In an ideal mobile world, apps would work swimmingly all the time. But sometimes, an app freezes gets stuck, and simply won’t shut down. As Murphy’s Law would have it, this is likely right when you were just about to beat a record in a game or were almost done entering personal details to sign up for something. Whatever the reason or the app, just like with software and applications on a computer, you can force quit an app to restart it without having to reset your iPhone altogether.

Keep in mind that force quitting an app isn’t always done because something is wrong: you should force quit apps you aren’t actively using instead of leaving them running in the background unless there’s a reason to do so (think fitness tracker or navigation app, for example.)

When you want to force quit an app on the iPhone, including new models like the iPhone 14 as well as older-model devices, follow these steps.

1. From the Home Screen or right from within an app that is stuck or you want to reboot, swipe up about a third of the way horizontally from the bottom of the screen and let go. You’ll see all the currently open apps lined up in the center, tiled to the left so you can swipe right to browse through them.

2. Swipe up on the app you want to force quit – likely the first one since this will be the app you’re currently in. Voilà! This will force close it.

Not using one of the most current models and best iPhones? With older-model iPhones that have the Home button on the bottom, double-click the circular button to get to the same screen. You’ll see the currently opened apps tiled in the same fashion. From there, follow step two.

Aside from shutting down malfunctioning apps, many of us open different apps every day and forget to close them. We click or swipe out of the app and move on with our day. But what some people don’t realize is these apps are still running in the background. Case in point: when grabbing screenshots for this article, I realized I had more than 40 open apps over the last few days! Ultimately, this can slow down your phone’s performance as it tries to run so many apps continuously, even while you aren’t using them.

A good practice to adopt is to periodically follow these steps and force close the apps that you are no longer using but realize were left open. Hold the phone with one hand and swipe your thumb up continuously on each app as they move to the front of the deck. Fun tip: use your index and middle finger to force close two apps, side-by-side, at once.

Force closing an iPhone app will not remove any data from the app nor saved progress or information. If you want to get rid of an app altogether, see our guide on how to uninstall an app from your iPhone.

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