The iPhone Operating System, better known as iOS, is usually well optimized by Apple to ensure all the apps run optimally. This also allows apps to remain suspended in the background without causing the phone to hang or use the battery. However, sometimes, an app on your iPhone freezes or stops working as expected, needing you to force close it.
If you want to force close an app on your iPhone, there are different approaches you need to follow.
• Check the recently used apps to force close an app on your iPhone.
• Use the AssistiveTouch feature.
By force closing the unresponsive app on your iPhone, everything will resume working much smoother. Read on for a more exhaustive step-by-step guide to force close an app on your iPhone.
In addition, we’ll look at frequently asked questions related to how you can stop an app on your iPhone. Let’s get started.
Method #1: View Recently Used Apps To Force Close an App on Your iPhone
If you want to open the App Switcher to force close an app on your iPhone, there are two approaches you can follow depending on whether there’s a home button.
How To Force Close Apps if Your iPhone Has a Home Button
The iPhones with the home button include iPhone 5, 5s, 6, 6s, 7, 8, SE 2020, and SE 2022. If you have such an iPhone, follow these steps to close a particular app.
- Double-click the round home button quickly to display all the running apps.
- Swipe left or right to locate the app you wish to close.
- Move the app’s card completely up, forcing it to stop running.
You can adjust the click speed if you can’t double-click on the home button in the short successions due to disability, muscle weakness, or old age. Doing this on your iPhone is very simple; head to Settings > “Accessibility” > “Home Button” and set the “Click Speed” to “Slow” or “Slowest“.
This way, the home button will register double-click after pressing it twice, even after a long gap.
How To Close Apps on iPhones Without a Home Button
Newer iPhones, including the iPhone X, XR, XS, XS Max, 11, 12, and 13, don’t have a home button. Therefore, you must follow a different approach to force stop an app. Here’s a look at the steps you need to follow.
- Swipe up from the screen’s bottom part while in an app or on the home screen. Pause for a few seconds as you still press the screen and only let go of it once the App Switcher pops up.
- Scroll and hold your iPhone’s bottom section to access the Recent Launched App‘s interface.
- The recently opened apps will appear on your iPhone’s screen to create a large thumbnail. Swipe left or right to navigate through the app card to locate the app you’re looking to close.
- Force close the app by swiping it up from the app card list.
After you force stop an app, it will load up afresh the next time you open it and be free from any errors or bugs it had that caused it to freeze or hang constantly.
Method #2: Use the AssistiveTouch Feature
You can also effectively close an app on your iPhone by using the AssistiveTouch feature, which comes in handy when you’re having difficulty pressing buttons or the screen on your iPhone. Thanks to AssistiveTouch, you can do gestures or actions which feel hard to do and access the App Switcher screen.
The Multitasking icon is reachable by default, and you can reach it by triple-tapping on your iPhone’s screen home button. However, you can personalize the AssistiveTouch to allow you to reach the Multitasking button with one click. Here are the steps you need to follow to force stop an app on your iPhone.
- Click on Assistive Touch (touchscreen button) to switch on this feature.
- Tap “Device“.
- Open more options (three-dot icon) and tap “Multitasking“.
After doing this, all recent apps will appear on your iPhone’s screen, and you can locate the one you wish to force quit.
Summary
After opening and closing an app on your iPhone, it remains in the memory. However, you’ll have no option but to force close it if it gets stuck, stops working, or freezes altogether. Doing this if you aren’t as tech-savvy or have only started using an iPhone can feel confusing to perform.
Luckily, this guide has erased any concerns you might have had by detailing the steps you need to follow when you force close an app on your iPhone. With these insights, you can now force quit any app on your iPhone that might end up affecting its usability and your overall user experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your iPhone can fail to close apps due to several reasons. The leading cause might be running too many apps and using up all the memory. You can best resolve this issue by closing a few apps you aren’t using. This issue can also be because the specific app on your iPhone is frozen and must be restarted.
