Until recently I was using an inexpensive Android tablet, and I had to deal with some apps that would auto-start and then run in the background all,of the time. The Weather Channel app was a particularly bad offender.
Now I have an iPad 3 where it seems harder to know what is going on behind the scenes. I am interested in the Weather Channel app if it will not be detrimental to the iPad's performance. But how can I be sure?
Lane
The Weather Channel app cannot start itself on the iPad. You, as the user, must press the icon to start the app. Then, once you are done, you can close the app by press the round Home button. There is much debate on what apps are doing when they are showing in the multitasker, but if you remove them from the multitasker, they are definitely not running.
So, once you have closed the Weather Channel app, access the multitask by double tapping the Home button (or do a 4-finger swipe up) to reveal a row of icons in the multi-tasking bar. Press and hold an icon until they all start to wiggle and you see a red circle with a minus sign ("-") in the top left. Press the minus sign to fully close the app. Don't worry, it won't remove the app from your iPad, just from the iPad's resident memory.
And that's it, the app will no longer be running. This is pretty much the way to use any app on the iPad.
Granted, there are some stock Apple apps that persist through turning off the device or rebooting it (i.e. the stock Clock app will always work if you have an alarm set). But, AFAIK, the only apps that persist are Apple default apps such as the clock app (and, you have to have set an alarm).
I hope this reassures.
Marilyn
