CleanUp app

[Dima470]

We all know that after a while of use, IOS gets filled up with cache and get slower and slower. Then we have to restore from backup or fresh restore just to speed it up again. So why doesn't apple or another 3rd party app developer a cleaning application that will clean the device's cache and make all our lives easier and we wouldnt have to go through all of that. What do you guys think?

 

[Ashwood11]

Try the Settings App under Safari.

 

[Jessica Lares]

iOS does NOT have that issue. When you delete apps, they're gone, cache gets deleted. They do not use external data outside of their app. Your mailboxes don't even cache except the first few e-mail titles. If you weren't able to connect to the internet, they wouldn't open.

You can delete the Safari cache in settings. That's pretty much all you can do and will be able to do. Most of the slowness of iOS comes from people leaving 20+ apps and games open.

 

[ipedro]

iOS does NOT have that issue. When you delete apps, they're gone, cache gets deleted. They do not use external data outside of their app. Your mailboxes don't even cache except the first few e-mail titles. If you weren't able to connect to the internet, they wouldn't open.

You can delete the Safari cache in settings. That's pretty much all you can do and will be able to do. Most of the slowness of iOS comes from people leaving 20+ apps and games open.

You had it right until your statement at the end. In iOS, games and apps do not remain open. They're put in a suspended state and their resources reclaimed as soon as iOS deems it necessary.

One valid reason for a slow iOS is having pages upon pages of apps. Even if closed, iOS must manage the springboard for those apps and the rendering of all those icons. I had 7 pages of apps with two of those being of folders full of more apps. My iPhone 4 had been getting ever slower. I cut my apps down to 2 pages of my daily used apps and everything is as snappy as a brand new iPhone.

 

[GalvaJ]

I'm guessing you're on stock firmware, but just in case you actually are jailbroken, you can try out this new app called "iCleaner". Some people have have reported that it has knocked off a few hundred megabytes of data from their devices. Some also say that it has made their devices a little snappier.

The developer says it clears all of the following:

"

• Safari's cache, cookies, and history
• Application WebClip caches, cookies, temporary files, and snapshots. It also does a more in-depth cleanup for certain popular apps like Facebook, iFile, Instagram, Twitter, and others.
• Log files and crash reports
• System cache files and databases
• System temporary files
• Partially downloaded Cydia packages and repo files

"

 

[Jessica Lares]

You had it right until your statement at the end. In iOS, games and apps do not remain open. They're put in a suspended state and their resources reclaimed as soon as iOS deems it necessary.

One valid reason for a slow iOS is having pages upon pages of apps. Even if closed, iOS must manage the springboard for those apps and the rendering of all those icons. I had 7 pages of apps with two of those being of folders full of more apps. My iPhone 4 had been getting ever slower. I cut my apps down to 2 pages of my daily used apps and everything is as snappy as a brand new iPhone.

No, trust me. We have two other iOS devices in this house. When stuff like Netflix gets choppy, I immediately tell them to see what apps they have open and sure enough there's like 10 to 20 of them. iOS will TRY and get as much memory, but it can't do much if you have a game paused in the middle of a level for like a month. It'll store that info until you close it.

 

[ipedro]

No, trust me. We have two other iOS devices in this house. When stuff like Netflix gets choppy, I immediately tell them to see what apps they have open and sure enough there's like 10 to 20 of them. iOS will TRY and get as much memory, but it can't do much if you have a game paused in the middle of a level for like a month. It'll store that info until you close it.

With all due respect, you really don't understand what the app switcher tray is for. Those are not opened apps. They're recently opened apps, designed to give you quick access to your recently opened apps.

iOS multi tasking doesn't work like traditional OS's. You don't have several apps opened at once like in OSX or Windows. The way multi tasking works in iOS is that apps are suspended when you press the home button. Certain services like music playback can remain active, downloading content that is finishing up will stay running in the background until finished, then the app is released. Most of the other functions of an app are closed and eventually the whole app is released.

You will find that the first couple of apps in your app switching tray are in suspended state, but once you've opened a few more apps, those are released as well.

I won't go into an much more detail on this because countless people have listed extensively how multitasking works in iOS.

This one in particular is a useful read: http://speirs.org/blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-multitasking.html

If someone tells you that all the apps in the multitasking bar are running, using up memory or sucking power, they are wrong.
When you hit the home button, an app moves from Active to Background and quickly to the Suspended state where it no longer uses CPU time or drains power.
An app may request an additional 10 minutes of Background running to complete a big task before becoming Suspended.
If memory is becoming scarce, iOS will automatically move Suspended apps into the Not Running state and reclaim their memory.
Five classes of apps - audio, GPS, VOIP, Newsstand and accessory apps - and some built-in apps such as Mail may run indefinitely in the background until they complete their task.

 

[GalvaJ]

That's what's written on paper. But when people say things such as "My phone slowed down when the the switcher was full" or "My battery drained faster when my switcher was full" I could care less what the App Switcher explanation is. I always keep only the three or four apps that I usually go to in there and quit the rest.

 

[TheWheelMan]

I have a memory monitor app on my iPad, and every open app really does eat up memory, and some hold on to much more memory than others.

 

[hafr]

You had it right until your statement at the end. In iOS, games and apps do not remain open. They're put in a suspended state and their resources reclaimed as soon as iOS deems it necessary.

Yes, but it's still true that keeping apps "alive" slows the iPhone down. iOS doesn't deem it necessary to release the resources until the phone basically chokes. For instance, if I have the Facebook and Foursquare apps running, I will have to wait a good 20-30 seconds before being able to snap the first photo from the lock screen, and then another 20-30 seconds before being able to use the camera app in a normal manner.

