How to force close apps on iPhone X

Posted:
in iPhone edited October 2020
With Apple's removal of the home button on iPhone X, the company had to translate a few user interface controls into onscreen gestures, including a new swipe and tap system for force closing troublesome apps.




With iPhone 8 and below, users are able to open iPhone's multitasking interface with a quick double tap on the home button. From there, a simple swipe up on app panes force close those titles, whether they are actively running in the background or in stasis.

On iPhone X, the app switcher is invoked with a sightly less intuitive procedure. Here's how to do it:

Step 1: From the home screen or any app, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause. This will invoke iOS multitasking, also known as the app switcher.




Step 2: Touch and hold on any app pane. A red icon with a minus symbol will appear at the top left of each app pane.




Step 3: Swipe left or right to a desired app.

Step 4: Tap on the red icon to close the app. Alternatively, apps can be closed by swiping up on an app pane while in this view.



It is well known that force closing apps on iOS is unnecessary under normal conditions. Shutting down apps in the app switcher does not save energy or CPU cycles as the apps themselves are not constantly running.

That said, there are certain scenarios in which an app might need to be force closed to improve performance or maintain system integrity. Examples include apps that have crashed, become unresponsive during use or are found to be conducting unwarranted background activity. The latter can be checked by navigating to battery usage statistics found in Settings > Battery. Forcing such apps to close using the method above then reopening them should solve most problems.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    This is stupid. Why can’t it just be swipe up? 
    bloggerblogavon b7anantksundaram
  • Reply 2 of 35
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    This is stupid. Why can’t it just be swipe up? 
    Because swiping up alway returns you to the home screen.  

    And Apple would like folk to stop killing apps when there’s no need to, so they’ve buried the gesture. 
  • Reply 3 of 35
    I find myself getting more and more used to the iPhone X gestures. I’m already almost as fast in force closing apps on my X as I was on my 7 plus. 
    For an action that I do not use that often, ‘almost‘ is good enough for me. 

    I can already invoke the app switcher faster on my X than I could on my previous iPhones. Amazing how well thought through the UI on the iPhone X is!
    napoleon_phoneapartaegean
  • Reply 4 of 35
    I think the instructions are a head scratcher for someone who doesn’t own an IPhone X.

    A video would have been better...

    xxxxx

    I continue to force close apps regardless of whether it saves batter life.  If there are only a few apps open (~6), double-clicking on the home button allows me to move between them quickly...

    As someone who has no interest in Face ID, I suspect the lack of a Home button is going to delay my next purchase.  I generally like experimenting with new things, but this is something I’d put in the ‘not worth the bother’ category.

    I’m also one of those security consciousness IT people, so I put electrical tape over the camera’s (and disables WiFi and Bluetooth) when not in use.  Assuming apps will be well behaved and not access the camera (when I’m not aware) is not my style.  Now that ones face=password makes me glad I never used Facebook (posting selfies).  Not giving out PII isn’t paranoia when the bad guys (hackers) really are out to get you (everyone).

    When I eventually do upgrade I’ll be disabling Face ID and using a password.  Sure, entering a 25+ character password is a pain, but it’s better than the alternative.


    baconstangdysamoria
  • Reply 5 of 35
    When I eventually do upgrade I’ll be disabling Face ID and using a password.  Sure, entering a 25+ character password is a pain, but it’s better than the alternative.
    I prefer the convenience and joy of using FaceID instead. 
    I think the change of someone filming you entering your 25+ character password, or putting a gun to your head to force you doing it, is bigger than a hacker hacking into the Secure Enclave of YOUR iPhone. 
    (And I want to trust some people, just to make life worth living, amongst them the people at Apple tasked to make a trustworthy and protected device)
  • Reply 6 of 35
    You said it best- easy switching between a few open apps. When there’s a zillion open, like is the case whenever i take my wife’s phone to do updates, you can’t find anything. We run an eBay business and I list constantly from my phone, switching back and forth between the photos app (to know what I’m listing), the notes app (where I copy and paste my store policies) and the eBay app. That’s a typical work flow. Extremely easy using a home button. To each his own though because I can tell you that two days ago I was in the Orlando Apple store and there were at least 25 people lined up mid day to fork over $1000+ for the X yet I think it’s both ugly and, minus home button/Touch ID and it’s related gestures, impractical.
  • Reply 7 of 35
    This is stupid. Why can’t it just be swipe up? 
    Exactly!! That was my expectation was when swiping up on an app. Quitting an app on iPhone X is such a drag and terrible UX.
    muthuk_vanalingamben20anantksundaramdysamoria
  • Reply 8 of 35
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 8,021member
    Rayz2016 said:
    This is stupid. Why can’t it just be swipe up? 
    Because swiping up alway returns you to the home screen.  

