When you swipe away from an app on your iPhone to return to the Home Screen, that app doesn’t actually shut down. Instead, iOS puts it into a suspended state in the background. Most of the time, Apple’s software manages this background memory perfectly, and you never need to manually close anything. However, if an app completely freezes, stops responding, or is experiencing a glitch, you will need to “force close” it so it can restart fresh.
How to Force Close an App on iPhones with Face ID (No Home Button)
If you have a modern iPhone with a notch or Dynamic Island (iPhone X, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and later), follow these steps:
- Go to your Home Screen, or open any app.
- Place your finger at the very bottom edge of the screen.
- Swipe up toward the middle of the screen and hold your finger there for a brief second. Do not just flick your finger quickly.
- Release your finger when you feel a slight vibration and see your open apps appear as a series of overlapping cards. This is the App Switcher.
- Swipe left or right through the cards to find the specific app that is frozen or misbehaving.
- Once you have located the app, place your finger on its card and swipe it firmly upward and off the top edge of the screen.
- The card will disappear, indicating the app has been completely closed and removed from the active memory.
- Tap anywhere in the empty space or swipe up from the bottom again to return to the Home Screen.
How to Force Close an App on iPhones with Touch ID (Home Button)
If you have an iPhone SE, iPhone 8, or older model with a physical Home button at the bottom of the screen, the process is slightly different:
- Quickly double-click the physical Home button.
- The App Switcher will appear, showing all your recently used apps as cards.
- Swipe left or right to find the app you want to close.
- Swipe up on the app’s preview card to send it off the top of the screen.
- Press the Home button once more to exit the App Switcher.
A Warning About Closing Apps
You should only force close an app if it is unresponsive or acting strangely. Do not obsessively swipe away every app after you use it.
Many people believe closing all apps saves battery life, but the exact opposite is true. iOS is incredibly efficient at freezing apps in the background. Forcing an app to close deletes it from the phone’s short-term memory (RAM). When you open it again later, the processor has to work much harder to load everything from scratch, which actually consumes more battery life than if you had simply left it suspended.