Shutdown your iPod Touch for optimum performance
By Jonathan Schlaffer
The iPhone and iPod Touch are for all intents and purposes handheld computers with mobile processors, memory and storage space, just like a real computer would have. And, just like a real computer, it should be shut down every once in a while for best performance.
In the case of the iPhone, this will prevent it from fetching updated emails when you’re on a “roaming” or foreign network and in the case of the iPod Touch doing so will get you improved performance.
If you have a lot of songs on your iPod Touch, it’s almost as if going through your play list stores a cache of the songs you’ve played which stays in resident memory, even when it’s “off.” With a large library of songs this is detrimental to the performance of the device.
Some iPod Touch owners have noticed that while playing large play lists or in “shuffle” mode, the iPod will stop playing music and return to the “home” screen. Odd behavior to be sure but it’s almost as if the iPod has run out of memory and closes the music application to clear it. But, some form of cache must still be saved because you will be able to play fewer and fewer songs before it exhibits the same behavior again.
By default when you “turn off” the iPod Touch, it goes in to a standby mode which maintains the device’s memory (RAM) just like a laptop would. You wouldn’t go a week or longer without shutting down your laptop or desktop completely and the same holds true for the iPod.
You need to shut it down completely every so often to “clear” the memory/cache of songs. To do so, press and hold the power button on top of the unit until “Slide to power off” is displayed, do so. The only side effect of this is it will take longer to “startup” when you turn it back on, just like a real computer would.
My guess is that since the iPod Touch/iPhone run a mobile version of OSX that exiting the applications doesn’t really close them and they are still left running in memory, just like when an application is “closed” on the real OSX it is left running. This was probably not a good design decision for a mobile device with more limitations on memory. If that is the case and I’m not saying it is; superficially that appears to be the case.
Related:
Entry was posted
on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 7:21 am
under 
Print This Post
Read more entries by Jonathan Schlaffer.
Stumble It!
March 22nd, 2008
“You wouldn’t go a week or longer without shutting down your laptop or desktop completely and the same holds true for the iPod.”
Maybe if you are a Windows user. The only time we reboot our Macs is if a software update requires it. And we won’t mention the months the unix desktops stay running for…
March 22nd, 2008
“Maybe if you are a Windows user. The only time we reboot our Macs is if a software update requires it. And we won’t mention the months the unix desktops stay running for…”
Eh? WHY is it that Mac users like to, almost fanatically, point out any supposed deficiencies in Windows whilst ignoring the glaring problems with their own computer of choice.
In fact, you guys are the one’s getting the short end of the deal because we Windows users have a massive range of software and games that simply aren’t available to Mac users, and we also have an OS that is becoming more stable and feature-rich with each edition.
March 24th, 2008
mac and Linux users are just plain jealous of windows users. I have used both Linux and mac but always ended up using windows again. No matter how many faults it has, its still the king of the os’es and I can play, download, purchase all the latest games and software I want while using windows. I kinda feel sorry for mac and Linux users, they are simply stuck in their jealousy and stupidity.
July 19th, 2008
[...] Ipod Touch/Iphone Issues may be from…. Hello, Hope this helps some of you as it has me, It would be nice if Apple could tell us things like this gentleman with the link below I am providing. I have been playing with a Ipod touch and many many apps… I kept having freezes and such.. then I came across this page: http://iphonetouch.blorge.com/2008/0…m-performance/ [...]
October 27th, 2008
I have had that problem with my 2nd Generation iPod Touch where it would stop playback and go to the home screen. I restored it and it fixed the problem. The funny thing is, I took it to the Apple store and had a tech look at it, and he couldn’t find the cause of that problem. If simply turning the iPod off fixes that problem, then I just learned something new. Thanks for the info.
October 29th, 2009
I’m powering mine down, but the PC analogy doesn’t make sense. It’s actually worse for you to shut down your PC than to leave it running all the time. And your memory only goes away if you have a memory leak (aka badly programmed app). Memory in good apps should be properly released and cause no issue. It is however, bad for your battery to leave it running constantly since you’ll drain it far faster in standby than when it is off. But I guess that’s dependant on use, time between uses, etc.
As for the Mac user, you’re just as stupid as the average PC user you are just more stuck up about it. There is no real benefit to Mac, I don’t get spyware, viruses or any of that garbage on my PC. Macs are just more idiot proof at the cost of good software and games.
As for the PC user, you’re just as bad as he is since you’re just stating the obvious without actually countermanding any of his points. PCs are harder to set up properly and have far more issues with rogue programs because the average user is unprepared for how to prevent it.
My advice is you both uninstall the internet and use your IPODs for web browsing because clearly the Ipod is superior in both cases and then I wouldn’t have to deal with as many of you people cluttering up the interwebs