By the DevX mobile testing team. We tested every app-closing method in this guide on iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15, iPhone 14, and iPhone SE (3rd gen) running iOS 18 and iOS 17. We verified the App Switcher gesture, force quitting frozen apps, closing multiple apps simultaneously, and tested the actual impact on battery life and performance. All steps confirmed working as of March 2026.
Closing apps on iPhone is done through the App Switcher — a simple gesture that shows all your recently used apps and lets you swipe them away. Here’s how to do it on every iPhone model, plus the truth about whether you should actually be closing apps.
How To Close Apps on iPhone (Face ID Models)
This works on iPhone X, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16:
- Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle (keep your finger on the screen for a moment)
- The App Switcher opens, showing cards for all your recent apps
- Swipe left or right to find the app you want to close
- Swipe the app card up and off the screen to close it
You can close multiple apps quickly by using two or three fingers to swipe up multiple cards at once.
How To Close Apps on iPhone SE, 8, and Earlier (Home Button)
- Double-press the Home button quickly
- The App Switcher opens with app cards
- Swipe the app card up to close it
How To Force Quit a Frozen App
If an app is completely frozen and won’t respond:
- Open the App Switcher (swipe up and pause, or double-press Home)
- Find the frozen app
- Swipe it up forcefully to close it
- Wait a few seconds, then reopen the app from your home screen
If the App Switcher itself is frozen (the entire phone is unresponsive), force restart your iPhone: press Volume Up → Volume Down → hold Side button until the Apple logo appears.
Should You Close Apps on iPhone?
Here’s the truth: routinely closing all your apps does NOT improve battery life or performance. In fact, Apple’s own engineers have confirmed this.
When you leave an app, iOS automatically freezes it in the background. Frozen apps use zero CPU power and minimal RAM. When you reopen the app, it unfreezes instantly. If you force-close it, your iPhone has to reload the entire app from scratch the next time — which actually uses MORE battery and MORE time than resuming a frozen app.
When You SHOULD Close an App
- The app is frozen or crashed — won’t respond to taps
- The app is glitching — displaying incorrectly, showing wrong data
- An app is using excessive battery — check Settings → Battery. If an app shows abnormally high background usage, closing it can help
- GPS/location apps — apps actively using GPS in the background (like Maps navigating) do drain battery. Close them when you’re done navigating
- Music/audio streaming — if you’re done listening, closing the app stops background audio
When You Should NOT Close Apps
- To “save battery” — this is a myth. Closing and reopening uses more energy
- To “free up RAM” — iOS manages memory automatically and is very good at it. You don’t need to help
- As a daily habit — there’s no benefit to swiping away all your apps every night
How To See Which Apps Are Using the Most Battery
- Go to Settings → Battery
- Scroll down to see battery usage by app over the Last 24 Hours or Last 10 Days
- Tap Show Activity to see screen time vs. background activity for each app
If an app shows high “Background Activity” that you weren’t aware of, you can disable its background refresh: Settings → General → Background App Refresh → toggle off for that specific app.
More iPhone Guides From DevX
- How To Clear Cache on iPhone (2026)
- How To Restart iPhone (2026)
- How To Delete Apps on iPhone (2026)
- How To Update Apps on iPhone (2026)
- How To Factory Reset iPhone (2026)
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I close all apps at once?
There’s no “Close All” button on iPhone. You need to swipe each app card away individually in the App Switcher. You can speed this up by using multiple fingers to swipe 2-3 cards at once. But again — there’s rarely a reason to close all apps.
Do apps running in the background slow my iPhone?
No. iOS suspends background apps so they use essentially zero processing power. The only exception is apps actively doing something in the background — like playing music, navigating, or downloading content — which show an indicator in the status bar.
What does the colored bar at the top of my screen mean?
A colored bar or pill at the top indicates an app is actively using a feature in the background: blue = location/navigation, red = recording audio/screen, green = phone call or FaceTime active. These apps ARE using resources and can be closed when you’re done with them.
Will closing apps fix a slow iPhone?
Usually not. If your iPhone is slow, better fixes include: restarting your phone, clearing Safari cache, updating to the latest iOS, checking battery health (Settings → Battery → Battery Health), and making sure you have at least 5 GB of free storage.
