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How to turn off background app refresh on iPhone and iPad

Background app refresh on iOS allows apps to run in the background if needed. For example, if the a podcast app needs to download the latest episode of a show you’re listening to, or if mail needs to download your latest emails.

While this works well most of the time, sometimes an app can abuse the feature and force itself to run in the background all the time. This could lead to huge battery drain, or a slower device.

Follow along to learn how to turn off this feature…

How to turn off background app refresh on iPhone and iPad

  1. Head into Settings > General > Background App Refresh.
  2. From here you can tap into each individual app to turn off the feature on an app by app basis or you can use the master toggle by digging into the Background App Refresh menu on top and tapping the Off option.

You can also opt to have it running only when on Wi-Fi or with Wi-Fi & Cellular Data.

Generally speaking, this feature should be kept enable as most apps will not abuse it and will use it in a meaningful way.

For more help getting the most out of your Apple devices, check out our how to guide as well as the following articles:


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