Apps Can Drain Your Battery Even if You’re Not Using Them

Again, this myth is partially true, but it’s not as serious a problem as many think. Your iPhone does allow apps to do some limited work in the background so they can be up to date when you open them. These processes can drain your battery life a bit faster, but it’s important to note that most apps can’t keep running in the background.

Instead, apps schedule times and places where the app can “wake up” to refresh information, and they’re given a limited amount of time to do so. Unless you have an older iPhone with an already damaged battery, apps refreshing themselves in the background is unlikely to cause problems. You probably won’t even notice them.

If you do find an app is draining your battery life even when it’s not running, the issue is likely caused by a bug that the developers will fix sooner rather than later.

Of course, just because your iPhone can handle it doesn’t mean every app should be allowed to refresh in the background. To manage which apps can or can’t use your iPhone’s Background App Refresh feature, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh. From there, you can turn off any app you want or disable the feature altogether.