If you are a person who wants to extend the autonomy of the iPhone as much as possible, background updates are your biggest enemy. In this article we explain what this type of process is and how you can control it.
What are background updates
As its name suggests, background updates allow applications to always be up-to-date. In this way, when an application is opened, it will be completely ready to be used without waiting. Otherwise, you always have to wait for an application to start and load all the data.
From Apple they clearly explain that the applications that are in suspension are not actively in use or open , nor do they consume system resources such as battery or processing capacity. In the case of having an application with updates in the background, this changes, since there are updates and new content is constantly searched.
What it means to have background updates active
Following the logic of its definition, having background updates active saves us a few seconds to use an app. But what is really interesting for users is the battery consumption. In the case of having problems with the autonomy of the iPhone it is good to do a review of the applications that have access to the updates in the background.
Obviously having a constantly running process in the background is not the best ally for autonomy. So if you deactivate them you will gain autonomy in exchange for sacrificing not having access to the applications instantly. That second that you lose in what an app loads because it can be sacrificed, since it is barely priceless. It is also important to make clear that once updates are deactivated in the second, notifications will continue to come from the main applications. For example, you will never stop receiving notifications of new WhatsApp or Telegram messages. For this reason, it is advisable to deactivate them to save battery power, if necessary, since it does not lose too much. But if you’re comfortable with this feature, iPhone comes with this option enabled by default.
Turn off background updates on an iPhone
Apple gives many options to customize updates in the background. They can be restricted to all applications so that none have access to updates in the background or to do so in a more selective way. In order to go through this customization process, just head to Settings> General> Background Update.
In the heading of this section you will find a section that says ‘Update in the background’. If you click there, you can choose between three different options:
- No – Turn off background updates for all general apps.
- Wi-Fi: Background updates will only be used when connected to a Wi-Fi network.
- Wi-Fi and mobile data: in this case, background updates will always be active regardless of the internet connection you have.
If you go back and go down a bit you will find a list with all the applications you have installed on the iPhone or iPad. You can uncheck those apps that you do not want to be updating in the background because you do not use them regularly or they are not vital for you. In this way, it is not so radical to remove all the apps that are using this function. Obviously, the more apps you have marked, the greater the consumption of battery and mobile data.
In short, if you want to preserve the battery of your device this is a very interesting option and that will hardly have an impact on your day to day. If, on the other hand, you want to enjoy all the functions that your iPhone brings without regard to the battery, simply activate them and you will have a much more fluid and fast experience.
