Running apps

[roadwarrior69]

How can I see what apps are running in the background? Is there a task manager?

 

[dgraham670]

Press the home button two times. You will see the running apps on the bottom of page.

 

[roadwarrior69]

Press the home button two times. You will see the running apps on the bottom of page.

Thanks!

 

[jsh1120]

Actually, that is not technically true. The apps you see at the bottom of the page are not "running." At least most of them. iOS has very limited multitasking capabilities. That means that when you leave an app it is almost certainly no longer "running;" it is suspended. The main exception to this generalization are audio apps (so you can listen to music or radio stations while doing other tasks) and the processes (not technically 'apps') such as notifications, bluetooth, wifi, and email monitoring.

The most recent apps you ran are "suspended." That means the information about their last state is saved so if you return to them they can be returned to that state when they are opened. And depending on how "ram hungry" an app is and when you last accessed it, even the states of apps shown on the (misnamed) "multitasking bar" may have long since have been deleted from ram.

This is all very confusing, of course. Apple intentionally misuses the conventional meaning of terms like "multitasking" and "memory" largely to conceal the fact that iOS devices have very limited multitasking capabilities and limited memory (256mg on the iPad 1 and 512mg on the iPad 2) compared to competing devices. On the other hand, the limitations on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod are essential for the fabled "smooth" operation of iOS devices compared to their competitors. By restricting multitasking (along with other limitations such as customization of the UI) Apple assures that sufficient ram and cpu processing power is available to provide very consistent performance from a relatively weak processor and limited memory.

The bottom line is that a "task manager" is neither required nor especially useful, especially for the iPad 2. If you insist on managing memory on your own, however, an app such as Xsysinfo enables you to clear memory. That can be useful on an iPad 1, I suspect, but it's mainly a sop to OCD types on the iPad 2. (P.S. I'm one of those OCD types.)

 

[roadwarrior69]

Actually, that is not technically true. The apps you see at the bottom of the page are not "running." At least most of them. iOS has very limited multitasking capabilities. That means that when you leave an app it is almost certainly no longer "running;" it is suspended. The main exception to this generalization are audio apps (so you can listen to music or radio stations while doing other tasks) and the processes (not technically 'apps') such as notifications, bluetooth, wifi, and email monitoring.

The most recent apps you ran are "suspended." That means the information about their last state is saved so if you return to them they can be returned to that state when they are opened. And depending on how "ram hungry" an app is and when you last accessed it, even the states of apps shown on the (misnamed) "multitasking bar" may have long since have been deleted from ram.

This is all very confusing, of course. Apple intentionally misuses the conventional meaning of terms like "multitasking" and "memory" largely to conceal the fact that iOS devices have very limited multitasking capabilities and limited memory (256mg on the iPad 1 and 512mg on the iPad 2) compared to competing devices. On the other hand, the limitations on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod are essential for the fabled "smooth" operation of iOS devices compared to their competitors. By restricting multitasking (along with other limitations such as customization of the UI) Apple assures that sufficient ram and cpu processing power is available to provide very consistent performance from a relatively weak processor and limited memory.

The bottom line is that a "task manager" is neither required nor especially useful, especially for the iPad 2. If you insist on managing memory on your own, however, an app such as Xsysinfo enables you to clear memory. That can be useful on an iPad 1, I suspect, but it's mainly a sop to OCD types on the iPad 2. (P.S. I'm one of those OCD types.)

Interesting. I must say I'm very impressed w the speed and performance of my new ipad2. This is probably due to the suspended mode task manager u talk about and lack for flash support.

Coming from the samsung galaxy tab 10.1 , which I thought was a great product, but ver, very laggy and slow, drove me crazy.

Apple got it right w this tablet, it's a consumption device, and it manages apps very well. If u want multiple tasking, get a notebook . I am still going to test drive this puppy as I'm still debating if I'm keeping it . So far impressed w speed and performance, ui not so crazy about yet compared to android cool features.

Thanks for the reply, very good info.