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iOS 7/iPhone 5s: 1) Does killing apps help? 2) "Defragging"?

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Old Dec 8, 2014, 8:04 am
  #1  
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iOS 7/iPhone 5s: 1) Does killing apps help? 2) "Defragging"?

1) I sometimes realize that I have 20 open apps running in the background. Googling reveals directly contradictory information as to whether killing them helps with battery life or not.

2) My 16GB 5S has much more space used than I think should be the case (I've not added anything since upgrading from the 4S; it showed about 3G free but now the 5S shows 1GB free). I can't figure out what is taking so much more space? Is there anything equivalent to defragging that would help gain back more storage memory?

TIA!
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Old Dec 8, 2014, 8:11 am
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1. You will want to turn off background app refresh amongst other things. You don't need to stop a background app.

2. iTunes will provide breakdown of what is using the available space. The newer iOS firmware does require more space.
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Old Dec 8, 2014, 8:29 am
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Thanks. iTunes shows a big chunk of space being taken up by "Other"

Btw, I have no videos on the phone.
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Old Dec 8, 2014, 8:40 am
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Re: (2), do you have any chat apps installed with lots of pictures in the chats? From my experience Whatsapp in particular seemed to be unable to reclaim memory even after deleting the contents of a chat.
You can also go to Settings>General>Usage to see the individual memory usage for each installed app on the phone and check if there's one taking up more space than expected.
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Old Dec 8, 2014, 9:04 am
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iOS seems to have a nasty memory leak issue, and unlike android you can't go in to an individual app and clear the cache.

What i've seen suggested before going the nuclear route of wipe and restore is to turn iCloud backup off, sync with iTunes, and turn it back on, then restart your phone. Whether it works or not is another story.
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Old Dec 8, 2014, 10:03 am
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Reference/link for "nasty memory leak"?

OP - I'm on 8.x, but can see what's being used through Settings/General/Usage/Manage Storage. Was that in 7.x, can you see what app is using what memory?
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Old Dec 8, 2014, 10:42 am
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I use iCleanPro, which is a cydia tweak to periodically clear unwanted hidden files/caches, etc. I think there are apps that do the same on iTunes, this might help you get started:

http://maktechblog.com/how-to-clean-...s-from-iphone/
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Old Dec 8, 2014, 12:14 pm
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I've never noticed a difference in battery life by killing apps, unless one particular app is clearly misbehaving. In general, iOS and Android are very good at putting apps to sleep to save battery when they're not being used. iOS 8 will show you what's been using the battery under Settings - General - Usage, though it's generally something unhelpful like "Home and Lock Screen".

Defragging doesn't apply with solid state memory devices - it's an artifact of the physical storage medium of hard drives. While it's true you can't manually delete an app's cache, you can see how much storage apps are using under Settings - General - Usage.
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Old Dec 8, 2014, 1:06 pm
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
While it's true you can't manually delete an app's cache, you can see how much storage apps are using under Settings - General - Usage.
I don't fully understand exactly what is being stored, only that when i 'cleaned' my devices using the iCleanerPro tweak, got the following:

1. 32gb 5s: 450mb more storage
2. 32gb iPad air: 1.5gb more storage

I suspect there are log files, cache files, temporary files etc that pile up over time and is not wiped unless using a third party app.
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Old Dec 8, 2014, 4:49 pm
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Originally Posted by KIXman
Re: (2), do you have any chat apps installed with lots of pictures in the chats?
Turns out that my messages app (BiteSMS) was taking up a whopping 1.5GB of space due to attached pictures.

Originally Posted by dtsm
I use iCleanPro, which is a cydia tweak to periodically clear unwanted hidden files/caches, etc.
THIS! Was amazing. I now have 4.5GB free space, up from 1GB.

Originally Posted by gfunkdave
I've never noticed a difference in battery life by killing apps, unless one particular app is clearly misbehaving.
OK. Will not worry about killing.

Thanks to all!
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Old Dec 9, 2014, 1:38 am
  #11  
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Of course the obvious answer to the OP is "There's an app for that". It's called Carat and it measures the battery utilization of your apps. It recommends killing the apps that use up your battery and IME it definitely helps.

It generally tells me to kill AppStore, Camera, MobileSMS, MobileTimer and Weather. I usually kill most other apps on my own just out of habit.
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Old Dec 9, 2014, 2:13 am
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Originally Posted by stimpy
Of course the obvious answer to the OP is "There's an app for that". It's called Carat and it measures the battery utilization of your apps. It recommends killing the apps that use up your battery and IME it definitely helps.

It generally tells me to kill AppStore, Camera, MobileSMS, MobileTimer and Weather. I usually kill most other apps on my own just out of habit.
If you have iOS8 then there is no need for an app: Settings->General->Usage->Battery Usage
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Old Dec 9, 2014, 2:16 am
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Originally Posted by nux
If you have iOS8 then there is no need for an app: Settings->General->Usage->Battery Usage
Yes but this thread is specifically for IOS7 right? And even with IOS 8, there is a bit more detail to the report with Carat.
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Old Dec 9, 2014, 7:59 am
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Originally Posted by cblaisd
THIS! Was amazing. I now have 4.5GB free space, up from 1GB.
For jailbreakers, this is worth reading: http://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/co..._81_jailbreak/. In particular Mikoto is excellent free tweak. Developer is super reliable....
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