What does force stop mean on an app? Explained

If you are a smartphone user, you will definitely see “force stop,” especially when you go to your app manager. Being a novice, you will try to figure out what it means.

This brings us to this very topic: what does force stop mean on an app or on a mobile phone.

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I will explain to you what it is to force stop a mobile app, and if there’s a need for you to force stop an app o your android phone or iPhone.

What does force stop mean on an app?

To force stop an app simply means to prevent or stop an app from running in a phone’s background. Doing this helps to save a mobile phone’s battery life, especially if the app consumes a lot of battery.

To force stop an app is very good, and I do make use of this feature, especially if I have a particular app that sends tons of annoying notifications on my phone and, at the same time, consumes my phone battery.

If the app is the type I rarely use on my phone or open the app once in a given week, I will force stop the app immediately after I’m done using the app on my phone.

Let me explain a bit more about force stopping and its usefulness, and why you might need to force stop an app on your mobile phone.

What does force stop do to an app?

Force stopping prevents an app from running in the phone background, even though the app will still be able to receive updates via Google Play or the Apple Store.

This is quite different if you disable a mobile app, the app will never receive an update unless you turn on or enable the app on your mobile phone.

Kindly note that forcing an app to stop doesn’t mean deleting the app from your mobile phone, and you won’t lose any data if you force stop an app on your mobile phone.

If you force stop apps like Instagram, WhatsApp, or Facebook, you won’t lose your data or account; instead, the apps will not send notifications or messages to your mobile phone, and your account will remain intact.

How to force stop an app on iphone and android

To force stop an app on iPhone, you simply have to swipe up from the bottom of the iPhone screen (the Home bar). As you get closer to the center of the screen, keep your finger on the monitor.

Lift your finger to open the App Switcher when you see a card-size preview of the app. Swipe up on the preview of the app you want to close when you see it.

The card should be able to pass through the display’s top. If you’re using an iPhone X with iOS 11, you’ll need to tap and hold the app preview, then hit the red “-” (minus sign) button to close it.

If your iPhone has a physical Home button, double-press it to bring up the App Switcher, then slide up on the app preview to close it.

HOW TO FORCE STOP AN APP ON ANDROID 

Open the settings app on your Android phone, and scroll down to apps, and tap to open it. Scroll down to the app you want to force stop and open the app.

Or simply press hold the application, and select the option icon (i) and below you will see force as shown in the image below. 

 how to force stop an app on iphone and android

Tap on force stop, select OK to successfully force stop the app on your android phone.

Remember, immediately you force stopped the app, the app will stop running in your phone background, and you won’t receive any notifications or messages from the app, but you can still update the app.

What does it mean to force stop an app? 

It simply means to stop an application from running in a mobile phone background, and this also helps to save the battery life of a mobile phone.

WHY YOU SHOULD FORCE STOP AN APP

If you have an app that you rarely use on your mobile phone, and this app consumes a lot of battery or energy from your phone, you should force stop the app. If you’re using a Samsung phone, put the app to sleep or deep sleep.

Sleeping apps and deep sleeping apps are almost the same. With force stopping an app, they work in the same manner, though in deep sleeping apps, the app will still go back to deep sleeping mode immediately after you close the app.

● Read more about Deep sleeping apps and how it works

● Read more about What does it mean to put an app to sleep

Is force stop the same as uninstall

No, force stop is not same as uninstall cause when you uninstall an app, it will be removed from the mobile phone while force stop will stop the app from running in a phone background.

what does force stop mean

Uninstalling an app is the same as deleting an app from a mobile phone; you won’t see the app in your phone until you reinstall it. Force stopping an app will stop it from running in the background and save your phone’s battery.

Does force stop an app delete data?

Absolutely not; force stop does not delete an app’s data or the account linked to a mobile app, as everything will remain intact.

If it did, I should have said that while explaining what the term “force stop” means for an app on a mobile phone.

You don’t need to be afraid to force stop an app on your mobile phone; it won’t delete anything from the app. Rather, it stops the app from running on your phone, but all data in the app won’t be touched. This explains what the term “force stop” means.

You can only lose data if you clear data on a mobile app though accounts linked to the app won’t be deleted but the data will be deleted or removed from the app.

● You may want to read How to unsleep an app on mobile phone

Is Force stopping an app bad?

It is not bad to force stop an app, and it doesn’t have a bad effect on the mobile app. You can force stop an app if you hardly use it in order to save your phone battery life.

You shouldn’t even think thar force stopping a mobile app is bad, seriously that’s laughable cause there’s nothing wrong in force stopping an app.

The app will still remain on your phone but inactive until you open it again on your mobile phone, at which point it will become active. So, please don’t even think that force-stopping an app is bad, because it isn’t.

I do hope to have answered the question we have here, what does force stop mean and the reason to force stop an app. So if you have an app which rarely use or probably that consumes your phone battery, force stop the app when you’re done using the app.

● You may want to read Is it ok to put an app to sleep on mobile

If you’re using a Samsung phone, I recommend you to put the app to a deep sleeping apps cause the app will never run in the background as long as you’re not using the app on your phone.

This is where I draw the line on this topic what does force stop mean on an app or on mobile phones, it is left for you to force stop an unuseful app in your mobile phone.

About Kennedy

I'm Amaechi Uchenna by name, a mobile tech enthusiast who love writing articles about tips and tutorials especially relating to gadgets.

1 thought on “What does force stop mean on an app? Explained”

  1. Thank you thank you. I never met a site that explains about smartphones as clearly and succinctly as you. Keep up the good work Do you have a Youtube channel or are you on social media

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