Do you keep background apps refresh on?

[Delorean2006]

I have background app refresh off and I've seen Facebook, tweetbot and other apps have high background use now on iOS 9. Hell, Facebook always has more background use than it does on screen use. Again, background refresh for me is off. Why is it doing all this background work???

im glad im not alone, Facebook is constantly running with Background App Refresh off, it single handily killed my iPad in one day when I closed it with it off, so I constantly have to close it to make sure it doesn't constantly run, its definitely an issue with app, i think

 

[KALLT]

I have background app refresh off and I've seen Facebook, tweetbot and other apps have high background use now on iOS 9. Hell, Facebook always has more background use than it does on screen use. Again, background refresh for me is off. Why is it doing all this background work???

im glad im not alone, Facebook is constantly running with Background App Refresh off, it single handily killed my iPad in one day when I closed it with it off, so I constantly have to close it to make sure it doesn't constantly run, its definitely an issue with app, i think

Read my post above. It has nothing to do with background app refresh. Facebook uses several tricks to fool the system into giving it background time. When you enable location access, Facebook can listen for changes in your location and use these as triggers for doing background updates. Facebook also uses the VOIP entitlement so that it can have a constant connection to listen for incoming VOIP calls. This allows it to do more stuff in the background. Normally Apple would not allow such apps in the App Store, but they are giving Facebook a lot more freedom.

Ever since iOS7 on my iPhone 4s (and now on my iPhone 5s and iPad mini2) i have turned this off and i don't miss it. It saves a lot of battery.

No, it doesn’t.

 

[S.B.G]

It's only on for select apps only, and it's not many for me.

 

[snowmoon]

I have background app refresh off and I've seen Facebook, tweetbot and other apps have high background use now on iOS 9. Hell, Facebook always has more background use than it does on screen use. Again, background refresh for me is off. Why is it doing all this background work???

Facebook pretends to be a VOIP app to keep itself running in the background. Why Apple hasn't slapped them silly for such a blatant violation of app store standards I have no idea.

BTW, I just have m.facebook.com as a favorite and have never had a batter issue.

 

[Mercenary]

Normally apple would kick an app like facebook off its store until they get it sorted. But its one of the top 5 apps and you can imagine the people leaving because they cant get the fb app. So they let it slide. They really shouldnt, people complain about battery life but the truth is its FB which kills it for most.

I use the mobile site as I cannot be arsed with killing the app after each use.

 

[Rigby]

I've been told that, if you send an app into the background while its in the middle of completing a task, then the app will continue to complete the task even in the background.

All apps can do that (beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler).You don't need to activate background refresh for that.

 

[Rigby]

I have the master toggle on, but I have it disabled for 33 of 44 apps that show up on the list. I have it enabled for a handful of apps that I want to make sure are able to do their business and give me notices (e.g, my brokerage firm's app, Fly Delta, Parcel, etc.). I don't know exactly what would happen to, for example, Fly Delta flight delay notices, if I turned it off, but I don't want to find out.

These kind of things are usually based on push notifications, which do not require background refresh to work (apps that can receive push notifications get some background time automatically to process them).

 

[soms]

For apps you ACTUALLY use, leave it on. The iPhone will "learn" your usage habits and adjust accordingly. Turning it off for apps you use, is essentially like closing the app every time you exit it (via the app switcher). It's a dumb idea and wastes battery life.

For apps you don't use/use sparingly, that's up to you.

 

[Rigby]

Turning it off for apps you use, is essentially like closing the app every time you exit it (via the app switcher). It's a dumb idea and wastes battery life.

That's not true at all. On the contrary, leaving background refresh on for apps that don't really need it can increase power usage. There is a reason why low power mode in iOS 9 turns it off.

 

[soms]

That's not true at all. On the contrary, leaving background refresh on for apps that don't really need it can increase power usage. There is a reason why low power mode in iOS 9 turns it off.

Yea it's called maximizing battery life. It also disables a lot of other features/brightness/etc. Of course it's going to disable something that isn't exactly mandatory.