For about two years, I had a bedtime ritual. Brush teeth, set the alarm, and swipe away every single app on my iPhone. One by one. Some nights there were thirty of them stacked up like playing cards.
A fellow at church told me it saved battery. "Bob, all those apps are running in the background, eating your battery alive." It sounded right. So every night, swipe, swipe, swipe. Cindy started calling it my "phone flossing."
Well, folks, it turns out I was flossing for nothing. And according to Apple, I may have been making things slightly worse.
Do I need to close apps on my iPhone?
No, not normally. Apple's own support page says you should close an app only if it's unresponsive. It also says closing all your apps doesn't improve your iPhone's performance or battery life, because recently used apps only use power when they're active or doing specific tasks in the background.
Those apps you see when you swipe up aren't all "running." Most are just paused, like a bookmark in a book. When you reopen one, it picks up right where you left off. If you've closed it, the phone has to start it from scratch, which can take a little extra effort.
When should I close an app?
In plain words: leave an app alone if it's working fine, if you just finished using it, or if you're hoping to save battery. Close it only if it's frozen, won't respond to your taps, or keeps crashing.
To close a stuck app on a newer iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle. Find the app, then swipe it up and off the screen. On an iPhone with a Home button, double-click the Home button first. If the app still misbehaves, Apple suggests a few more steps, like restarting your iPhone and checking for app updates.
What actually saves battery on my iPhone?
Here's what really helps, in plain words. Open Settings, then Battery, to see which apps use the most power. Turn on Low Power Mode when your battery gets low. Turn down the screen brightness, or let the phone adjust it automatically. And keep your iPhone's software updated.
The Battery screen was an eye-opener for me. My biggest battery user wasn't any of those thirty apps I'd been swiping. It was the screen itself, turned all the way up to full brightness, because I'd bumped it once and never turned it back down.
Does closing apps stop them from tracking me?
Not really. If you're worried about an app using your location or refreshing in the background, closing it isn't the fix. On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Location Services, to choose which apps can see your location. You can also go to Settings, then General, then Background App Refresh, and turn it off for apps that don't need it.
Those settings stay put. Swiping an app away only lasts until the next time you open it.
What about Android phones?
Android phones also manage apps on their own, so there's usually no need to clear them all every night. If an app freezes, you can close it from the recent apps screen. To see what's using power, look in Settings under Battery. The menus vary a little by phone brand.
Is my phone slow for some other reason?
If your phone feels sluggish, a full storage space is a more common culprit than open apps. Our guide on freeing up phone storage can help, but please check your photo backup before you delete anything. A simple restart once in a while can help too.
My new bedtime routine
These days, it's brush teeth, set the alarm, plug in the phone. That's it. My battery lasts just as long as it did when I was flossing, and I've got about two extra minutes every night. Cindy says I use them to tell her the same story about the fellow from church.
Old habits are hard to break, folks. This is one you can drop tonight.
Are you a nightly app-swiper too? Tell us in the comments. You're in good company.
