FAQ: Do You Need to Clear Recent Apps?

There are a lot of myths floating about in regards to phones, memory and how to manage it. One that I have heard over and over both for iPhone and Android users is the myth that your ‘recent apps’ list (often seen by double clicking the home button on iPhone or by pressing the home or menu button on Android) consists of apps that are running in the background and sucking up resources. You need to close those, the myth states, in order to improve your phone’s battery and processing power. Just about everyone I know does it. Well, if you’re one of those people, stop. Stop it right now.

What is the recent app list anyway?

What most people don’t realize is that the recent app list isn’t what it seems like. This list is actually NOT a list of apps that are currently running on your phone–that list can be found in the apps section of your settings under ‘running.’ Instead, this list is merely a snapshot of the apps you’ve used, well, recently. Contrary to popular belief, these apps actually aren’t taking up any of your CPU’s processing power at all. And most of the time it’s your CPU that makes the phone slow; not your memory.

Why shouldn’t I clear the recent app list?

It might seem like common sense that if the RAM on your phone is filling up, you ought to clear it out, right? With computers, that’s absolutely the case, but smartphones are, well, a little smarter than that. In general, smartphones are better a managing their resources than we give them credit for and having a full RAM isn’t as bad as it sounds. In fact, leaving those frequently-used apps in your recent list will have a smaller impact on your phone’s battery and CPU power as the app won’t have to cold-launch apps from scratch.

But my phone runs better when I clear out apps!

There are two possible reasons for this. The first is that you have one bad app that is actually sucking up both memory and CPU, and forcing it to completely shut down clears out some processes you didn’t know were going. Maybe it’s running location services in the background or some other process (Facebook and Skype are particularly bad about that) or it might just be a poorly coded app. Either way, it’s not clearing the memory that is helping you; it’s one bad apple. The other possibility is that it’s a placebo effect. The phone seems faster because you expect it to be faster. In reality, clearing out your recent app list can be a bit harder on your device over time.

When should I clear out apps?

There is one possible reason why I’d advocate clearing an app out of your recent apps list, and that is if an app is behaving oddly. Sometimes apps freeze or simply get locked up. When that happens, hitting the home button to back out, then swiping the app out of your recent and relaunching it will sometimes fix the issue. Although, personally, I tend to prefer to just restart my phone and clear out everything just in case.   Resources Don’t believe me? I don’t blame you. I know a lot about phones, but I openly admit I don’t know everything. If you want to read a more technical explanation from people smarter than me or need more reasons for why you ought to leave that recent app list alone, then I highly recommend this How to Geek Article for iPhones for more information. Likewise, this How to Geek article for Android phones has a lot of great information and more technical explanation as well.]]>