Background App Refresh is a useful feature that helps update your apps in the background, enabling them to add new information. As a user of the iPhone or iPad, you can turn off the feature and activate it only when using a WiFi network.
You may choose to let it work with a few selected apps. Yes, remarkably, you can keep tabs on which apps are allowed to access the feature using the iPad or iPhone device.
Learn to Manage the Background App Refresh For iPhone and Android Devices
Does it seem like your device is always multitasking? Background App refresh may be responsible for this. Likely, the devices are actually multitasking at the right time by doing background updates whenever possible. At times the apps will perform the updates before you schedule a launch.
Although Apple has done everything to enable background refresh, a few apps still consume lots of power and resources. Regardless, you can take steps to turn off the background refresh feature. Either way, you can turn off the feature for selected apps.
How to Activate the Background App Refresh
If you are ever stuck on the permissions screen trying to activate the Background App Refresh, it may be because you already disabled the Background App Refresh globally. You should, therefore, enable it first.
Take the following steps:
- Go to the “Permissions screen.”
- Beside the Background App Refresh, Click on “Enable.”
- A dialogue box marked “Change Settings” will come up.
- Click on “Change Settings.”
- Click on “TrueMotion family” (A grayed out Background App Refresh will appear).
- Go to the screen for “Main Settings.”
- Click on “General.”
- Click on “Background App Refresh.”
- From the top, activate the Background App Refresh.
- Reopen “TrueMotion Family.”
- The Background App Refresh will be
How to Determine Apps that Automatically Refresh in the Background
If you determine that some apps are automatically refreshing in the background, turn off the related switch. Click on “off.” Some of these apps may include the iTunes Movie Trailers, the Amazon shopping app, the Amazon Kindle App, and the OpenTable (used for restaurant reservations).
To determine which apps are automatically refreshing in the background, and switch off the feature, follow these steps:
- Click “settings.”
- Tap “General.”
- Scroll down the “Apps list.”
- Determine the self-refreshing app.
- Turn off the specific switch for the self-refreshing app.
To determine which self-refreshing apps are draining your battery power:
- Click on “settings.”
- Tap “battery.”
- “Battery Usage.”
- Click on “Last 24 hours” or “Last 7 days.”
- Click on the tiny clock icon (it is found beside the twin tabs for determining the background refresh duration). While here, you can switch off all background activity for third-party iPad and iPhone.
Turning off Background Refresh for All Apps
If you use an iPhone or iPad, you can do the following to turn off background app refresh for all apps:
- Go to the “home screen.”
- Launch “”
- Click on “”
- Click on “background app refresh.”
- Toggle it off (once you do this, the switch will gray-out).
Note: Generally, you can simultaneously manage the background refresh for all apps using the master switch. Occasionally, you may wish to turn off the refresh for specific, selected apps. Consider how this can be done.
How to Turn off Background Refresh for Selected Apps
- Go to “home screen.”
- Click on the “setting app.”
- Click on “General.”
- Click on “Background App Refresh.”
- Toggle the switch for background app refresh to the right side of the targeted app (that you want to disable.) The toggled off switch will soon gray out.
- In case you wish to turn it on again, just revert and toggle on the switches.
How to Set up a WiFi-Only Background App Refresh Permission
If you prefer to have a few apps updating in the background but still wish to save on data, you can adjust the settings for the iPhone accordingly. Thus, the apps will refresh only when you connect to the WiFi network.
An added benefit is that this could preserve battery life considerably because the apps will now refresh less often. Before adjusting the settings as previously suggested for restricting the automatic background refresh feature, start with this simple process:
- Go to “Background App Refresh”
- Select “WiFi” (Not WiFi and cellular data).
- Turn off Background App Refresh “for selected apps.”
The Verdict
Learning to manage the Background App Refresh feature for your iPhone or iPad can be advantageous and most beneficial. It can help lengthen the device battery life and maximize the use of data.
If you feel this is important, learn the different ways you can do so effectively. You merely need to master the various ways to tweak the Background App Refresh settings. You can remarkably extend battery life while preserving data and saving on costs. Take steps to turn off this feature entirely and get the incredible benefits that most users of the iPhone and iPad can easily access.