether closing apps helps save money. He affirmed 'no and no'. Additionally, Apple's own support pages state that forcing an app to close should only be done if the app stops responding or freezes.

Why does this happen? Apple explains that iOS is simply good. Quitting apps seems like the logical thing to do to save battery based on the assumption that more apps running in the background will lead to more battery drain. This doesn't happen with iOS, however, because Apple's operating system freezes background apps, pausing any resources they require to run, meaning background apps don't affect the battery when they're not in use. (unless they have background processes like GPS tracking or playing background music).

Not only that, the company admits that there are also cases where closing apps via the swipe up gesture can even drain the device's battery more than leaving them open, as the iPhone's CPU requires a lot of power. More effort to close apps instead of letting them freeze.

Micah Soto

Update 26 April 2024