Swipe up from the bottom to close apps one at a time, or use Settings to force-stop them all at once
The fastest way to close multiple apps on iPhone is to swipe up from the bottom of the screen in the app switcher. Open the app switcher by swiping up from the very bottom edge and pausing (don't swipe all the way to the home screen). You'll see thumbnails of your open apps stacked on top of each other. Swipe up on each app thumbnail to close it, or swipe up on several in quick succession. If you want to close everything without opening the app switcher, you can also restart your iPhone entirely — this closes all running apps at once and clears temporary memory that might be slowing things down.
For most people, closing apps individually works fine. But if your iPhone feels sluggish or an app is frozen, a full restart is often faster and more thorough than closing apps one by one. A restart also clears the RAM (temporary memory) that apps use while running, which can improve performance more than closing apps alone.
Key Takeaways
- Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and hold to open the app switcher, then swipe up on each app thumbnail to close it.
- Restarting your iPhone closes all apps at once and clears temporary memory, which often fixes slowdowns better than closing apps manually.
- Closing apps does not save battery life on modern iPhones — iOS suspends apps automatically when you switch away from them.
- Force-closing a frozen app through Settings requires going to Settings > General > iPhone Storage, finding the app, and tapping Offload App.
How to use the app switcher to close apps
The app switcher is the easiest way to close multiple apps quickly. Swipe up from the very bottom edge of your screen and pause — do not swipe all the way up to the home screen. You'll see a row of app cards showing the apps you've used recently. Each card is a thumbnail of what the app looked like when you last used it.
To close an app, swipe up on its card. The card will disappear and the app will close. You can close several apps in a row by swiping up on each one quickly. If you want to close all visible apps, keep swiping up on each card until none are left. Note that the app switcher only shows recently used apps — it does not show every app installed on your phone, just the ones you've opened in the last few days.
Restart your iPhone to close everything at once
A full restart closes all running apps and clears temporary memory in one action. To restart, press and hold the side button and one of the volume buttons at the same time. Keep holding until the power-off slider appears on your screen. Drag the slider to the right to turn off your iPhone. Wait a few seconds, then press and hold the side button again until you see the Apple logo. Your iPhone will restart, and all apps will be closed.
This method is faster than closing apps individually if you have many apps open, and it often fixes performance problems better than closing apps alone. Restarting clears the RAM that apps use while running, which can make your phone feel noticeably faster. If your iPhone is very slow or an app keeps crashing, a restart is usually the first thing to try.
Force-stop a frozen or unresponsive app
If an app is frozen and will not close by swiping, you can force-stop it through Settings. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Scroll down and find the app that is frozen. Tap on it, then tap Offload App. A dialog will appear asking if you want to offload the app — tap Offload again to confirm. This removes the app from memory without deleting it from your phone.
After offloading, the app will no longer be running. You can reinstall it by going to the App Store, searching for the app name, and tapping the cloud icon with a read arrow to reinstall it. Offloading is useful when an app crashes repeatedly or becomes unresponsive, because it clears out any corrupted data the app may have stored.
Why closing apps does not save battery on modern iPhones
Many people close apps thinking it will save battery life, but on modern iPhones this is not how it works. iOS automatically suspends apps when you switch away from them — they stop running in the background and use almost no battery. The only apps that use battery while suspended are ones you've given permission to run in the background, like music apps, fitness trackers, or navigation apps. Closing these apps manually will not stop them from using battery; you have to turn off their background app refresh in Settings instead.
Closing apps can actually make your battery drain faster in some cases, because your iPhone has to reload the app from storage the next time you open it, which uses more power than keeping it suspended in memory. The real battery drains come from screen brightness, location services, and apps that actively run in the background — not from apps sitting idle in the app switcher.
When to close apps versus when to restart
Close apps individually when you want to remove a specific app from memory quickly, or when you're done using an app and want to keep your app switcher clean. This takes only a few seconds and does not interrupt your work. Restart your iPhone when it feels slow, when an app keeps crashing, or when you want to clear all temporary memory at once. A restart takes about two minutes but often fixes performance problems that closing apps alone cannot.
If your iPhone is running slowly and you're not sure whether to close apps or restart, try restarting first. It's faster than closing apps one by one and more likely to fix the problem. If slowness comes back within a few hours, the issue is probably a specific app using too much memory or a background process — in that case, closing the problematic app or turning off background app refresh for it will help more than restarting again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does closing apps on iPhone save battery?
No. iOS suspends apps automatically when you switch away from them, so they use almost no battery while closed. Closing apps manually does not improve battery life. If an app drains battery in the background, turn off its background app refresh in Settings > General > Background App Refresh instead of closing it repeatedly.
What's the difference between closing an app and offloading it?
Closing an app stops it from running but keeps it installed on your phone. Offloading removes the app from your phone but keeps your data and settings for it. You can reinstall an offloaded app from the App Store without losing your progress. Use offload for apps you rarely use but want to keep the data for.
Can I close all apps at once without restarting?
Not through a single button, but you can close many apps quickly by opening the app switcher and swiping up on each one in succession. If you want to close everything including background processes, restarting is faster and more thorough than closing apps manually.
Why does my app keep crashing even after I close it?
If an app crashes repeatedly, closing it will not fix the problem — the issue is usually corrupted app data or a bug in the app itself. Try offloading the app through Settings > General > iPhone Storage, then reinstalling it from the App Store. If it still crashes, the app may need an update or may not work with your iPhone model.