How do I close applications?

[taltrap]

How to close applications

Just bought a Lumia 521 then updated to 8.1 and I was wondering how to close background applications to save battery life? Or battery saver mode automatically does that for me?

 

[datisdesign]

re:

Hold the back button, you will see your applications, then tap the close button on top of them or drag them to bottom

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

re:

If you're trying to save battery, you go to the battery saver app and disable apps you don't want doing background tasks, basically apps that pull in information to update the lice tile. Closing out apps from holding the back does nothing. It just closes a "suspended" app. Suspended means its doing nothing. Just fyi!

 

[a5cent]

re:

You aren't required to manually micromanage your apps on WP, as anything that isn't in the foreground is automatically frozen (those apps remain in memory but require no CPU cycles), so those apps won't drain your battery. You can close them if you really want to though, by pressing and holding the back button, and then swiping down to close. It just won't make a difference, at least not in terms of battery life.

Some apps have real background tasks that the OS only allows to run on occasion, meaning only a few seconds every half hour (often less frequently). These are listed in the Battery Saver app, where you'll see how much the foreground and background components of each app contribute to battery drainage. From here you can completely disable background tasks which you deem not worthy of the battery power they use.

 

[taltrap]

Thanks to you all, I've just started to manage battery life with those tips.

 

[manicottiK]

Thanks to you all, I've just started to manage battery life with those tips.

Mostly, you've just started to think that you're managing battery life with those tips.

As the others said, no app is using your battery, except when it's on-screen, with just two exceptions: apps that use "special" functions (like streaming audio or GPS tracking) and apps that have background tasks. As a5cent wrote, those "background tasks" aren't like apps in the background on Android or desktop operating systems. Instead, they are specialized "parts" of apps that operate under very strict rules about memory usage, CPU usage, and bandwidth usage. At worst, each is running for no more than 50 seconds every hour and are typically doing it with the screen off since most of the time the phone is in your pocket.

The best way to save battery is to turn off your screen. Most of us have the screen off when we aren't doing anything. Gaming, which constitutes a lot of screen-on usage, uses the CPU heavily. Those two things, screen backlight and CPU, are the biggest consumers of power on your phone. Managing the time that you have those things active will make a far bigger difference in overall battery life than tweaking background task permissions and closing suspended apps.

Sadly, in the end, most battery saving tips come down to "don't use the device as intended." Oh, well, life is full of compromises.

 

[anon(123856)]

I understand where manicottiK is coming from regarding turning everything off, you're reducing the functionality of your phone. What I do is to turn off all the stuff I don't use or need. For instance while I'm at work I keep Bluetooth, WiFi and the GPS off because there's nothing for me to connect to and I know where I am! :grin: In the car I use Bluetooth to connect to my hands free setup. I turn on WiFi at home. So I guess the moral of the story is decide how and what you want to use your phone for and adjust accordingly. I may not allow a lot of things to run in the background but it doesn't impact how I use the device because I wouldn't use those features or functions anyway (because I am most definitely not a power user). But someone else might want to use them. Play around and enjoy.