- Closing most apps does not save battery
- Reopening closed apps can use more power
- Only close apps that actively run in the background
- Brightness and background settings matter more
Smartphone batteries have improved dramatically over the last decade. Bigger cells, smarter software, and more efficient chips mean our phones last longer than ever. Yet anxiety about battery life remains stubbornly high.
Many people still treat their phone like it is on life support, constantly checking percentages, carrying cables, and swiping away apps in the hope of squeezing out a few extra minutes of power.
One habit in particular refuses to die. The belief that closing all your apps saves battery life. It feels logical, tidy, and productive. But modern smartphones do not work the way most people think they do.
The short answer is that swiping away apps rarely helps and can sometimes make things worse.
Let’s unpack why.
Why the App Closing Habit Feels So Convincing
The app switcher on both iOS and Android makes it look like dozens of apps are sitting there, wide awake and quietly draining power. Clearing them feels like cleaning up clutter. For years, this visual reinforced the idea that fewer open apps meant less work for the phone.
That belief was not entirely wrong in the early days of smartphones. Older devices had limited memory and weaker processors. Background apps could slow things down and drain batteries faster. Closing them back then sometimes helped.
But modern phones operate on an entirely different level.
Today’s operating systems are designed to manage apps far more intelligently than manual swiping ever could.
What Actually Happens When Apps Sit in the Background
When you leave an app and move on to another, it is not actively running unless it has a specific reason to. In most cases, the system freezes it in memory. The app stops using the processor, stops drawing power, and simply waits in a paused state.
This is true for both iOS and Android.
Your phone decides which apps stay in memory, which ones get suspended, and which ones get removed entirely. It does this constantly, based on available resources and usage patterns. The goal is efficiency, not waste.
Force closing an app interrupts this system. When you reopen it later, your phone has to reload everything from scratch. That means more processor activity, more memory use, and more battery drain than if the app had simply remained suspended.
In other words, closing and reopening apps often uses more power than leaving them alone.
When Closing Apps Actually Makes Sense
This does not mean you should never close apps. There are clear exceptions.
If an app is actively doing something in the background, it can drain battery. Navigation apps using GPS, video call apps, fitness trackers, or anything streaming audio or video can continue working even when minimized. In those cases, closing the app stops the activity and saves power.
It also makes sense to close apps that are misbehaving. If something is overheating your phone, draining battery unusually fast, or refusing to respond, force closing is a practical fix.
But as a daily habit, swiping away everything in sight offers little benefit.
What Actually Helps Your Battery Last Longer
If battery life is a concern, there are far more effective places to focus.
Screen brightness remains one of the biggest drains on any smartphone. Using auto brightness or manually lowering it can make a noticeable difference over the course of a day.
Background activity settings matter more than open apps. Limiting background refresh and location access to only essential apps reduces unnecessary power use without affecting how you use your phone.
Connectivity choices also play a role. Using Wi Fi instead of mobile data when available, and turning off Bluetooth, GPS, or 5G when they are not needed, can quietly extend battery life.
Temperature is another overlooked factor. Batteries degrade faster in extreme heat or cold. Keeping your phone out of hot cars, direct sunlight, and freezing conditions helps both short term battery life and long term battery health.
The Bottom Line
Modern smartphones are designed to manage power far better than we give them credit for.
Constantly closing apps is more about habit than benefit. Trust the system, focus on settings that matter, and save your effort for the things that actually move the needle.
