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Any reason to use Background App Refresh?

Speedman100

Speedman100

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 21, 2013
436
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I have had Background App Refresh turned off for years without any noticeable consequences. I turned it off after there was an article saying companies can track you through Background App Refresh by keeping track of your IP address and location even when you are not using the app (link to MacRumors article). Does anyone have any good reasons to leave Background App Refresh on? What am I missing with it off?
 
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I have been pondering about this ever since I had an iPhone (4s). I never turned it on because of the negative impact on battery life, but never have I ever noticed that I missed anything. (other than maybe Onedrive and Google Photos not synching in the background)
 
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Speedman100 said:
I have had Background App Refresh turned off for years without any noticeable consequences. I turned it off after there was an article saying companies can track you through Background App Refresh by keeping track of your IP address and location even when you are not using the app (link to MacRumors article). Does anyone have any good reasons to leave Background App Refresh on? What am I missing with it off?
Click to expand...
Nope! It’s bad for the battery and gives unrestricted access to apps including bad actors like Fb & TikTok.
I can wait a second or two for the app to load the content once I open it.
 
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Thats what i do....turn it on but restrict it to the apps i want to allow to use it which isnt much i dont think.
 
Apple said:

Use Background App Refresh​

After you switch to a different app, some apps run for a short period of time before they're set to a suspended state. Apps that are in a suspended state aren’t actively in use, open, or taking up system resources. With Background App Refresh, suspended apps can check for updates and new content.
If you want suspended apps to check for new content, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and turn on Background App Refresh. If you quit an app from the app switcher, it might not be able to run or check for new content before you open it again.
Click to expand...

Switch apps on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Learn how to quickly switch from one app to another. Then when you switch back, you can pick up right where you left off.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

According to that final sentence, I am fine. I normally quit apps — Messages being a common exception though others can include Fitness, Magnifier, and other ‘stock’ apps. Quite frankly, it’s because I typically don’t check my devices more frequently than every 30 minutes.
 
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It depends. WhatsApp, for example, will not send you new message notifications with the BAR disabled, but then Gmail app will. So you might want to test your messaging apps to see if all of them work properly with the BAR turned off.
 
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Does BAR use more battery health over time or not enough to be worried or even care ?
 
onepoint said:
I have background app refresh disabled and I receive WhatsApp notifications just fine
Click to expand...

That’s strange, because I definitely do not receive anything from WhatsApp with BAR disabled.

But then I am running an iOS 17 beta, so will retest it again once the public version is out and WhatsApp is updated.

Update: figured it out! After turning off background app refresh, WhatsApp needs to be force-closed and reopened. Then it continues to receive the notifications as normal. 👍

Update 2: actually not, on further tests WhatsApp does not work for me with BAR disabled when iPhone is not in use with the screen off.
 
Last edited:
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I’ve never found a reason to turn it off. There are certain apps that I have no need to be “refreshed” in the background but I have quite a few mostly location related apps - weather, family location, news apps, etc. that I want this turned on for. Never has been any battery impact. Years ago I tinkered around with the setting mostly off and on just to see if there was any battery life difference, there wasn’t. So that’s not a reason to not having it enabled, if you just don’t want it on then don’t enable it. I would say I do have it enabled for probably 80-90% of the apps I have, but there are a few that there really is no need for this to be enabled.
 
one more said:
That’s strange, because I definitely do not receive anything from WhatsApp with BAR disabled.

But then I am running an iOS 17 beta, so will retest it again once the public version is out and WhatsApp is updated.

Update: figured it out! After turning off background app refresh, WhatsApp needs to be force-closed and reopened. Then it continues to receive the notifications as normal. 👍

Update 2: actually not, on further tests WhatsApp does not work for me with BAR disabled when iPhone is not in use with the screen off.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure what would cause that - push notifications are not “stopped” by turning off BAR. I receive WhatsApp notifications when my iPhone is locked and not in use, just as well as when I’m using it. And I have BAR completely disabled.
 
I only have Fotmob and Pedometer+ with BAR turned on.

Notifications for any app unaffected. Don't really see the benefit of it tbh.

I only have it on for the two apps I do 'just in case' it makes them update that tad bit quicker
 
one more said:
That’s strange, because I definitely do not receive anything from WhatsApp with BAR disabled.

But then I am running an iOS 17 beta, so will retest it again once the public version is out and WhatsApp is updated.

Update: figured it out! After turning off background app refresh, WhatsApp needs to be force-closed and reopened. Then it continues to receive the notifications as normal. 👍

Update 2: actually not, on further tests WhatsApp does not work for me with BAR disabled when iPhone is not in use with the screen off.
Click to expand...
WhatsApp uses BAR to make backups in the background. Actually has nothing to do with Push Notifications
 
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contacos said:
WhatsApp uses BAR to make backups in the background. Actually has nothing to do with Push Notifications
Click to expand...

I have a dual WhatsApp (normal and business) setup on my iPhone with two lines (normal and business), currently running the latest iOS 17 Beta, so this might be somewhat atypical, but I can assure you that I stop receiving WhatsApp notifications the moment I turn off BAR. I tried it twice yesterday and it just did not work. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
one more said:
I have a dual WhatsApp (normal and business) setup on my iPhone with two lines (normal and business), currently running the latest iOS 17 Beta, so this might be somewhat atypical, but I can assure you that I stop receiving WhatsApp notifications the moment I turn off BAR. I tried it twice yesterday and it just did not work. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Click to expand...

Weird. I have never had it enabled on any iPhone I have ever owned and I am currently using it on iPhone (iOS 16) and iPhone (iOS 17 beta) just fine. (Same number)
 
one more said:
I have a dual WhatsApp (normal and business) setup on my iPhone with two lines (normal and business), currently running the latest iOS 17 Beta, so this might be somewhat atypical, but I can assure you that I stop receiving WhatsApp notifications the moment I turn off BAR. I tried it twice yesterday and it just did not work. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Click to expand...
I can confirm that I’ve never had it turned on (BAR) I’ve never had any issue with notifications.
 
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