When Apple released the iOS 4 update, people noted significantly lower battery life on a number of iOS devices. In troubleshooting the problem, it became apparent that Wi-Fi usage was in large responsible for draining the battery, and initially the recommendations were to disable Wi-Fi features.
Per CNET, users may find the device losing battery power if you keep multiple applications open when you put the device to sleep.
MacFixIt reader R.T. Taylor wrote in with a little clarification on the issue:
“Each programmer is responsible for turning on or off multitasking. And evidently they are not paying attention to that tiny detail. That is how you can have a multitasking job running in the background for a flashlight app.
To see what is running in the background, press the home key twice. You will see up to four background apps in the bottom of the display, scroll right to see what else is running. Mine had about 50 apps running.”
Having multiple applications running at the same time will obviously drain the battery to a greater extent when the device is in use, but when the device is in sleep mode, the applications should be suspended; however, people have found that quitting them all before putting the device to sleep seems to solve the low-battery-life problem.
It is possible that even though the applications are suspended, their being active when the device is put to sleep may prevent some hardware components such as the Wi-Fi adapter from being put to sleep at the same time. This may result in items like the Wi-Fi adapter staying active during sleep, and may also be a reason why when people specifically turn off Wi-Fi before sleep, that the battery level no longer drains rapidly.
Most people run applications and then press the home button to quit them and run alternative applications, but this does not fully quit the application. Instead, if you want to fully quit an application, press and hold it until the icon jiggles, and then press the X and the full application process will shut down.
As always, the peanut gallery is open for business and let us know what’s on your mind.
4 replies on “Multitasking/running apps may help deplete batteries on iOS-based devices”
Re: The quote below. The correct procedure is to double click the home button (multitasking) to access those apps still open. Press and hold on any app to get them to jiggle and tap the – in red to close the app. You can move along by swiping and close as many apps as you wish. Then press the home button once to stop the jiggling. Jiggling the icons on the home screen or in a folder and tapping the x will delete the app not close it.
“Most people run applications and then press the home button to quit them and run alternative applications, but this does not fully quit the application. Instead, if you want to fully quit an application, press and hold it until the icon jiggles, and then press the X and the full application process will shut down.”
Are you kidding? an semi-iOS interested site STILL thinking that all the icons in the fast-app switcher dock represents running apps…
Double tapping the home key does not show you what apps are running in the background. It shows you all previously launched apps. To see what is actually running you need a jailbroken phone to see what processes are actually active. Actually that might be the only way to find a misbehaving app.
Double tapping the home key does not show you what apps are running in the background. It shows you all previously launched apps. To see what is actually running you need a jailbroken phone to see what processes are actually active. Actually that might be the only way to find a misbehaving app.