Recently closed apps bar

However, I simply do not feel like I need this feature and would therefore like to disable it. Surely, as a user, I should be allowed to choose which features to use and which to disable. I find the feature slightly annoying because unless you delete the apps in the bar one by one each day, enormous amounts of them pile up.

Don't double-press the home button.

If there's no way to disable the apps bar altogether, is there at least some way to collectively erase all of them from the bar? A sort of "clear history" command?

Press and hold the Home and Sleep buttons until the white Apple appears (ignore the Power Off slider).

Malcolm Rayfield wrote:

However, I simply do not feel like I need this feature and would therefore like to disable it. Surely, as a user, I should be allowed to choose which features to use and which to disable. I find the feature slightly annoying because unless you delete the apps in the bar one by one each day, enormous amounts of them pile up.

Don't double-press the home button.

You need to to reach the iPod quick controls.

If there's no way to disable the apps bar altogether, is there at least some way to collectively erase all of them from the bar? A sort of "clear history" command?

Press and hold the Home and Sleep buttons until the white Apple appears (ignore the Power Off slider).

This won't clear them off of the bar.

Malcolm Rayfield wrote:
Press and hold the Home and Sleep buttons until the white Apple appears (ignore the Power Off slider).

Even if you do a hard reset, all the apps are still in the multi tasking bar, though they are all closed but it's still there.

As to the op, there is no way to disable them from settings, the only thing you can do is not push the home button twice. And there's no other way to delete all of them at once, you have to do them every single one of them one at a time.

An advice I can give is that once you are done with the app, just double click on home and delete the app you won't use for the day or so.

Unfortunately there is no way to disable multitasking if you have it, and no way to enable it if you don't (like on old hardware).

The only way to enable/disable it is if you were to jailbreak your device. During the jailbreak process you have the option to enable or disable it.
Please note that jailbreak is not illegal but it is against Apple's EULA and has the potential of bricking your device if you are not careful.

I wish there was a way to "clear history" as you put it, but there isn't. You could send in a feature request to Apple...

Kwopau wrote:

Malcolm Rayfield wrote:
Press and hold the Home and Sleep buttons until the white Apple appears (ignore the Power Off slider).

And there's no other way to delete all of them at once, you have to do them every single one of them one at a time.

You can clear four off at a time.

EBSkater wrote:

Kwopau wrote:

Malcolm Rayfield wrote:
Press and hold the Home and Sleep buttons until the white Apple appears (ignore the Power Off slider).

And there's no other way to delete all of them at once, you have to do them every single one of them one at a time.

You can clear four off at a time

Yea well there are 4 in each, but you still gotta do them individually.

You can hold down one of the open multitasking icons and they will vibrate and you can delete them.

The 'multitasking' feature is useless to me, more of a hindrance than a help. I would rather not have it at all, just closing down an app when I've finished using it. I hate having to double-press my overworked home button all the ****** time to close apps I've already pressed the home button to close once I've finished using them!

You don't have to do anything. I rarely access the recently used apps or fast app switching bar - only to quit a 3rd party app that actually runs in the background such as a music streaming app. The overwhelming majority of apps do not run in the background since there is no reason or benefit for them to do so. Constantly removing apps from the recently used apps or fast app switching bar serves no purpose.

http://whenwillapple.com/blog/2010/04/19/iphone-os-4-multitasking-explained-agai n/

Allan Sampson wrote:
You don't have to do anything. I rarely access the recently used apps or fast app switching bar - only to quit a 3rd party app that actually runs in the background such as a music streaming app. The overwhelming majority of apps do not run in the background since there is no reason or benefit for them to do so. Constantly removing apps from the recently used apps or fast app switching bar serves no purpose.

http://whenwillapple.com/blog/2010/04/19/iphone-os-4-multitasking-explained-agai n/

Loads of apps don't shutdown properly, sat nav, games, radio etc. Apps I use on a daily basis have to be closed down via the multitask bar. It's annoying and pointless for many users.

Injector wrote:
Loads of apps don't shutdown properly, sat nav, games, radio etc. Apps I use on a daily basis have to be closed down via the multitask bar. It's annoying and pointless for many users.

What do you mean by "don't shutdown properly"?

A 3rd party app that has been updated with one of the iPhone's multitasking API's won't shut down when leaving the app - by design and intention.

Some of the habitual whiners here whined about a music streaming app not being able to run in the background when leaving the app, and when leaving a game the game was quit. When returning to the game the game had to be started again from scratch. Now that Apple has provided a way for a music streaming app to run in the background and for a game to be suspended when leaving the app as long as the app has been updated by the developer to do so, some habitual whiners here are whining about that. Proof that is is impossible to make everyone happy.

A sat nav app that has been updated to run in the background so you can leave the app to answer the phone - heaven forbid, or to leave the app for any reason and the app won't be quit must be quit by accessing the recently used apps or fast app switching bar - two clicks of the home button and removing the app to quit the app. I know this is way too much trouble for some habitual whiners, but too bad. Or you could contact the app developer to request they include the following with their sat nav app as TomTom does with their app. Copied from the link provided.

What happens when you’ve arrived and want to shut it off so it doesn’t drain the battery? No, you don’t need to manually task manage and force close. When you reach your destination and are no longer navigating, it will automatically stop using the background navigation and go into regular suspend mode when you leave the app. If you leave the app while still in navigation mode and disconnect from power, you’ll soon get a local notification popup asking if you would still like to navigate in the background. Tap no and send TomTom into suspend mode.

More than likely Apple will make this a requirement for 3rd party apps that run in the background, which are few and far between.

A game that has been updated to be suspended when leaving the app is "suspended", which means the app isn't using any processor cycles or battery. To quit the app, you double click the home button to quit the app, or the developer could include an option to prompt you to quit the app after the app has been suspended for a designated period of time so you don't have to double click the home button for those this is just way too much trouble for.