Background apps still running, even if app refresh is off

Since i updated my Iphone 15 to Ios 18.1, apps such as social media apps still runs in background resulting draining by battery fast. I have always turned off my app refresh and my phone wifi is turn off and always in airplane mode. Whenever i check in the battery on settings it always shows there is a app running in background and and my screen off time is always 0m even if i don't use it for about 3 hours. On IOS 17 and 18.0 i did not experience this. I updated my phone to ios 18.1 since it is available to all. What can be the problem of my phone?

Posted on Nov 7, 2024 8:46 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 7, 2024 9:20 PM

You cannot shut of all background processes. Background App Refresh is just for UI updates so it will be reflected when you launch the app. Apps also can schedule background tasks to run on intervals to maintain functionality. This could be to communicate with the developer's servers for synchronizing and database updates. Social media apps are the worst for running these background processes. This was the same with previous iOS versions, but more recent updates to Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok have increased these background processes.


Some of it has to do with the data it is allowed to collect. Take Facebook for example and review the privacy page in the App Store where they have to disclose the information that is collected:

  • Health & Fitness
  • Financial Info
  • Contact Info
  • User Content
  • Browsing History
  • Purchases
  • Location
  • Contacts
  • Search History


Multiply that by each Social Media app and you will see that it takes quite a bit of battery power to manage all that information. For apps that use more power than you like, the option is to delete them or try force quitting them by swiping up in the Application Switcher. A background process will also run on the app when a Notification for it is received to deal with the new information that it has just been sent. The battery setting is a great tool to identify the power hungry offenders so you can make an informed decision on using the app.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 7, 2024 9:20 PM in response to J4psh

You cannot shut of all background processes. Background App Refresh is just for UI updates so it will be reflected when you launch the app. Apps also can schedule background tasks to run on intervals to maintain functionality. This could be to communicate with the developer's servers for synchronizing and database updates. Social media apps are the worst for running these background processes. This was the same with previous iOS versions, but more recent updates to Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok have increased these background processes.


Some of it has to do with the data it is allowed to collect. Take Facebook for example and review the privacy page in the App Store where they have to disclose the information that is collected:

  • Health & Fitness
  • Financial Info
  • Contact Info
  • User Content
  • Browsing History
  • Purchases
  • Location
  • Contacts
  • Search History


Multiply that by each Social Media app and you will see that it takes quite a bit of battery power to manage all that information. For apps that use more power than you like, the option is to delete them or try force quitting them by swiping up in the Application Switcher. A background process will also run on the app when a Notification for it is received to deal with the new information that it has just been sent. The battery setting is a great tool to identify the power hungry offenders so you can make an informed decision on using the app.

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Background apps still running, even if app refresh is off

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