alt Hacker NewsSome of those apps are things I want to phone home, like the system I have that is supposed to dial my thermostat back automatically (as well as back up again).
When these are the tasks that are killed, it costs me more than whatever precious bodily fluids that some ad/tracking/analytics stuff may sap: It costs me real money.
The problem is less with phoning home per se, and more about doing it in a way that's against user expectations. I already acknowledged that there are legitimate use cases out there, but for the overwhelming majority of users, their phone is primarily a communication and media consumption device, which doesn't need 24/7 background access. Yes, it's tragic that the handful of people are being harmed by this, but it's hardly because of "spite" as OP suggested.