Where the setting is
Settings → General → Background App Refresh. The top entry controls the feature overall, with options for Off, Wi-Fi only, or Wi-Fi and Cellular. Below it every app that uses the feature is listed with its own switch.
Setting the top control to Wi-Fi only is a sensible default: apps stay current when you are on Wi-Fi and stop consuming cellular data and power when you are out.
What an app loses when you turn it off
It can no longer update its content while suspended, so it refreshes when you open it instead. For a news or social app that means a moment's loading rather than instantly current content. For a messaging app it can mean notifications arrive but the content only loads when you open it.
Push notifications themselves are unaffected — those come through Apple's notification service, not through background refresh. Turning this off does not stop you being notified.
Which apps to switch off
Games, shopping apps, banking apps, utilities, anything you open deliberately rather than rely on being current. None of them benefit meaningfully from refreshing while you are not looking.
Leave it on for mail, messaging, calendar and anything you genuinely want ready the moment you open it. That handful is where the feature earns its cost.
Why turning it off entirely is usually wrong
The saving from the last few apps is small, and the cost is that everything feels slightly stale. Apps that sync data — health trackers, note apps, cloud storage — can also fall behind in ways that produce confusing results later.
Selective is better. Ten minutes going down the list once is worth more than the blanket switch.
Checking whether it is helping
Settings → Battery, viewed over the last 10 days, splits each app into screen time and background time. If an app you switched off still shows heavy background activity, something else is waking it — location, notifications or audio.
Our battery drain guide covers finding those, and our guide to what actually drains battery ranks the settings by real effect.
Low Power Mode does this for you
Low Power Mode pauses background refresh automatically along with several other things, so if you are already running it permanently this setting matters less.
Our Low Power Mode guide covers exactly what it changes and how to keep it on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Background App Refresh on iPhone?
Settings → General → Background App Refresh. The top control sets it overall and each app has its own switch below.
Does turning off Background App Refresh stop notifications?
No. Push notifications come through Apple's notification service and are unaffected.
Should I turn off Background App Refresh completely?
Usually not. Switch it off for apps you open deliberately and leave it on for mail, messaging and calendar.
How much battery does Background App Refresh use?
It varies by app. Check Settings → Battery over the last 10 days and look at each app's background time.