GlyphMay 4, 2024
Yesterday my kid was explaining how to do something on their iPad, and they told me "first you have to go into the debugger", which really threw me for a loop. After asking a few questions about it, it became clear that the "debugger" was the multitasking view. When I asked why they were calling it the "debugger", they said "because that's where you go if an app has a bug, you throw it off the screen to get the bugs out". Apparently "debugger" was a word of their own invention, in this context
Show threadSquiggle
@glyph I don't think that kills the app though. You need to go to settings, then apps, then force a stop there.

You will notice the stop button is not greyed out if you tried to kill the app with the kids' technique.

If you have a rooted phone you can run ps -aux on the linux command line to confirm.
May 4, 2024 at 11:19amWeb
Show threadIzzardMay 4, 2024
@sqgl @glyph Sir, this is an iPad.
Show threadSquiggleMay 4, 2024
@Izzard @glyph Oops, OP did say that. I wonder if it works like Android in this regard.
Show threadIzzardMay 4, 2024
@sqgl @glyph Nope, when you swipe away iOS/iPad apps, they are terminated, and started from fresh on the next load.
Show threadSquiggleMay 4, 2024
@Izzard @glyph Same happens on Android, kind of. Even when swiped away the app is still running in the background and still pinging you notifications.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/1379741/closing-android-apps-by-swiping-them-away-what-that-actually-does.html
‘Closing’ Android apps by swiping them away—what that actually does

If you close something like an email app, or Twitter, you keep getting notifications. So what does "swiping" do, exactly?

Computerworld
Show threadJeff DutkyMay 4, 2024
@sqgl @glyph @Izzard that is NOT at all the same as what happens on iPhone and iPad: when you leave an app on iOS it actually terminates. It gets to write a little state data, so it can pick up where it left off on next launch, but otherwise it’s done and gone. It can register a helper to do certain things in the background (download files, play sounds, etc) but that’s it: no real running in the background.
Show threadSquiggleMay 5, 2024
@jsdutky @glyph @Izzard Thanks. A pity that kids are misusing the term "debugger" though. I hope it doesn't catch on.

"Switcher" would have been correct - not only switches between apps but there is the pun of switching an app off. And only one syllable!
Show threadJeff DutkyMay 5, 2024
@sqgl @glyph @Izzard I’m not sure it’s exactly a misuse, so much as an alternate meaning. I had noticed that I could unfreeze some apps on iOS by swiping to the Home Screen and returning to the app: saving and restoring state is pretty effective at getting around whatever malfunction had caused the app to stop responding.
Show threadSquiggleMay 6, 2024
@jsdutky @glyph @Izzard Any misuse of language eventually becomes an alternative meaning (in actual dicitionaries) once enough people use it. eg "literally", "decimate".