People Discover Battery Life Hack Thanks to the "Background App Refresh" on iPhone

"Background App Refresh" became available to iPhone users in 2013, when Apple released iOS 7, per Macworld. However, many iPhone users still aren't entirely sure what the feature does. And you can't blame them, because the explanation in Settings is not super in-depth.

If you pull up the Background App Refresh option in Settings, the explanation reads: "Allow apps to refresh their content when on Wi-Fi or cellular in the background. Turning off apps may help preserve battery life." Let's get into the specifics.

Turning on Background App Refresh essentially allows apps to refresh their content in the background, even when you're not using them. Apps will check for new data and updates so that everything is up-to-date and loaded in the app when you open it again.

If you don't enable Background App Refresh for an app, you'll have to wait for the data to load when you open the app.

For example, if you had Background App Refresh disabled for Instagram, it would take a minute for new feed posts to load when you open the app.

So if there's an app or widget you need real-time updates from, like Weather, you'll need to enable Background App Refresh for the corresponding app.

If you're using a plan with limited data, you may want to turn Background App Refresh off to conserve data use.

And if apps are constantly checking for new data or updates, they drain battery power more quickly. So if you're trying to conserve battery, it's a good idea to turn Background App Refresh off for certain apps.

When you turn on the "Low Power Mode" iPhone feature, your phone automatically disables Background App Refresh in order to conserve your phone's battery. When you disable Low Power Mode, your phone's previous Background App Refresh settings will resume.

To adjust your Background App Refresh settings, open the Settings app and click on "General." Scroll down and click on "Background App Refresh." The screen that appears will allow you to adjust the Background App Refresh settings for individual apps.

If you'd like to apply the same refresh settings to all of your apps, click the "Background App Refresh: Wi-Fi & Cellular Data" button at the top of the screen. From there, you can select "Off," "Wi-Fi," or "Wi-Fi & Cellular Data."

"Wi-Fi" is a good option for folks who are using a limited data plan and only want apps to update when they're connected to Wi-Fi.

Notification settings are not affected by the Background App Refresh settings, so iPhone users will still get notifications from apps even if the app is not loading data in the background.

To adjust notification settings for an app, go to the Settings app and click on "Notifications." You can then scroll down and adjust notification settings for specific apps.

Turning on notifications but disabling background app refresh is a good way to get important email or message updates without using too much data or battery.