I'm assuming iOS detects it needs more resources by the time of the first photo and then purges, which means it's first very slow (before "opening the shutters") and then locks up (when purging after having taken the first picture). If I manually close these apps after each use, this doesn't happen.

The whole "iOS takes care of itself, you don't need to close the apps" argument might be true, but if you want your phone to be snappy as can be, you sure as hell have to close your apps manually.

----------

With all due respect, you really don't understand what the app switcher tray is for. Those are not opened apps. They're recently opened apps, designed to give you quick access to your recently opened apps.

iOS multi tasking doesn't work like traditional OS's. You don't have several apps opened at once like in OSX or Windows. The way multi tasking works in iOS is that apps are suspended when you press the home button. Certain services like music playback can remain active, downloading content that is finishing up will stay running in the background until finished, then the app is released. Most of the other functions of an app are closed and eventually the whole app is released.

You will find that the first couple of apps in your app switching tray are in suspended state, but once you've opened a few more apps, those are released as well.

I won't go into an much more detail on this because countless people have listed extensively how multitasking works in iOS.

This one in particular is a useful read: http://speirs.org/blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-multitasking.html

Please read my previous post and start talking about real life usage instead of theory.

 

[vmachiel]

Yes, but it's still true that keeping apps "alive" slows the iPhone down. iOS doesn't deem it necessary to release the resources until the phone basically chokes. For instance, if I have the Facebook and Foursquare apps running, I will have to wait a good 20-30 seconds before being able to snap the first photo from the lock screen, and then another 20-30 seconds before being able to use the camera app in a normal manner.

I'm assuming iOS detects it needs more resources by the time of the first photo and then purges, which means it's first very slow (before "opening the shutters") and then locks up (when purging after having taken the first picture). If I manually close these apps after each use, this doesn't happen.

The whole "iOS takes care of itself, you don't need to close the apps" argument might be true, but if you want your phone to be snappy as can be, you sure as hell have to close your apps manually.

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Please read my previous post and start talking about real life usage instead of theory.

Yeah i experience the same thing. It's not necessary, but you can free up memory by closing app. Also helps with performance again, in my 1.5 years with iOS 4 & 5

 

[japasneezemonk]

apps in the background — those that support “fast application switching” in Apple’s parlance — are effectively paused. They’re still in RAM, but they can’t get large amounts of CPU time. What they can do, though, is use a limited number of APIs from the system to perform certain tasks. iOS only allows background audio(pandora), voip (skype), location, push notofications, local notifications, and task completion(ex: finsih downloading podcasts, with a maximum 10 minute limit for downloads to finish). All applications are suspended and code is not being executed so that any app may be removed from memory at any time. iOS does not allow true multi-tasking. The idea that having too many apps open is slowing down your phone is a myth. iOS is not like android and does not allow apps to run in the background. If it did the measly 256-512mb of ram wouldn't be enough. Usually a slow iOS device is a result of software bugs in apps or in iOS itself. The only way to identify the problem is to find exactly what chain of events is creating the recipe for the slowdown. For most people, the easiest solution is to restore their iphone, ipad, etc… and start fresh.

 

[hafr]

apps in the background — those that support “fast application switching” in Apple’s parlance — are effectively paused. They’re still in RAM, but they can’t get large amounts of CPU time. What they can do, though, is use a limited number of APIs from the system to perform certain tasks. iOS only allows background audio(pandora), voip (skype), location, push notofications, local notifications, and task completion(ex: finsih downloading podcasts, with a maximum 10 minute limit for downloads to finish). All applications are suspended and code is not being executed so that any app may be removed from memory at any time. iOS does not allow true multi-tasking. The idea that having too many apps open is slowing down your phone is a myth. iOS is not like android and does not allow apps to run in the background. If it did the measly 256-512mb of ram wouldn't be enough. Usually a slow iOS device is a result of software bugs in apps or in iOS itself. The only way to identify the problem is to find exactly what chain of events is creating the recipe for the slowdown. For most people, the easiest solution is to restore their iphone, ipad, etc… and start fresh.

Please read my previous post. Removing apps from the memory takes time, during which the phone will be sluggish or even frozen. And iOS won't clear up more than what it feels would be the bare minimum (which is obvious when using live memory monitor), so it means pretty much every time you open an app which is not in the memory - it will feel very slow because of the releasing of resources.

By closing the apps manually you are freeing up these resources, and you will avoid situations such as my example with the camera app. By not closing the apps manually, you're letting iOS do what it's supposed to, but you will have to endure those 20-ish seconds of having to wait while iOS is releasing enough resources to do what you told it to do.

Please remember this is only when you've maxed out the RAM, so it will occur (a lot) sooner on the 3GS than on the 4S.

 

[japasneezemonk]

iOS MULTITASKING IN DETAIL

I understand what your saying about killing apps and freeing memory. But maybe we should all just watch this video I linked and agree to disagree.

 

[ECUpirate44]

I'm guessing you're on stock firmware, but just in case you actually are jailbroken, you can try out this new app called "iCleaner". Some people have have reported that it has knocked off a few hundred megabytes of data from their devices. Some also say that it has made their devices a little snappier.

The developer says it clears all of the following:

"

• Safari's cache, cookies, and history
• Application WebClip caches, cookies, temporary files, and snapshots. It also does a more in-depth cleanup for certain popular apps like Facebook, iFile, Instagram, Twitter, and others.
• Log files and crash reports
• System cache files and databases
• System temporary files
• Partially downloaded Cydia packages and repo files

"

Freed up 800 mb and its a bit snappier

 

[hafr]

iOS MULTITASKING IN DETAIL

I understand what your saying about killing apps and freeing memory. But maybe we should all just watch this video I linked and agree to disagree.

Please tell me exactly which part(s) of my posts you disagree with, and explain why.