Force-Closing Apps All Day To Save Battery

This is one of the most common iPhone habits people fall into. It feels like it works and it’s productive. You swipe up to open the app switcher, close everything out, and think you’re cleaning house.

The catch is that iOS doesn’t work like a desktop computer; apps don’t keep running in the background. This means that constantly force-closing apps wastes more power than it saves because those apps have to reload from scratch the next time you open them. If an app is behaving normally, leaving it alone is usually the better move. When you exit an app, it will take a few moments to clean itself up and then go into a state of suspended animation where it’s using virtually none of your iPhone’s resources.

The only time force-closing makes sense is when an app is frozen, glitching, refusing to load, or clearly draining battery in the background. That’s the moment to kick it out and relaunch it. Otherwise, treat the app switcher as a way to jump between apps, not as a reminder to close apps.

Quick Win: Only swipe up to close an app if it is frozen or glitching. Otherwise, trust iOS to manage your memory — it’s better for your battery and your speed.