    And Apple would like folk to stop killing apps when there’s no need to, so they’ve buried the gesture. 
    In that case better to eliminate the option altogether but, as the article states, sometimes it is needed to get rid of a glitch. 

    A far better option would be to simply to use FaceID. Look at an app sternly or use gurning and have the system bring up the switcher . I am only half joking.
    edited December 2017
  • Reply 9 of 35
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,440member
    Been living with my X for over a week now. In general, I love the UI and Face ID works great.
    However, I can't understand the need to hold down one of the apps to get the red - icon. Once you're in the app switcher mode, swiping up should be all you need to do.
    muthuk_vanalingamben20anantksundaramYoSamCapsFandysamoria
  • Reply 10 of 35
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    avon b7 said:
    Rayz2016 said:
    This is stupid. Why can’t it just be swipe up? 
    Because swiping up alway returns you to the home screen.  

    And Apple would like folk to stop killing apps when there’s no need to, so they’ve buried the gesture. 
    In that case better to eliminate the option altogether but, as the article states, sometimes it is needed to get rid of a glitch. 

    A far better option would be to simply to use FaceID. Look at an app sternly or use gurning and have the system bring up the switcher . I am only half joking.
    This article is very very misleading, the average user has no way of knowing if an app in background is using machine cycles and thus wasting battery!!!  

    Hardly a month goes by when we dont here about a misbehaving app draining peoples battery.   It happens so the ability to exit apps is very important.  So why make this difficult?   

    By the wAy, yes i understand how the majority of the apps out there are suppose to suspend.    Thankfully most do.   However it is foolish to believe all do or that most users know which is which.   

    This desire to push the agenda that closeing apps doesnt solve issues is a bit phony.    It shouldnt be a normal course of action but there are plenty of reasons to exit apps.  
    mike1avon b7bloggerblogdysamoria
  • Reply 11 of 35
    wizard69 said:
    avon b7 said:
    Rayz2016 said:
    This is stupid. Why can’t it just be swipe up? 
    Because swiping up alway returns you to the home screen.  

    And Apple would like folk to stop killing apps when there’s no need to, so they’ve buried the gesture. 
    In that case better to eliminate the option altogether but, as the article states, sometimes it is needed to get rid of a glitch. 

    A far better option would be to simply to use FaceID. Look at an app sternly or use gurning and have the system bring up the switcher . I am only half joking.
    This article is very very misleading, the average user has no way of knowing if an app in background is using machine cycles and thus wasting battery!!!  
    I’m not sure how accurate the line of “the average user has no way of knowing...” is.  I was pleasantly surprised recently when visiting my aunt.  She was having difficulty with Wi-Fi on her iPad and had asked me to take a look at it.  While there I observed her checking the “Battery” section of the Settings app.  I also observed her force quit an app.  The reason I question the ‘average user’ part of your comment is that my aunt it likely far from average as she has brain damage since birth.  She can function and has a job but can’t drive and struggles to get basic sentences out while speaking.  She knows what she wants to say but just struggles to say it and usually ends up condensing her thoughts into just a few words.  But she knows how to check if an app is using her battery excessively.  So does my mother, who just turned 74.

    The reality of the situation is we ALL have a way of knowing if an app is using the battery in the background, and it isn’t something that’s difficult to find or understand. My guess is that many people just can’t be bothered to check and would rather just force quit everything.
    StrangeDays
  • Reply 12 of 35
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,617member
    I find that I have to quit BBC iplayer as it often interferes with video playback on other apps.  I also swipe away other apps periodically but that is for OCD reasons only, haha
  • Reply 13 of 35
    You said it best- easy switching between a few open apps. When there’s a zillion open, like is the case whenever i take my wife’s phone to do updates, you can’t find anything. We run an eBay business and I list constantly from my phone, switching back and forth between the photos app (to know what I’m listing), the notes app (where I copy and paste my store policies) and the eBay app. That’s a typical work flow. Extremely easy using a home button. To each his own though because I can tell you that two days ago I was in the Orlando Apple store and there were at least 25 people lined up mid day to fork over $1000+ for the X yet I think it’s both ugly and, minus home button/Touch ID and it’s related gestures, impractical.
    without the home button you can simply swipe the home bar back and forth directly from one app to the other, no need to invoke the app switcher, Even easier than using the home button, but gestures are impratical aparently.
    StrangeDays
  • Reply 14 of 35
    ben20ben20 Posts: 126member
    It is absolutely neccessary to close certain apps. This function needs to be improved! I bet next IOS will have a faster way to close apps again.
  • Reply 15 of 35
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    I think my main issue with this is that it is now different on various iOS devices.

