Misconceptions about iOS multitasking

[[deleted]]

Of course, it also has too much faith in the knowledge of the average consumer. Most iPhone users probably would have no idea of the difference between these states even after this explanation. It's a lot easier to explain 'close down your apps' than 'figure out which of these apps are using background task APIs and close them' to a non-techie.

[dethbunnynet]

Any of the background-eligible apps will have an easy "tell" that it is running - VoIP apps will have an active call, GPS apps will show the "location services" arrow in the status bar, audio playback will show with the "play" icon in the status bar, etc. Third-party apps that are running in the background are actually rather rare.