Switching off vs. app shutdown (iOS)

by **mrnewsguy** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:30 pm

I'm in the habit of using the "switch off" function in the menu each time my commute is over in the morning and afternoon. But in iOS the app is still technically running. I have to bring up the fast app switch mode (double-click the home button), hold the icon down, and then tap the "minus" icon to truly shut the app down. My question is: Unless I do this each time, isn't the app still generating data? It seems that my battery power suffers a lot during the day if I forget to fully shut the app down this way. It would be nice if this full shutdown was automatic from the "switch off" option in the Waze user menu.

by **AndyPoms** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:46 pm

This is covered in multiple places in the forum....

1) Menu->Switch off is the proper way to exit Waze. It send the last bit of data off to the servers & shuts down. It stops running all Waze processes & unloads itself from memory.
2) Double tapping the home button bring up the recently used applications list. Apps shown here are not necessarily running, but have simply been run recently.

by **AlanOfTheBerg** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:14 pm

mrnewsguy wrote:I'm in the habit of using the "switch off" function in the menu each time my commute is over in the morning and afternoon. But in iOS the app is still technically running.

Technically, no it is not. Andy covered that. However, there has been some (as yet anecdotal) info that suggests otherwise. However, it is unknown whether this is due to Waze or a possible iOS bug.

by **ottonomy** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 8:36 am

The behavior of Waze after it is "switched off" can be verified on a jailbroken phone. There is a UI tweaking app called Springtomize which has a setting that makes inactive apps appear dimmed in the app-switcher that appears when the home button is double-pressed. Inactive, in this context, means no longer using any system or hardware resources. When Waze is switched off, it does appear dimmed down there, which means that the icon is merely acting as a shortcut to return to it as a recently used app, but that it is for all practical purposes shut down. I am not advocating jailbreaking, but just trying to reinforce the opinion that unless some uncommon bug is at work on your phone, you can depend on the switch-off method working as advertised.

One GPS traffic avoidance app which claims to shut down battery draining resources when the app is not in the forefront, but does NOT effectively do so, is INRIX. My bad experiences with that app, and vehement refusal by the developer to admit that what I was experiencing could possibly be the case, is what drove me to revisit Waze, which had been a bit clunky when in first tried it many moons ago. I was delighted to find that Waze had vastly improved in the interim. I've never looked back.