How do I stop apps from refreshing when I switch between them?

That is entirely up to the design of the app. iOS manages memory usage by informing suspended background apps that they will be terminated when more free memory is needed by the current foreground app. A well written app is supposed to store its state so that it can resume exactly where it left off. Many apps developers do not implement this behavior.

Safari remembers the URLs in your open tabs. If iOS terminates Safari, or the metadata on a page indicates that it is expired when Safari has resumed, then it will reload the URLs in your tabs as you visit them.

Every time I switch from one app to another, and back again, they refresh and I lose where I was and everything I’d entered up to that point.

Use the App Switcher, see the following Apple articles:

Switch between open apps on iPhone

Switch between open apps on iPhone – Apple Support (UK)

Switch apps on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch

Switch apps on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch – Apple Support (UK)

When you switch apps, do you kill the app you are leaving by swiping up on it in the app switcher? If you are doing this that is what is causing your problem, because swiping up kills the app RIGHT NOW without giving it a chance to save its current context. In general you should NEVER kill apps this way unless they aren’t working correctly.

Apple Inc says; "We read all feedback carefully, but we are unable to respond to each submission individually."

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