So does Background App Refresh actually do something now...?

[jrdatrackstar1223]

I’ve noticed quite a difference in battery standby time by just turning off background app refresh. My battery would drop a couple percent during the night and now it hasn’t budged since turning off background app refresh.

I remember in iOS 10 where it didn’t really seem like it made much of a difference in terms of battery life (maybe a slight bit), and that it didnt really seem like it did anything. However, it seems like it does now (though I don’t use social media or apps where I would be able to telll if it’s working).

iOS 11.2 btw, iPhone SE. Screen on time still sucks (particularly Safari), but it does get me extra usage when the standby increases like it has with this change.

 

[venomx999]

Hi i have an SE.
I turned off background refresh for everything except Gmail and Whatsapp otherwise i wouldn't get any notifications.

I have my phone on from 7am to about 8pm then charge it before bed and its usually on 70-85% by then which is fine for me

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

Hi i have an SE.
I turned off background refresh for everything except Gmail and Whatsapp otherwise i wouldn't get any notifications.

I have my phone on from 7am to about 8pm then charge it before bed and its usually on 70-85% by then which is fine for me

Interesting I thought one should still be able to get notifications with it off but that the refresh was supposed to reload content automatically (like news articles and stuff). I have background app refresh completely turned off, yet I still get notifications for GroupMe YouTube, OfferUp, IBM Verse SmartCloud email from work, etc.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Sorig]

I've always had background app refresh OFF and always get notifications for Whatsapp.

 

[venomx999]

Interesting I thought one should still be able to get notifications with it off but that the refresh was supposed to reload content automatically (like news articles and stuff). I have background app refresh completely turned off, yet I still get notifications for GroupMe YouTube, OfferUp, IBM Verse SmartCloud email from work, etc.

Thanks for your reply!

No problem dude.

I have just tested and can confirm, with background refresh off im still getting notifications from WhatsApp and Gmail..

So now i don't even know what background refresh does lol

 

[adnbek]

Notifications are independent of Background App Refresh. Using Whatsapp or Gmail as an example, with BAP off, you'd get the notification but the actual messages or emails will only download to your phone when you launch the app. With BAP on, the messages will be downloaded in the background when a notification comes in.

So basically, you can safely turn off BAP for Whatsapp and Gmail and you'll still get the notifications.

 

[1rottenapple]

I've always had background app refresh OFF and always get notifications for Whatsapp.

Same here. That’s my primary way to communicate with my gf. The push notifications work really well on messages. Sometimes the calls are delayed by a few minutes but that’s rare.

 

[JM]

No problem dude.

I have just tested and can confirm, with background refresh off im still getting notifications from WhatsApp and Gmail..

So now i don't even know what background refresh does lol

Yeah what @adnbek said.

I have background app refresh off all day... saves a little battery probably.

 

[mlody]

Never had background refresh on as i didnt care for ot

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

Yea I always had it off on iOS 10 and never noticed much of a difference in any area. Now, with it off, my standby is a little better.

Part of me wonders if all this battery drain is because of the on-device machine learning, which would be why leaving it on now causes more drain vs iOS 10. Using Safari particularly drains the living crap out of my phone.

 

[venomx999]

If i turn background refresh off my emails via Gmail app take longer to come through, if its on i get the notification and sound straight away.

 

[JM]

Yea I always had it off on iOS 10 and never noticed much of a difference in any area. Now, with it off, my standby is a little better.

Part of me wonders if all this battery drain is because of the on-device machine learning, which would be why leaving it on now causes more drain vs iOS 10. Using Safari particularly drains the living crap out of my phone.

Yep yep another person said that turning off the safari Siri saved battery.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

Yep yep another person said that turning off the safari Siri saved battery.

See that's my current issue with iOS. Yes, we can turn stuff off, but that to me is the purpose of having these smartphones. We shouldn't have to turn stuff off and sacrifice potential improved usability and functionality just because Apple can't roll a feature in without compromising the experience of something else (in this case, battery life). In discussion, it's a cool thing that Siri can scan Safari to make recommendations and "learn you" without compromising privacy; it's something I totally want to leave on. On the flip, the cost of battery is so high that they might as well not even implement it if they can't figure out how to do it correctly without upsetting customers.

I have chosen to leave most stuff on and continue to have the options the way I had them in iOS 10.3.3 because Apple also logs activity to help improve the software. If we have to disable everything to get the experience we want at the time, how will they ever improve the software (if they are actually trying to...)?

 

[techiebug]

Background refresh has a huge impact on battery life. I leave it off for most of my apps except email and texting apps. Google photos, for example, requires it on to sync in the background.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

Background refresh has a huge impact on battery life. I leave it off for most of my apps except email and texting apps. Google photos, for example, requires it on to sync in the background.

