Use a variety of apps on your iPhone and iPad. To make it easier to switch to recently used applications, you can use the application switcher (” Application switcher “). This allows you to quickly switch between apps with the App switcher on iPhone and iPad. A view appears showing the different applications that are running. You can browse it and turn on or off the application.
What is an application selector or an application switcher?
The application selector displays the most recently used applications in chronological order. However, this does not mean that all the applications in this overview are actually active and consuming batteries. The application in the application switcher has been paused. This puts them in standby mode, so they’re ready to use once you turn them on again.
This feature is useful if you want to quickly return to recently used applications. For most people, the app switcher is also where they force an app shutdown. You can do this by swiping up the relevant application from the application selector.
The convenience of the application selector is that you can preview the appearance of the application. This way you don’t have to rely on your application’s icon, but you can immediately see what your application recently displayed. There are exceptions, and we tell you about them in this guide.
Use the App Switcher to view the latest apps on your iPhone
Activating the application switcher varies from device to device. You can only open the App switcher if your iPhone is unlocked and the home screen or app is on the screen. On the iPhone X and newer models (not including the iPhone SE 2020), swipe up from the bottom of the screen. About halfway down the screen, place your finger briefly on the same spot. The application selector will appear automatically.
If you have an iPhone 8 (Plus) or earlier, or an iPhone SE 2020, press the round home button twice in quick succession. The application selector will then appear. If it doesn’t work, try again and try printing faster. If it continues to work, your home button may have a problem.
Applications appear one after another, and you can swipe right to browse through all the open applications. Clicking on an app opens it. In this way, you can quickly switch from one application to another.
Use the App picker to view recent apps on the iPad
The App Switcher looks different on the iPad. Applications are displayed side by side on two lines, rather than stacked on top of each other like cards. The most recent app is in the upper right corner, and the next app is below it. Then, all subsequent applications opened are grouped with the Z gesture.
You can open the App Switcher on the iPad just like you open the iPhone. Of course, this option doesn’t work on ipads without a home button. There’s an extra trick for the iPad: Swipe four fingers up from the center of the screen.
Refresh the application in the background
For privacy-insensitive applications, you will see a display of the last time you left the application. When you leave the application, it remains active for a while before the application is set to inactive. Some app content is deliberately not displayed to prevent you from seeing balance information from the banking app without logging in. Government applications also exhibit this behavior, so not everyone can view your government mail from the application selector.
Not all data is constantly updated when the application is inactive. For WhatsApp, for example, it involves automatic backup of chats. Push notifications continue to pass. If you want inactive applications to still check for new content, you can enable this feature:
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Go to General > Background Refresh.
3. Enable the Background Refresh function.
4. Select whether to allow background refreshes for each application.
Apply switcher and switcher
When you open the Application switcher, you will also see at the bottom all the applications that can be accessed through Handoff. This feature lets you quickly move your work from another Apple device to your current device. For example, if you type email on your Mac, you can continue writing on your iPhone.
