Turning off background app refresh on your iPhone or iPad is a great battery optimization tip. But you might be concerned about what’s going on turning off background app refresh. In this article, we’ll tell you what a background app update means in iPhone and iPad settings and whether or not you should keep it enabled.
Apple introduced the Background App Update with iOS 7, and since then it’s still been a part of every iOS update. At the end of the article, you will learn about the benefits of updating a background app and how to turn it on or off.
Let’s start.
What is meant by updating the background app in the settings of iPhone and iPad
To understand the background app update feature in iOS and iPadOS, you need to know the app lifecycle. Simply put, when you use an app, it is said to be active and on top. When you press the home button or open a new app, the first app goes into the background. You can still access it from the multitasking screen or the app switcher (recent apps) as it is said to be suspended after a short period of time.
Now this is the place that appears where the background app update in the photo. With background apps refresh, commented apps can regularly check for new content. So, if you switch to a pending application present in the change application screen, you will be greeted with the new data without waiting or updating.
However, if you exit or close the app from the app switcher, refreshing the app in the background doesn’t do much. The content of the application will then only be updated when the application is opened. Basically, Apple intelligently understands user behavior over time and stops updating content in the background.
For example, if you haven’t opened the Facebook or Instagram app for several days, you won’t see the latest posts immediately when you open it later because it was inactive or not yet operational. The app will take some time to update and display the most recent messages.
So, with background apps refresh, suspended apps periodically update background content so that new content is available to you.
Tip: Learn more about How to Make a Full Backup of Your iPhone.
Which apps support refreshing background apps
Background app update feature should be implemented by App Developer for third party apps. Therefore, it differs from application to application.
What is the benefit of updating the background app
Many people ask about the benefits of updating a background app. The main advantage is speed. When you switch to an app from the app switcher, it will be ready with the new content because it is already refreshed in the background.
Take the example of Facebook. If you switch to another app, the feed will automatically update to show the new content. If background app refresh is turned off, you might have to wait a bit for the app to update.
Likewise, refreshing the app in the background is useful for news apps. If you like to read the news at regular intervals, you will receive the latest news when you open the app until the app is fully closed. Basically, refreshing an app in the background doesn’t allow you to wait for your data when the app is running.
Tip: Check out 5 best RSS readers for iPhone.
How to enable or disable background app refresh
You can enable / disable background app refresh for all apps or customize behavior and do it for individual apps.
Here are the steps for both:
Step 1: Open Settings And go to Year.
2nd step: Click on Updating the app in the background.
Step 3: Now if you want Activate / deactivate for all applications Then tap Update wallpaper app again on the next screen. Tap Stop if you want to turn it off. You can also keep the background app update enabled on Wi-Fi only or for both Wi-Fi and mobile data.
If you want to turn it on or off for an individual app, go to Settings> General> Background app refresh. Turn off the toggle next to the app you want to disable background app refresh for. You can also turn it on or off from the app settings, i.e. in Settings> (App name)> Background app refresh.
Note: The main background app refresh toggle for step 3 must be enabled to customize the behavior of the individual app.
What happens when disabling “background app refresh”
For starters, refreshing the wallpaper app does not affect notifications. You will continue to receive notifications from an app even if background app refresh is turned off. That is, you will receive emails, chat messages, etc.
Second, as you must have guessed by now, you will not receive any updated information once you open the app. However, that doesn’t make much of a difference unless the app is a mandatory background app refresh to activate.
Other than that, Apple lists a Background app update shutdown as one of the battery improvement tips on iPhone and iPad.
Should background app refresh be turned off?
Now we come to the million dollar question: Should the background app update be turned off? Well, it varies from app to app. Most apps will work normally with the background app refresh stopped. However, some applications require it to be run. It should therefore not be completely disabled for all applications. But test each app manually and see how it works without enabling background app refresh.
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