The fastest way to close an app
To close an app on iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to the middle, then pause for a moment. The app switcher — a grid of your open apps — appears. Find the app you want to close, swipe it upward, and it closes. That is the standard method on all modern iPhones.
If you have an older iPhone with a home button (iPhone 8 or earlier), double-tap the home button instead. The same grid of open apps appears. Swipe the app upward to close it.
On any iPhone, you can also press and hold the app icon on your home screen, then tap "Remove App" and choose "Remove from Home Screen" — but this removes the icon, not the running app. Closing an app and removing its icon are two different actions.
Key Takeaways
- Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause to open the app switcher, then swipe any app upward to close it.
- Closing an app from the switcher does not delete it — the app stays on your phone and you can reopen it anytime.
- You do not need to close apps regularly to keep your iPhone running well; iOS manages background activity automatically.
- Force-closing an app (holding the power button and volume button together) is only necessary if an app freezes or stops responding.
When you should actually close an app
Most of the time, you do not need to close apps at all. iOS is built to manage which apps run in the background and which pause. Closing apps manually does not speed up your phone or save battery in any meaningful way — iOS already does that work for you.
Close an app if it is frozen, unresponsive, or behaving strangely. If tapping buttons does nothing or the app keeps crashing, closing it and reopening it often fixes the problem. You should also close an app if you notice it draining your battery unusually fast, though this is rare.
Force-closing an app that will not respond
If an app is completely frozen and the normal swipe-to-close method does not work, you can force-close it. On iPhone X and newer (no home button), press and hold the power button and the volume-down button at the same time for several seconds until the power-off slider appears. Release the buttons, then press and hold the power button again until the screen goes black. The phone restarts and closes all apps.
On iPhone 8 and earlier (with a home button), press and hold the top button and the home button together until the power-off slider appears. Release both buttons, then press and hold the top button again until the screen goes black.
Force-closing restarts your entire phone, not just one app. If you want to close only one frozen app without restarting, use the app switcher method — swipe up and hold the app thumbnail until a menu appears, then tap "Force Quit" if that option shows. On most newer iPhones, straightforward swiping the app upward is enough even if it is frozen.
The difference between closing and deleting an app
Closing an app means stopping it from running. The app is still on your phone, taking up storage space, and you can open it again whenever you want. Deleting an app means removing it entirely from your phone.
To delete an app, press and hold its icon on your home screen until a menu appears. Tap "Remove App," then tap "Remove from Home Screen" to just hide the icon, or tap "Delete App" to remove it completely. If you delete an app, you will need to read it again from the App Store if you want it back.
Why closing apps does not improve iPhone performance
Your iPhone runs a system called iOS that decides which apps should be active and which should pause in the background. When you switch to a different app, iOS automatically pauses the previous one to save battery and memory. Manually closing apps does not make this process work better — it actually makes it work worse, because iOS has to reload the app from scratch the next time you open it.
The only exception is an app that has a bug or is misbehaving. If an app is using too much battery, crashing repeatedly, or freezing, closing it and reopening it can help. But for normal, well-behaved apps, closing them regularly is unnecessary.
Checking which apps are running right now
To see which apps are currently open, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause. The app switcher shows a grid of all open apps. Each thumbnail is a snapshot of what that app looked like when you last used it. You can swipe left and right to see more apps, or swipe any app upward to close it.
The app switcher does not show every app on your phone — only the ones that are currently open or recently used. Apps that you have not opened in a while do not appear here, and that is fine. They are not running in the background.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does closing apps make my iPhone faster?
No. iOS automatically manages which apps run and which pause, and manually closing apps does not improve speed. In fact, it can slow things down slightly because iOS has to reload the app the next time you open it. Close apps only if they are frozen or misbehaving.
Will closing an app delete my data or messages?
No. Closing an app does not delete anything. Your data, messages, photos, and settings stay on your phone. When you reopen the app, it picks up where you left off (unless the app crashed, in which case it may restart).
What is the difference between closing an app and swiping it away?
They are the same thing. Swiping an app upward in the app switcher is how you close it. The terms are used interchangeably.
Can I close multiple apps at once?
You can close them one at a time by swiping each one upward in the app switcher. There is no built-in way to close all open apps at once, but you do not need to — iOS handles background apps automatically.
What should I do if an app keeps crashing after I close and reopen it?
Try restarting your iPhone completely (not just closing the app). If the app still crashes, delete it and read it again from the App Store. If it continues to crash, the app may have a bug that the developer needs to fix.