How do I check and turn off apps running in the background on iPhone 16 Plus?

Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh > Uncheck the apps you don’t want refreshing in the background.

Regarding how to figure out what apps do so, there is no way. But if you have their app checked on, there’s a good chance they are refreshing in the background.

maggielou wrote:

iPhone 16 Plus. IOS 18.3.2

How can I find out which apps are running in the background on my phone, and how can I shut them off?

Why do you think you need to do this?

With rare exceptions, apps don't run in the background on iPhones. The exceptions are generally things like media apps. You know they're running because you can hear them.

Most apps are in a suspended state. Force quitting them is generally not recommended. It will slow your phone down and possibly even use more battery.

As indicated by the previous poster, you can turn off Background App Refresh which can cut down on data use and increase battery life. However, it has nothing to do with an app "running" in the background.

Also, update your phone. The current version of iOS is 18.4.1.

What activities apps running in the background can do is greatly constrained, and generally only what you specifically requested, and only when needed. That can be music, or iOS-mediated notifications, Bluetooth access, navigation positioning, or a few other such.

Outside of those cases, iOS shuts down apps, and those then take few or usually no system resources. While you can see apps in a list of what has run recently, don’t presume any of those are running, or even consuming any resources.

If you want to control which apps can be active in the background (as mediated by iOS, as apps don’t get carte blanche — much to the annoyance of some developers) , see Settings > General > Background App Refresh. This as mentioned by Zachyy above.

To see how much power (or how much of your time) an app consumes, see Settings > Battery.

Apple goes out of its way to design and build iOS and iPadOS try to avoid users needing to manage this, or other aspects of an iPhone or iPad.

……And I see this is an old and apparently recently-retitled thread. Ah, well.

MrHoffman wrote:

……And I see this is an old and apparently recently-retitled thread. Ah, well.

Oops.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

MrHoffman wrote:

……And I see this is an old and apparently recently-retitled thread. Ah, well.

Oops.

No worries IdrisSeabright and MrHoffman, both sage replies to add on.

maggielou wrote:

Thank you so much.

You are very welcome. Take care.