Does Closing Apps Save Battery?
No, force-closing apps generally does not save battery and may actually waste more power. Modern smartphones intelligently manage background apps, suspending them to use minimal resources. Repeatedly closing and reopening apps uses more energy than leaving them in the background. Better options: use dark mode or airplane mode.
Key Takeaways
- Both iOS and Android have sophisticated memory management that automatically suspends apps in the background.
- Frozen or malfunctioning apps that are actively draining battery should be force-closed.
- Apps actively using GPS, playing music, or running background processes are different from suspended apps.
Explanation
Both iOS and Android have sophisticated memory management that automatically suspends apps in the background. Suspended apps use virtually no CPU or battery. The operating system handles this more efficiently than manual app management.
When you force-close an app and later reopen it, your phone must reload it from scratch, which uses more CPU cycles and battery than resuming a suspended app from memory. Constantly closing apps can actually increase battery usage rather than decrease it.
The apps that do drain battery in the background are ones with special permissions for location tracking, notifications, or background refresh. Managing these specific permissions is more effective than blindly closing all apps.
Things to Know
- Frozen or malfunctioning apps that are actively draining battery should be force-closed.
- Apps actively using GPS, playing music, or running background processes are different from suspended apps.
- Checking which apps use the most battery in settings is more useful than guessing.