How to Stop Apps Refreshing in the Background on iPhone and Android

You open an app you have not touched all day, and it already knows everything that happened while you were away. That is background refresh doing its job, and it is also why a phone can lose battery and mobile data without ever leaving your pocket. The fix is not to delete the app or switch the whole phone off. It is to decide, app by app, which ones are allowed to update while you are not looking.

What background refresh actually does

On iPhone, the name is literal. After you switch away from an app, it runs for a short time and is then put into a suspended state, and Background App Refresh is what lets a suspended app check for updates and new content so the feed, inbox or forecast is current when you return. Apple says the same about quitting an app from the app switcher: if you force-quit it, it might not be able to run or check for new content before you open it again.

Android has no single switch with this name, and that is the first thing to understand. The same job is spread across battery settings, data settings and, on Samsung, sleep lists. A Pixel controls it mainly through per-app battery usage, while a Samsung phone controls it mainly through Background usage limits. Treating Android as if it had an iPhone-style toggle leads to changing the wrong setting and wondering why nothing changed.

Find the apps worth changing first

Do not restrict everything at once. Open your battery usage screen first and look for the pattern that matters: an app with a lot of background time compared with the time you actually spent looking at it. A shopping app, a game or a social app you open once a week has no business updating all day, while a messaging app, an email app or a health tracker may genuinely need to stay current.

Turn off background refresh on iPhone

Apple puts the whole control on one screen, with a main choice at the top and a switch for every app underneath. An app refreshes only when the main setting allows it and that app's own switch is on.

1. Open Settings, then tap General.
2. Tap Background App Refresh. You will see the main setting at the top and a list of apps below it.
3. Tap Background App Refresh at the top and choose Off to stop every app refreshing in the background, Wi-Fi to let apps refresh only on Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi and Cellular Data to let them refresh on either connection.
4. To keep the feature on but quieten one app, leave the main setting alone and turn off the switch next to that app in the list instead.

Wi-Fi only is the best middle ground for most people. Your apps still arrive up to date when you are home, but nothing quietly spends your mobile data plan while you are out. Full Off is better if battery is the main complaint, because then every app simply waits until you open it.

Restrict background usage on Pixel

On a Pixel, start from the app, not from a global list. Google recommends keeping Adaptive Battery and battery optimisation on, and treating a per-app restriction as the exception for apps you have actually identified, not as a blanket rule.

1. Open Settings, then tap Battery, then Battery usage, and look at the apps near the top of the list.
2. Tap the app you want to restrict, then open App battery usage. You can reach the same screen through Settings, then Apps, then the app, then App battery usage.
3. Turn off Allow background usage for an app that only needs to work while you open it. With the toggle off, the app is effectively restricted from running in the background.
4. If the toggle is on, tap the Allow background usage text itself to see the finer choices: Optimized, which Google recommends for most apps, and Unrestricted, which lets the app run in the background without restrictions at the cost of more battery.

Do not use Unrestricted as a general fix for a misbehaving app. It removes the limit rather than repairing the app, and it is the choice most likely to bring the drain back. If an app needs Unrestricted to work at all, that is a sign the app depends on background activity, and it belongs outside your restricted list, not inside it with the limit removed.

Put apps to sleep on Samsung

Samsung's version of this control is a set of lists, and the difference between them is how completely the app is stopped. Sleeping apps may still run in the background occasionally, while deep sleeping apps will not run in the background at all and only work when you open them. Never sleeping apps are the exclusion list for apps that must stay fully active.

1. Open Settings, then tap Battery and device care, then Battery, then Background usage limits.
2. Tap Deep sleeping apps, tap the plus sign, select the rarely used apps you want to stop completely, and tap Add.
3. Tap Sleeping apps and add apps you want limited but not fully stopped, such as an app you open a few times a week.
4. Before turning on Put unused apps to sleep, tap Never sleeping apps and add anything that must never be paused automatically, such as your alarm, a health tracker or a messaging app you rely on.

Which setting matches which phone

What turning it off will not fix

Background refresh is only one kind of background activity, and an honest guide should say where it ends. On iPhone, turning it off does not automatically stop push notifications, music playback, navigation or downloads, which follow their own rules. On Android, the same is true in reverse: restricting an app can delay its notifications, because a restricted or deep-sleeping app may not wake up to fetch or deliver them until you open it.

It also will not fix a phone whose battery is draining because the screen is bright, the signal is weak or an app is misbehaving while you use it. If an app still drains heavily after you restrict it, the problem is more likely in how it behaves while open, or in a bug that an app update fixes, than in its background refresh. Restricting the background setting and then checking the battery screen again is how you tell the difference, rather than assuming every drain is a background problem.

Finally, do not force-stop apps as a substitute for these settings. Force-stopping an app, especially an essential service, can stop the phone working correctly, and the app will often simply start again. The settings above are the supported way to limit background work, and they survive a restart in a way that a force-stop does not.

If an app stops updating after you restrict it

First, check whether the app is one you actually restricted, and reverse just that change. On iPhone, turn its Background App Refresh switch back on. On Pixel, turn Allow background usage back on and leave it on Optimized. On Samsung, remove it from Deep sleeping apps, or add it to Never sleeping apps if Samsung keeps putting it back to sleep automatically.

Second, check Low Power Mode, Battery Saver or Power saving mode. All of these restrict background activity across the whole phone, and they override per-app choices while they are on. If the problem started on a low-battery day, the power mode is a likelier cause than the per-app setting.

Third, check whether the app needs a different permission entirely. A messaging app that cannot send notifications may have its notifications off, not its background usage restricted. A delivery or maps app that cannot find you may have its location permission set to Never, which is a separate setting from background refresh. Fix the permission that matches the symptom instead of undoing every background change at once.

FAQ