How to Close an App on iPhone: What You Need to Know
Closing apps on an iPhone sounds simple — and mostly it is — but the why and when behind doing it matters more than most people realize. The method has changed across iPhone generations, and how you use that feature should depend on your situation.
The Basic Method: How to Close an App on iPhone
On any iPhone with Face ID (iPhone X and later), here's how you close an app:
- Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle — this opens the App Switcher
- Swipe left or right to find the app you want to close
- Swipe the app card up and off the top of the screen
On older iPhones with a Home button (iPhone 8 and earlier):
- Double-press the Home button to open the App Switcher
- Find the app card you want to close
- Swipe it upward to dismiss it
That's the full mechanics of it. Two gestures, two device types. 📱
What "Closing" an App Actually Does
Here's where it gets more nuanced. When you close an app on iPhone, you're removing it from the App Switcher and ending its active session. But iOS manages background activity differently than most people assume.
Apple's operating system uses a system called background app refresh and suspension. When you leave an app without closing it, iOS typically suspends it — meaning it sits in memory but isn't actively consuming CPU cycles or battery. The app looks "open," but it's effectively paused.
When you force-close an app by swiping it away, you're telling iOS to fully terminate that process. The next time you open it, the app loads from scratch rather than resuming from its suspended state — which can actually take more resources than simply leaving it suspended.
This is why Apple itself has said that routinely force-closing all your apps isn't necessarily good practice.
When Closing an App Actually Makes Sense
Despite that, there are legitimate reasons to close an app:
- The app is frozen or unresponsive — force-closing and reopening is the standard fix
- The app is behaving incorrectly — a fresh launch clears temporary states or glitches
- You need to stop location tracking — some apps track your location in the background even when suspended; closing them stops that
- An app is visibly draining battery — you can check this in Settings → Battery to see which apps are consuming resources
- You want to reset a connection — for apps that rely on live data (streaming, navigation), a fresh launch can resolve sync issues
Variables That Change the Picture 🔍
Whether closing apps is worth doing — and how often — depends on factors specific to your setup:
| Variable | How It Affects Things |
|---|---|
| iPhone model | Older devices with less RAM benefit more from managing open apps |
| iOS version | Newer iOS releases are increasingly efficient at managing suspended apps |
| App type | Navigation, streaming, and VoIP apps behave differently than simple utilities |
| Battery health | A degraded battery makes background processes more impactful |
| Number of apps open | Dozens of suspended apps vs. a handful is a different situation |
For example, an iPhone with 3GB of RAM running an older iOS version handles multitasking differently than a newer device with 6GB+ of RAM and the latest system optimizations. On older hardware, iOS is more likely to need to reload apps anyway — so closing them proactively has less downside.
Similarly, gaming apps, GPS apps, and video editors hold more active resources than a simple notes or calculator app. The type of apps you use changes the math considerably.
The "Close Everything" Habit: Helpful or Not?
A common habit — especially among users who came from Android or older iPhones — is to regularly sweep through the App Switcher and close every app. On modern iPhones, this is generally unnecessary and can even cause slower load times, since apps that were comfortably suspended in memory now have to fully re-initialize.
That said, it's not harmful either. If it gives you peace of mind, it won't break anything. The practical impact depends on which apps you're closing and what those apps were actually doing.
Where it does make a real difference is with problematic apps — ones that have been granted background refresh permissions, use location services, or have a known tendency to misbehave. Closing those specifically is more meaningful than closing everything blindly.
Checking What's Running in the Background
If your goal is battery life or performance, closing apps is only one piece of the puzzle. iOS gives you tools to manage this more precisely:
- Settings → Battery shows per-app battery usage over 24 hours or 10 days
- Settings → General → Background App Refresh lets you disable background activity for specific apps entirely
- Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services lets you control which apps can track location and when
These settings often have more measurable impact than manually closing apps, because they govern what apps are allowed to do — not just what they're currently doing. ⚙️
Different Users, Different Outcomes
A user with an older iPhone SE who runs a lot of navigation and social media apps simultaneously is in a genuinely different situation than someone using a current iPhone 16 Pro for mostly messaging and web browsing. Both might ask the same question — "should I close my apps?" — but the answer that makes sense for each of them is different.
The gesture and method are universal. The strategy behind when and which apps to close comes down to your specific device, the apps you rely on, and what problem you're actually trying to solve.