Are you confused about Apple’s multitasking functionality in iOS? You’re probably not alone. A lot of people, myself included, have made a lot of assumptions about what multitasking actually does in iOS. It seems that most of us have been pretty wrong.
Multitasking apps, the ones that exist in the multitasking bar, aren’t multitasking in the traditional sense at all for the most part. Instead, Apple’s definition of multitasking in iOS means more of a “quick launch” than two applications running at the same time.
Fraser Speirs on Multitasking:
Let me be as clear as I can be: the iOS multitasking bar does not contain “a list of all running apps”. It contains “a list of recently used apps”. The user never has to manage background tasks on iOS … Except in a few cases, which I’ll explain, the apps that appear in the multitasking bar are not currently running. When you press the home button, iOS will tell the app to quit. In almost all cases, it quits, it stops using CPU time (and hence battery) and the memory it was using is eventually recovered if required.
Speirs has an excellent write up about the Misconceptions About iOS Multitasking, and instead of rehashing his thoughts here, we thought we’d recommend giving the article a read. It’s a good one.
Read Misconceptions About iOS Multitasking over at Speirs.org.
I don't see why people get so hyped up about multitasking on a phone to begin with.
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LikeThe linked article explains it all quite clearly.. the title of this article though adds confusion which isn't really there.
I never misunderstood the multitasking in the way that you seem to have done because I listened when Jobs/Apple explained it all in their public keynote at launch. The linked article nicely gives all the details but there was never a mystery as far as most people were concerned.
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LikeI think this is not a post from an ios developer... Don't know from where you get this but the explanation is wrong. As a developer, I can affirm this is not the way it works. Please, take a little time to google about the iOs multitask solution
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LikeSo if the apps aren't running after you hit the home button, then why is my iPod Touch 4G and iPad 1st Gen. So painfully sluggish until double tap the home button and physically close the apps in the multitasking bar? I mean as I type this comment I get about 4 words typed then the keys freeze and I have to just keep typing till it catches up. This is bloody ridiculous. I hope this gets resolved because even though I'll upgrade to the iPad 3 which won't have this problem because of the faster processor, Apple didn't come out with an iPod Touch 5th Generation. I've been a Touch fan ever since they came out, so I pray they don't scrap it in favor of the iPhone. I don't want another phone and I won't pay $850 for a 64 gig iPhone 4s to match the memory capacity of my current iPod Touch.
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LikeiOS should manage your memory. If the OS needs more juice it'll kill those idle applications automatically.
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LikeI can't tell you how many times I've heard this from a "Genius". I knew it was wrong and had nothing to prove them differently. Why they feel the need to spread this crap is beyond me.
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LikeI always take their opinion with a grain of salt. Some of them are fantastic but others are nothing more than glorified retail employees.
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