Force shutting an iPhone app does not extend battery life, says Apple

Apple’s senior vice president has blatantly dismissed a long-held myth that closing background apps extends your iPhone’s battery life.

Apple’s senior vice president has blatantly dismissed the long held myth that closing background apps extends your iPhone’s battery life. (Reuters)

Apple has finally dispelled a long-held myth that closing apps running in the background has any positive impact on your iPhone's battery life. The company's senior vice president, Craig Federighi, responded to a customer's email with a 'No and no', when asked if closing apps running in the background improves battery life.

Apple users have long believed that closing all background apps helps extend their iPhone's battery life and improves performance. Though Federighi's response has finally dismissed the myth, according to 9to5Mac.

The report further highlights that apps that appear in the multi-tasking menu are in a frozen state when they are quit from the home menu, implying they lie in a dormant state until reopened again. Apple's iOS is designed in such a way to ensure that apps running in the background do not consume unnecessary processing power or battery life, adds the report.

Even Apple's support page clearly explains that force quitting apps running in the background is unnecessary in most cases. The multi-tasking menu in iOS is primarily designed to easily switch between apps, and users should only force quit background apps if they become unreliable or unresponsive.