How can I tell if an app is closed/off?

[zoey2]

After eight years of some type of cell phone and five years of Blackberry, I think I may finally, sllllloooooooooowwwllllly be getting the hang of this iphone. I think I'm going to like it. I was so overwhelmed the first few days trying to figure it out, I almost sent it back....
Anyway, can somebody tell me how to close an app so that it doesn't continue to run? Say I am using Pandora......Is there a way to actually 'close' the app when done? Right now I just leave by hitting the home button and going to my home screen.
Thanks

 

[GolpherZX]

If you feel that you must close an app, the best way to do so is to double click the home button bringing up all of the open apps. Then hold down on any of the four applications listed, which will get the applications "jiggling", at which point you can close down the app you want to close.

I caveat this by saying that you shouldn't need to close apps. I've had much better success with my iPhone and the applications behaving than what I experienced with the Android OS. If an app needs to close because of memory or something of that nature, let the OS handle that.

 

[kch50428]

Click the home button twice - that brings up the multitask area, where you could switch to another running app, or - touch and hold the icon of the app you want to shut off until it wiggles - then tap the red 'x' on the app to kill the app.

 

[zoey2]

So really, I don't even need to close my apps. Do they not continue to run and drain the battery?

 

[Darth-gamer]

So really, I don't even need to close my apps. Do they not continue to run and drain the battery?

Exactly.

 

[ChrisGonzales90]

But as the OWNER of the device, its all up to you. Not us, not Apple. If you fell the need to close an app, then go right ahead. I tend to forget, but I always close the apps I'm not using. If I'm not using them why have them run?

 

[busyme]

Does background operation on the iPhone run down the battery like 'background operation' does on the Android?

 

[anaphora68]

Busy Me,

No, it does not. The apps are not "running" in the sense they are on Android. Unless the app itself is calling from Apple's Core APIs, the app is suspended for a period of time. If you were to reopen it by double tapping on home, it would go back to the state the app was in when you quit it.

So, in short, it does not negatively affect the battery life as it does in Android.

 

[shinbone]

It still would be nice to have an option to "close' an app without it going into a "suspended" state - or - have the ability to "close" all "suspended" apps at once . .

 

[anaphora68]

If you jailbreak, there is an app to do just that. I don't remember the name, but it's in the Cydia repos.

 

[shinbone]

If you jailbreak, there is an app to do just that. I don't remember the name, but it's in the Cydia repos.

I choose not to jailbreak and think that option should be available in ios

 

[motionxxusxx#IM]

The apps are not utilizing any battery when suspended. There are a few core api's that run in the background if the user wants to keep an app running. For example pandora will continue to play until you choose to close the app or press stop. GPS apps may continue to run in the background if you do not close them out from within the app or close the app within the bottom tray. You can tell if GPS is running by a small navigation arrow being displayed near the battery indicator. I love how apple implemented background processing.