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How do you force close apps while on the phone?

I was having a conversation on the phone using the speaker option. While on the phone I attempted to force close apps using force touch as I normally would. However, the phone freezes and reverts back to the phone call screen.


I am wondering if this is a bug that apple needs to look into.


Thanks


Using Iphone X with IOS 11

Posted on Nov 4, 2017 7:34 PM

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Posted on Dec 1, 2017 5:07 PM

No, it isn't a bug. You can only force close apps from the HOME screen when there are no active apps running. As the phone app is active you can't force close apps. There's a technical reason involving memory management that I won't bore you with.


But the bigger question, already raised by others, is why are you force-closing apps at all? There is no valid reason for doing so, and many reasons NOT to force close apps.

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Dec 1, 2017 5:07 PM in response to dreneyn

No, it isn't a bug. You can only force close apps from the HOME screen when there are no active apps running. As the phone app is active you can't force close apps. There's a technical reason involving memory management that I won't bore you with.


But the bigger question, already raised by others, is why are you force-closing apps at all? There is no valid reason for doing so, and many reasons NOT to force close apps.

Nov 6, 2018 12:10 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Just because you don’t think people should force close apps doesn’t mean others have to think that way. I’ve force closed apps for years whenever I don’t use them and haven’t had any issues. I don’t remember not being able to force close apps on other versions of iOS during phone calls, but it should be an available feature.

Nov 5, 2017 11:16 AM in response to dreneyn

In response to both replies, thank you for your insight. Idris, thanks for explaining that apps cannot be closed during phone calls.


In response to why I force close apps? Currently, when multiple apps are opened, it becomes difficult to navigate especially when 10-15 apps are opened at the same time. It becomes easier to swipe up to return home and look for the app via home (personally for me since I know the exact placement of my apps) as compared to searching for the apps when swiping through them when in the background. It is much more convenient to close apps that I do not need (i.e. Wells Fargo, Chase, Notes, News, NYTimes, Epocrates, Micromedex...) so that when I do swipe to toggle between apps it becomes much easier to find apps that I am using. Therefore, the issue of force closing apps, I think is appropriate, until apple comes up with a way to change the view when toggling to something where users are able to visualize current active/inactive apps at the same time-- much like minimizing the size of icons on mac or windows to visualize all content in the folder. Until then, I will continue to force close apps if it is not needed.

Nov 5, 2017 11:24 AM in response to dreneyn

I currently have 140 apps open. It doesn’t create a problem in finding apps, because the most recently used apps are always moved to the “front” by iOS. Reasons not to close are that closing increases battery drain and slows down opening apps. I almost always launch apps from their icons on the Home screen, but when I am switching between a small number of apps I use the quick launch screen.

Nov 6, 2018 12:10 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

I believe they do things if the majority of customers want them to be done. I’m not saying a majority want this feature. I’m just going to continue to swipe up on apps I’m not using because I feel more organized that way.

Jan 11, 2018 1:55 PM in response to dreneyn

This also bugs me - especially because it is inconsistent. Sometimes I can force-close apps while on the phone, while at other times I cannot. As for those who say "there's no reason to force-close apps", we all understand the logic behind that - supposedly iOS does a good enough job at resource management that it will close apps if they need to be. However, some of us have reasons to want to do this. My own petty little reason is that when I'm playing Candy Crush and have full boosters (for winning 7 levels in a row), I can force-close the app before failing the next level, then re-open it and still have the boosters! I can do this when I'm not on the phone, but when I'm on a long, boooorrrring conference call and want to play a game while listening, I can't force-close. Like I said, petty reason, but the inconsistency still bugs me.

Jan 18, 2018 9:48 AM in response to dreneyn

I experience the same thing. I want to close particular applications that use location continuously like navigation apps (Google maps, Waze, Uber, Lyft, etc,) to prevent them from draining my battery. I have experienced that each application using location, movement, etc. queries that information indecently and at different frequencies. In the past, the more of the applications you’ve had opened the greater the battery drain.


Has this changed with iPhone X?

Jan 19, 2018 11:04 PM in response to dreneyn

It’s definitely a glitch that I’ve experienced as well. It’s my first day with the iPhone X and I couldn’t close out apps while on a phone call. I came across this post trying to figure out if it was something apple took away. I ended the call, then closed the apps and resumed my phone call. I tested it to see if I could close out apps while on the call again and sure enough I could. I spend a lot of time on the phone and I need to be able to close apps that ‘misbehave’ as someone else here put it. My Netflix & Hulu disconect from my tv after so long and the only way to reconnect it is rebooting the app. This is one annoying glitch, especially for a phone I’m not quite sure I’m sold on yet. I’ll possibly be switching back to my iPhone 7+.

Feb 21, 2018 11:23 AM in response to The John California

Thanks for the tip - I got it to work with a variation on these steps. Specifically:


1. Go to the Home screen (or any screen besides the Phone app)

2. Press the Lock button on the side of the phone

3. Wake the phone up

4. Unlock and go to Home screen

5. Now swipe up and hold to get to multitasking

6. Force-touch and swipe up on the app to close it


This is working for me consistently. Thanks again!

Feb 27, 2018 6:17 AM in response to BajaShouta

BajaShouta wrote:


Every app that uses data, and is open in the background, will continue to use data; whether background app refresh is on, or not.

No, that is not true. Any app that accepts notifications will wake up to process the notification, whether it appears on the multitasking screen or not. Killing it does not stop it from processing notifications. Thus, if you kill mail, it will still process all push and fetch downloads. You might be correct for streaming apps like Spotify or Apple Music, but technically they are not background processes, they are foreground, as you can see the controls for them in the Control Center when they are running. but only one streaming app will run at a time. Other apps in the multitasking screen do not run unless they are opened on the screen. In fact, most of them are not even in RAM memory. the 1 GB of RAM on most phones only has room for 3 or 4 apps, and the most recently used are the ones in RAM.

Feb 27, 2018 8:42 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Mail service on a phone is literally a special exception. There are settings for how it updates itself, and how often. But, if you have Facebook, or Snapchat, up and running in the background of your phone, they will constantly ping their servers in order to keep themselves updated. If you force-close them, they will not; unless Background App Refresh is enabled.

How do you force close apps while on the phone?

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