How to Force Close Apps on iPhone

  1. 1

    Open the App Switcher

    iPhone X and later (Face ID): Swipe up from the very bottom of the screen and pause in the middle — the app switcher appears showing all open apps as cards.
    iPhone 8 and earlier (Home button): Double-press the Home button quickly.

  2. 2

    Find the app to close

    Swipe left or right through the app cards to find the app you want to close.

  3. 3

    Swipe the app card up and off the screen

    Swipe the app preview card upward firmly until it disappears off the top of the screen. The app is now closed. You can close multiple apps at once by using multiple fingers to swipe several cards up simultaneously.

Should you actually close apps?Probably not — this is one of the most persistent iPhone myths. iOS is designed to manage background apps automatically. Apps in the background are frozen and use almost no battery or memory. Constantly force-closing apps can actually increase battery drain because apps need to fully reload from scratch each time you open them. Only force-close an app if it has frozen or is behaving incorrectly.

When You Should Force Close an App

  • The app has frozen or crashed and is unresponsive
  • An app is behaving incorrectly — force close and reopen to reset it
  • An app is using GPS, audio or video in the background when you do not want it to
  • You want to start fresh (e.g. closing a navigation app when you arrive)
To check what is using battery in the backgroundSettings → Battery → Battery Usage by App. This shows exactly which apps are using power and whether it is foreground or background use. This is more useful than randomly closing apps.

Frequently Asked Questions

No — Apple's own advice is that force-closing apps does not improve battery life and can actually make it worse. Background apps on iPhone are suspended, not running. The exception is apps using background refresh, location or audio — manage these in Settings → General → Background App Refresh rather than force-closing.
Settings → General → Background App Refresh — you can disable this globally or for individual apps. For location access specifically: Settings → Privacy and Security → Location Services → tap the app → choose Never or While Using the App.