The biggest iPhone myth has just been blown wide open.

Preserving battery life on our iPhone is the great quandary of the modern world.

We turn down our brightness. We change to aeroplane mode (if we’re desperate). We close background apps.

Or do we?

An Apple executive has revealed that ‘closing background apps’ has no bearing on battery life whatsoever.

Earlier this week, an Apple costumer sent an email querying the widely held belief that closing apps leads to longer battery life.

It read:

“Do you quit your iOS multitasking apps frequently and is this necessary for battery life?”

The Vice President for software engineering, who you’d assume would know, swiftly replied:

“No and no.

:)”

Ah, software engineers aren’t exactly known for their way with words.

Is your phone driving you mad? Listen to Mia Freedman’s voicemail message. Post continues below.

So there you have it, straight from Apple themselves. If you actually want to save battery life – here are some tips:

• Turn down brightness.
• Turn off vibrations.
• Turn off bluetooth and wifi when you’re not using it.
• Disable location services
•  Close your personal hotspot.
• Set your email to fetch manually.

You needn’t close your Safari/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat ever again.

May your phone be forever charged – and may you never miss a (very important) notification.