Did you notice it effecting battery life on iOS 10.3.3?

 

[JM]

See that's my current issue with iOS. Yes, we can turn stuff off, but that to me is the purpose of having these smartphones. We shouldn't have to turn stuff off and sacrifice potential improved usability and functionality just because Apple can't roll a feature in without compromising the experience of something else (in this case, battery life). In discussion, it's a cool thing that Siri can scan Safari to make recommendations and "learn you" without compromising privacy; it's something I totally want to leave on. On the flip, the cost of battery is so high that they might as well not even implement it if they can't figure out how to do it correctly without upsetting customers.

I have chosen to leave most stuff on and continue to have the options the way I had them in iOS 10.3.3 because Apple also logs activity to help improve the software. If we have to disable everything to get the experience we want at the time, how will they ever improve the software (if they are actually trying to...)?

Agree.

Well, I'm sure the Siri stuff is efficient on a11 chip.

 

[itsmilo]

Havent had it turned on since like the week it was first introduced. Literally didnt notice any advantage, only battery drain

 

[Mascots]

If an app uses CloudKit, disabling background refresh is less suggested since that removes time to allow the OS to sync with the cloud server (and update the app) which can lead to inconsistent information until the app has been launched again.

I had a bug related to out of date today extensions and incorrect app badge counts pop up in one of my projects, only to discover it was because of that.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

If an app uses CloudKit, disabling background refresh is less suggested since that removes time to allow the OS to sync with the cloud server (and update the app) which can lead to inconsistent information until the app has been launched again.

I had a bug related to out of date today extensions and incorrect app badge counts pop up in one of my projects, only to discover it was because of that.

Very interesting. Was this the case with iOS 10 as well? I was speaking g with Apple Support through the app his afternoon and with background app refresh off, I would only get notifications for a min or so and then they would stop showing up when the phone was sleep. When I re-enabled background app refresh they start coming back.

So I guess it does do more now in iOS 11?

 

[C DM]

Very interesting. Was this the case with iOS 10 as well? I was speaking g with Apple Support through the app his afternoon and with background app refresh off, I would only get notifications for a min or so and then they would stop showing up when the phone was sleep. When I re-enabled background app refresh they start coming back.

So I guess it does do more now in iOS 11?

Notifications generally come through a separate and different service (APNS) which is unrelated to whether an app is open or is running in the background or anything like that.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

Notifications generally come through a separate and different service (APNS) which is unrelated to whether an app is open or is running in the background or anything like that.

Gotcha, and this is what I thought, as that’s the way it has always worked. However, as of iOS 11, the Apple Support app will not give me notifications unless I have background app refresh enabled on at least WiFi (even though I have notifications enabled). Maybe it’s their latest update? I think the behavior happens when I put the phone to sleep, I will miss notifications until I reopen the app.

 

[Starfia]

It could be that apps require running in the background using Background Refresh in order to be able to decide whether to send notifications.

In case your titular question was never answered – what Background Refresh does depends entirely on the app and its developer; if they implement nothing, it does nothing. If they implement something, the amount of time their app has to perform background tasks is limited.

 

[4492865]

Gotcha, and this is what I thought, as that’s the way it has always worked. However, as of iOS 11, the Apple Support app will not give me notifications unless I have background app refresh enabled on at least WiFi (even though I have notifications enabled). Maybe it’s their latest update? I think the behavior happens when I put the phone to sleep, I will miss notifications until I reopen the app.

Apps can generate notifications externally, which are them pushed to the phone immediately. In this case, an external server generates these notifications, e.g. The instagram, whatsapp or gmail server. They forward these notifications to Apple, which then forwards them to your phone - more or less. This could then also trigger a background app refresh for that particular app.

Apps can also generate notifications internally, from within the app. They can do this on a set time, on a location, but if background app refresh is on, they can also use that event to generate a notificstion if needed - without requiring an external server. It's slightly unreliable though, as iOS determines when you get to refresh yourself (as an app) at certain time intervals. So that could explain your scenario.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

So now I experimented and turned background app refresh on for both cellular and WiFi and today I got better battery life than I did with 10.3.3. I almost had 5 hours of usage and still at 50%. On 10.3.3, I would always land at 4 hours at 50%. Idk if it’s a battery glitch but I am very confused as to what is going with my SE lol.

I will say I did use slightly less Safari (which is the biggest drain of onscreen time on my SE), but not enough to where I would get an extra hour of onscreen time...

11.2.1

 

[Kagio]

Background refresh has a huge impact on battery life. I leave it off for most of my apps except email and texting apps. Google photos, for example, requires it on to sync in the background.

Tested a lot and researched a lot; obly Google Photos, Gmail and Outlook have meaningful consequences when off; those are the only THREE APPS over the world I would recommend having it on for.