    Swipe up from botton on one device, get Control Center. On another device, multitasking interface. Swipe up on apps in multitasking interface equals quit on one device, where another is hold until quit icons appear.

    Especially when gestures are concerned, consistence should be a top priority.
    anantksundaramdysamoria
  • Reply 16 of 35
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    smiffy31 said:
    without the home button you can simply swipe the home bar back and forth directly from one app to the other, no need to invoke the app switcher, Even easier than using the home button, but gestures are impratical aparently.
    But, if you're talking Apple's advice and not quitting... you might have 40 apps to flip through trying to find the one you're after. At least when you go into multitasking mode, you can find what you're looking for more easily.

    As I said in another post, *even if* it were actually true that quitting iOS apps is no longer necessary for technical reasons, you'd still want to do it for practical ones.
    muthuk_vanalingamben20dysamoria
  • Reply 17 of 35
    This is stupid. Why can’t it just be swipe up? 
    Because it's too easy to accidentally do so, killing your app's session. I've done this even on the much larger iPad which doesn't require the red-x mode. Requiring you to tap-and-hold prior to swipe-ups confirms intent to kill processes.

    From Apple's UX perspective, it's better to err on the side of preserving data rather than inadvertently losing data. I tend to agree. But then, I'm not OCD and have no irrational or neurotic need to remove all apps from the recently-used-apps list.
    edited December 2017 cgWerks
  • Reply 18 of 35
    cgWerks said:
    I think my main issue with this is that it is now different on various iOS devices.

    Swipe up from botton on one device, get Control Center. On another device, multitasking interface. Swipe up on apps in multitasking interface equals quit on one device, where another is hold until quit icons appear.

    Especially when gestures are concerned, consistence should be a top priority.
    If the rumors are true that the home button is going away on all devices then I take this as a transition period.  Currently there are different implementations on different iPhones but perhaps in 2 years that will no longer be the case.

    I agree that consistency is key, but I switch between using my iPhone X, my wife’s iPhone 7, a spare iPhone 5 that we use in the baby’s room and an iPhone 4 I use at the gym with no issues.  Maybe I’m an outlier but I don’t even think about the interactions being slightly different on different phones.
    StrangeDayscgWerks
  • Reply 19 of 35
    cgWerks said:
    smiffy31 said:
    without the home button you can simply swipe the home bar back and forth directly from one app to the other, no need to invoke the app switcher, Even easier than using the home button, but gestures are impratical aparently.
    But, if you're talking Apple's advice and not quitting... you might have 40 apps to flip through trying to find the one you're after. At least when you go into multitasking mode, you can find what you're looking for more easily.

    As I said in another post, *even if* it were actually true that quitting iOS apps is no longer necessary for technical reasons, you'd still want to do it for practical ones.
    There's no "even if" question about it. It is true, and has always been true. Your ignorance to how iOS works doesn't invalidate anything.

    http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/10/21/stop-force-closing-apps-on-your-iphone-its-not-making-it-run-faster-or-last-longer
    https://www.macrumors.com/2016/03/10/force-quitting-apps-doesnt-help-battery/
    https://9to5mac.com/2016/03/10/should-you-quit-ios-apps-answer/
    https://daringfireball.net/2017/07/you_should_not_force_quit_apps
    https://daringfireball.net/2012/01/ios_multitasking
    http://www.speirs.org/blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-multitasking.html

    And it's been that way since 2010. Steve Jobs:

    Just use [iOS multitasking] as designed, and you’ll be happy. No need to ever quit apps.
    If you're using a few apps back & forth constantly, then home-bar-swiping is the way to go. If you need to go back to an app you haven't used in a long time and don't know how far back it is, it's way faster to hit the home screen and mid-swipe-down to activate search and either find it on the Siri App Suggestions list, or key in a letter or two of its name.

    You guys are trying to solve problems which don't exist. or, "Who moved my cheese!!"
    edited December 2017 peterhart
  • Reply 20 of 35
    ben20 said:
    It is absolutely neccessary to close certain apps. This function needs to be improved! I bet next IOS will have a faster way to close apps again.
    Which is why there is a means to do so today. It doesn't require improving because it's completely easy to do so. I suspect what you really mean is you want to kill all apps all the time, which as noted is needless and counter-productive. Seems to be a practice from Android and the knockoffs.
    edited December 2017 ihatescreennamesben20
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