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ios7 keeps refreshing apps after switching

I dont know if this is a new "feature", but it's really annoying.


If i have, say, an open webpage in Safari, and say i've scrolled down the page and zoomed in to a section i'm interested in, then switch to Mail to get some info, and then switch back to the webpage, the webpage will refresh and take me back to the top.

It's REALLY annoying.


Why can't it just stay where it was, like in ios6??


Is anyone else having this issue? Can anyone think of a fix?

iPhone 4S, iOS 7.0.2

Posted on Sep 27, 2013 12:16 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 16, 2017 11:14 AM

Just adding my issues here in hopes it gets attention from the powers that be


My Experience is as follows


Games - take your focus off the game and come back later and you have been refreshed out of a life and progress on current level. (I'll admit to playing Candy Crush when I have 5 idle minutes here and there )

Forms - Leave to get info on another page or app and come back to find your form emptied of previous entries.

Downloading Apps . take the focus off the app and it does not download in background as it did previously. Refocus to apps and page is refreshed to home page.

Facebook - since this is always on in background you may take a call, do work, etc and come back and now have refreshed what you left off with.


It is quite irritating and can not be called advantageous to the end user experience in any way. Maybe this frees up memory and makes the phone faster but at what cost?

1,052 replies

Mar 4, 2014 7:22 AM in response to ERSinclair

How is this helpful? I have this issue as do pretty much every other iOS 7 user. It is the reason I don't upgrade my other 4 i devices.


It is not a conspiracy theory.


Being a Mac Technician for 20 years since the days if Mac OS 6, Apple is well known for choosing to do what they want rather than what their customers want. iOS 7 is no different. As there is no choice except a different phone, their customers are stuck.


What also bothers me is that Microsoft is following the same Apple attitude with Windows 8, trying to force unwanted design down customers throats.


Why is it so difficult to provide customers with what they want, an OS that has the same features as the previous BUT with more features rather than an OS that strips out previous functionality and forces Stormtrooper white with neon contrast that gives most people headaches.

Mar 4, 2014 7:37 AM in response to lforbes

lforbes wrote:


How is this helpful?

It's not.


I have this issue

Okay.


as do pretty much every other iOS 7 user.

You base this on what? I don't know anyone (or read anywhere else) it's happening to except those posting in this thread...


What also bothers me is that Microsoft is following the same Apple attitude with Windows 8, trying to force unwanted design down customers throats.

You mean MS use to design Windows based on user inputs? And now they are ignoring those user inputs?

Mar 4, 2014 7:55 AM in response to lforbes

I'm sorry. I'm sorry to have wasted your time. Made you so angry that you had to take time out of your busy schedule to type a response.


I was just trying to throw a little humor on this. It may not be a conspiracy, but then why can't anyone get an Apple support person to admit they have even heard of the problem?


I thought it was funny. Tin foil hat, apple not listening to your thoughts..... Doesn't solve the problem......


We're beyond this being a help forum. We have established there is not much help going on here. We're just a bunch of folks waiting on someone else to solve our problem. We're waiting on that chance of good news, that someone who did a beta test will tell us our problem is solved without getting their post deleted. We're waiting on beams of light and the sound of angels singing and our beloved Apple iOS device to be whole again. Back before we were led astray by what we agree was a bad software update. (not upgrade, update - Upgrade implies better)


Don't be mad at me. Be mad at Apple.

Mar 4, 2014 8:34 AM in response to sjmawer

My wife was wondering what all the fuss was this morning so I opened safari on my iphone 4s and ironically all of the tabs that I had looked at a few hours before were still loaded. It kind of surprised me. I looked through them the second time however and they all started reloading. This issue wasn't present on the apple II


Specs: Apple II

Year 1987

Processor 16 MHz

Ram 1-4 (upgradable to128 MB)

HD 40-80 MB


25 years later


Specs: iPhone 4S

Year 2012

Processor dual core 800 MHz

Ram 512 MB

HD 8-64 GB


How can I fix this issue?


I joined this post one month ago and 120 posts (rants) later I still don't have any hope


The iPhone 4S is not an inferior device.


This kind of tech support isn't what got me going with apple.

Mar 5, 2014 12:42 AM in response to bj.frompc

I too have noticed this problem. First I found it in an app that I'm developing, and I was sure that I had a bug in my app. After investigating, I found that this behaviour is not unique to my app, but rather something that seems to happen on most if not all apps.

I have noticed one thing, that I didn't see discussed in this thread (although I must confess that I have not read all 35 pages of the thread). Apps seem to behave differently if they are launched from the iOS Launcher (i.e. home screen), or if they are launched using the "fast app switch" (double click on the home button, and then pick your app).

When I launch the app using the "fast app switch", it seems to always resume running the app wherever it left off, even if a long period of time has passed from when I last ran the app. However, if I launch the app from the iOS Launcher, then, if enough time has elapsed from when I last ran the app, it restarts the app. I know it's restarting, since I see the "splash screen" displayed.

My conclusion from this, is that the app hasn't been killed. If it was, then launching via "fast app switch" would also cause it to restart.

I'm wondering if this has been discussed before, and if anyone can else has seen this behavior.

Mar 5, 2014 1:23 AM in response to hsquare

Hsquare, that's an interesting observation but not one I have noticed myself. For me, the problem occurs regardless of how I navigate to another app. What has always puzzled me is how there does appear to be variation in the way this bug manifests itself perhaps dependent on the total number of apps on your device (unlikely), the total number of suspended apps, the time since the device was last reset, the amount of system RAM, the elapsed time since last using a suspended app, and in particular the number of tabs open and being refreshed in Safari. And now it appears the way in which one swops to another app can make a difference.


I'm rather hazy on this but I gather there are guidelines for app developers for when their app is swopped out. Do you have a degree of control of maintaining the state of your app when it detects it is being suspended?


There would appear to be many variables in this phenomenon.

Mar 5, 2014 1:54 AM in response to hsquare

hsquare - when you switch to an app using the "fast app switch", are you sure that you're not just seeing the (unresponsive) stored image of the app in its last state before it was suspended, while the app actually restarts? It appears that iOS 7 does this instead of showing the app's splash screen. This is a particularly bad design decision by Apple since when the screen eventually becomes responsive again, it's invariably in a completely different state to how you left it!


The "last app state" image is also not always a picture of the app's last state, but sometimes from some other time - another bug.


On my iPhone 4, I find that this frozen "last app state" image can be displayed for 10 - 15 seconds before the phone becomes responsive again.

Mar 5, 2014 2:41 AM in response to paulfromstone

Right on... Exactly how my iphone 4 behaves. I think it's even getting worse over time. I suspect how the bug behaves depends on the model iphone or ipad you have. I have an ipad air, and the apps got faster after the last update (Toodledo is especially noticeable). I don't believe in conspiracies, but is is stunning how Apple says nothing and seems to do nothing to address the issue.

Mar 5, 2014 8:20 AM in response to tomsruk

Tomsruk, this is FABULOUS! Thank you. You are doing the rest of us a great service.


I'd never heard of Gotta Be Mobile -- can you tell us more about it? Presumably the larger online tech magazines scan sites like these and eventually pick up their articles. I'm wondering if our sights should be next set on PCMAG, ZDNET, CNET, iMore, CNN.COM, Wired, Technology Review, ComputerWorld, etc. I'd love to see a review in ArsTechnica. Months ago I wrote to Casey Johnson, Ars Technica's tech writer who did their initial review of iOS 7 back in Sept. I didn't get a response back. Maybe I'll try again.


Thanks much for your worki.

ios7 keeps refreshing apps after switching

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