Disable Multitasking on Ipad

Is there a way to disable multitasking?

No.

I find it useless

Then don't use it.

and annoying

How is it annoying?
Just use the iPad as you did with 3.2.2.
Instead of tapping Home twice, tap it once and do as you previously did.

There is no way to disable multitasking. Also multitasking is not enabled for every app by default. Every app needs to implement multitasking in order to enable it for that app. Otherwise the app just runs like it used to run in 3.2.2 and shuts down once you hit the home button.

The list you see by double tapping the home button is simply a list of the recently used apps. Some of them could be running a service in the background. Usually you will have a visual indicator for apps running in the background in the status bar on top.

I'll have filled my ipad memory with applications slowing it down more than the 4.2 update already has

Having apps in memory doesn't slow the iPad down. They are frozen. If the iPad needs to release some RAM it will do so itself, by quitting the least recently used App.

now if I want to close down my apps

You don't have to close your Apps. That's the whole point.

You need to educate yourself on how multitasking works in iOS 4 rather than whining like a child. Most apps don't actually run in the background.

One, it is NOT on by default, and Two, it doesn't use RAM. I recommend reading up on iOS4 a little more.

@slickpig:
as already said by others, doubletapping the homebutton shows recently used apps, NOT currently running apps. so its now faster to switch between apps which are located on different pages.
multitasking apps will just run in the background without any need to change some settings.
For example, I can now have a countdowntimer running in the background and practice with a metronome in the foreground, after a certain time I get a message that says 1min is over.
This was not possible with 3.2.2

hope this helps
greetings wolfger

If I understand the way it works, idle apps will close out themselves.

Multitasking is one of the things I (and lots of other people) were waiting for. I can now listen to Pandora and still check my mail, just as one example. It's not about switching apps quickly, it's about allowing non-Apple apps to continue to do what you want them to do even while doing something else. It makes the device significantly more flexible.

I haven't noticed that my iPad runs any more slowly since I upgraded. I've been playing with it pretty much non-stop.

Best of luck.

Pandora was probably my #1 reason for wanting the multitasking.

iOS 4.2.1 actually improved the performance of my iPad, not degraded it.

Multi-tasking in iOS 4 is already a known entity. It is limited to some core services to conserve battery power and preserve overall performance.

Most apps are not multi-tasking capable under iOS 4 and thus actually do CLOSE when you leave them. They do however leave their icon in the task switcher to make it a lot easier to switch back to them if you need to.

With your flash comment, I have to consider the possibility that I have been trolled here.

But, if you want a system where they use traditional multi-tasking and flash, try an Android based device. I can tell you my partner has one and he never passes an AC outlet. And that is no joke. Whereas, both my iPhone and iPad work all day long with heavy use and still have juice to go most of the evening before I put them on the charger, at my choosing, not because the device is battery dead.

If iOS does not meet your needs, PLEASE sell your device and get something that will make you happy. However, if you have a real issue and require assistance with it, I am sure we, fellow users, would be more then happy to assist you.

I agree with you.

Some apps are frozen but many others still run and battery level goes down down down

Regarding this comment: "Most apps are not multi-tasking capable under iOS 4 and thus actually do CLOSE when you leave them. They do however leave their icon in the task switcher to make it a lot easier to switch back to them if you need to.". sadly too true. I was hoping you could play a game and switch to something and the game would resume where you left off. But when you go back to it (Scrabble, for example) it puts the icon in the tray but when you click it, it completely starts over and re-loads the whole app. Not helpful at all in this case.

I would like to be able to disable it for certain apps that seem to crash more frequently with this feature or have bugs that mean they need to be reloaded and so now require more steps to "restart". For example huff post has a bug such that after viewing a web page opened by clicking on a link in an article, the page on huff post is no longer visible and the app doesn't work properly. The only way to use it is to restart. So now I have to exit the app then double tap to access the background app, exit out of it and then restart.

Well, Julian Wright is wrong. Some apps definitely DO stay in RAM. Their being active and taking up CPU isnt an issue. Their taking up precious RAM is. After you run Mai., iPod and Safari, free RAM will drop to like 5-10 megs, and if a newly open app needs more, iOS needs to freeze running apps, flush the RAM and make it ready fot the new app. That takes time, no matter how you slice it. IPad doesnt get magically faster with iOS. It puts a great load on the device. Get used to it. Its the iPhone 3G situation all over (of course, iPad is way way faster now, but with iOS 5, things WILL go downhill again.

This article will give you a little more insight on multitasking in iOS 4 and how it works.

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

rajo wrote:
Well, Julian Wright is wrong. Some apps definitely DO stay in RAM. .... Etc.

Well, I had to go back and check what Julian said which, essentially,was that most apps don't keep on running. You, however, refute that by insisting that some do . . . .

Okay. So you're both right. Or, wrong.