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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 11, 2014 5:13 AM in response to sjmawer

Confirming no improvement in any way on the refresh issue.


You know the one that drives me the craziest even though it has the least actual detrimental effect on my work?


The Kindle app for iPad.


Every single time I switch out of it, no matter how briefly, the whole thing refreshes, and sometimes the app seems to totally reboot. Often, the snapshot of where I was comes up, and I peacefully resume reading, the way it ought to work, but deep down, I know it's just the snapshot and the whole thing will go white in a second and take about 30 seconds to reload.


For all my other gripes, the refresh problem is numero uno. I've been a friend of Apple since I bought my original Apple ][ Integer Basic machine, but, dammit, I have to be able to work, and this problem is a dealbreaker.

Mar 11, 2014 7:19 AM in response to tomsruk

7.1 is definitely working better for me (like the versions I wasn't allowed to talk about did too).


I've had both Facebook and eBay apps running since installing 7.1 (16 hours so far), which was definitely not possible with 7.0(.x).


Safari refreshing on every tab change has also been resolved for me.


If things haven't changed for release, Google Maps should also now keep running if it's enabled for Background App Refresh.


An issue still unresolved is the display of apps' previous state when switching to them using the app switcher, when they're actually restarting. I've read that there's a setting that apps should do that stops this, for use when they can't restore themselves to the same view (it makes their splash screen display instead). It might be an issue with iOS rather than the apps though, since the splash screens are displayed when their icons are used to switch back to them instead.

Mar 11, 2014 9:36 PM in response to oscarfromguilford

Oscar, thanks for bringing a smile to an otherwise depressing and gloomy thread. :-)


I'm hoping to update to 7.1 tomorrow and have a plethora of examples that have been plaguing me that I can test. But unfortunately I have more hope that a 16-seed will win the NCAA tourney than I do that Apple has actually addressed this properly. But here's to hoping!

Mar 11, 2014 10:49 PM in response to sjmawer

Not fixed for this Verizon 4S user.


I'm done, I think. I have owned every iPhone since the first and it's never been this bad. Sometimes an update brought bad battery life or gosh, there was even antennagate. But this is truly appalling. My phone worked fine on iOS 6. My 3GS still works fine on iOS 6. If they couldn't support iOS 7 on the 4S, they shouldn't have allowed the update.


This phone is unusable for the features I've depended on in a smartphone for years. My 3GS can do things the 4S cannot.


They had six months to fix this and I see zero improvement, and it isn't a function of can't - they could just admit they were wrong and allow a downgrade to to 6 - it's a function of that they won't. And the won't is the arrogance that has always plagued Apple.


I have never owned an Apple computer, and I never bought an iPod. They only reason I broke my rule is that the iPhone was truly revolutionary. And in some ways it may still be the best of the lot, especially if you look at a 5S. But it is no longer the only game in town.


Wishing you all luck.

Mar 12, 2014 7:27 AM in response to sjmawer

If memory is the problem, it's too bad they haven't found a way to utilize the mass storage (i.e. the phone's 16gb). I'm sure it would be slower, but not as slow as having to restart/redo each time you return to an application.


Moving from a direct addressing to a page file memory system must be a challenge -- too bad they didn't recognize this problem when designing ios 7 and build it then.

Mar 12, 2014 7:43 AM in response to lillynews

My thoughts exactly. If there's spare memory use it.


Well I suppose we are now pinning our hopes on iOS 11, if we all last that long. Of course, by then our aging devices will be no better than placemats and only the 4nd gen iPad Air will run it more of less properly. And those of us that are left, white-haired and haggard, will mutter wistfully into our cocoa "I remember back in iOS 6 when app refreshing really worked". And the grandchildren will look at each other, raise their eyes, and turn back to their trusty Google Contact lenses.

Mar 12, 2014 11:17 AM in response to chronicon helveticum

The situation now is worse than having no multitasking. At least before multitasking you knew applications were being closed and returned to a particular state when you left (like page number in iBooks/kindle). Plus you didn't lose info because your phone didn't pretend like it could do multitasking like ios 7 pretends to.


It's sad that I'd be better off with a pre 3GS-pre multitasking iphone than my 4s with ios 7.

ios7 keeps refreshing apps after switching

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