Close Apps on Android
The Android OS features powerful multitasking capabilities which allow it to run several programs at once. However, if too many programs are left open, this can lead to decreased performance, sluggish response times, and battery drain. To get the most out of your phone, make a habit of closing apps when you're done using them — there are several ways to do this, but each only requires a few simple steps.
Contents
Steps
Recent Apps List
- Press the "Recent Apps" button at any time. Most devices running a version of Android newer than 4.0 will have a button that allows you to view and manage recently-opened apps at almost any time. This button is located in the "virtual taskbar" at the bottom of the screen next to the "Back" and "Home" buttons — it looks like two overlaid rectangles. Press this button to begin.
- The Recent Apps button should be accessible at nearly any time along with the other two buttons in the virtual taskbar. However, if an app is preventing it from opening, try hitting the "Home" button to return to the home screen and try again.
- For certain Android phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S4, you may need to press and hold the "Home" button until the recent apps list displays.
- Swipe the app you want to close. You should see a list containing all of the apps that you've recently launched that are running in the background. To close a task, press your finger on it and use a swiping motion to send it off the side of the screen. This will remove it from the list.
- While this method will cause the app to stop whatever it's doing and close, it won't stop certain background processes that you've enabled for the app. For instance, if you close your Twitter app this way, the app will cease to run and any tweets that you were in the middle of typing will go away. However, if you've enabled notifications for the app, you'll still receive them even after doing this.
- Alternatively, hold down and select "Remove from list." Another option for closing apps from the recent apps menu is to simply tap and hold the item, then select the "Remove from list" option when it appears. This should have the same effect as swiping the app off of the screen.
- To force-stop apps, use the "app info" option. To completely terminate an app and any background processes associate it, one additional step is needed. Find the app you want to close, then tap and hold it. Select the "App info" option from the menu that appears. On the next screen, click the "Force stop" option. Click "OK" when you are asked to confirm your choice.
- This should cause your app to stop completely — including any background functions that were causing you to receive notifications — until you deliberately open it again.
- Note that this may cause you to lose any unsaved data in the app and that you may need to re-enter any login details the next time you open it.
Application Manager
- Open the Settings app. Another way to close apps on Android devices is with the Application Manager, which works much like the Ctrl+Alt+Delete menu on Windows computers, showing you which apps are currently running and allowing you to force quit them. To access the App Manager, start by going to the Settings app on your device.
- Depending on your device, you may simply be able to press your device's Menu button and select "Settings" to get to the correct menu, or you may need to scroll through your list of apps until you find the "Settings" app with an icon that looks like a silver gear.
- Select "Apps" or "Applications". In the Settings menu, scroll down until you see an option labeled "Apps" or "Applications." Tap this option.
- On most phones, the icon next to this option will look like a square with the Android "Droid" logo inside.
- Swipe the list to open the "Running" list. On the next page, you'll see information about all of the apps currently installed on your device. To filter this list to include only apps that are currently running, swipe the screen to the side to switch to the "Running" tab. You may also tap the "Running" tab directly to open it.
- Tap the app you want to close. Find the app that you'd like to close in the list of running apps. When you see it, tap on it. You'll be taken to a screen with detailed information about the app.
- Tap "Stop" or "Force stop". On this screen, click the "Stop" or "Force stop" button to close your app completely — this should have a similar effect as using the "Force stop" option via the recent apps menu in the method above. The app (and any associated processes) should cease until you specifically launch the app again.
- Note that you may be warned that stopping the app will cause it to crash — this is OK. It's not possible to stop system-critical processes via this menu.
Quitting
- Navigate to the "quit" or "log out" option in the app. If you aren't interested in the complicated options above and are just looking for a way to close apps with minimal hassle, you're in luck — there are usually fairly easy ways to close apps while you're using them. For example, most apps will have some sort of "quit" or "close" option within the app. You may need to dig through a menu to find this option, but selecting it almost always causes the app to close completely (as if you had used the "Stop" or "Force stop" options described above.)
- For example, in the popular Facebook app for Android, you can log out by clicking the menu button in the top right of the default feed screen, scrolling down to the bottom of the menu that appears, clicking "log out," and confirming your choice. This will end your Facebook session and bring you to the default login screen, where you can close the program completely by hitting the "back" button (see below.)
- Use the "back" key. Normally, the "back" key in the virtual taskbar (which is in the bottom left of the screen and looks like a U-turn symbol) takes you to the page you were looking at before the current one. However, most (though not all) apps are designed so that if you hit the back button until you can't go back any further, you'll eventually exit the program you're using. You may be prompted with an "Are you sure you want to quit?" message or you may not be — this depends on the program you're using.
- Note, however, that this method doesn't usually halt the sorts of background processes that can send you annoying notifications. To stop these, you'll usually need to adjust your notification settings in the app or use a force-stop option (see above.)
- Note also that some apps, like web browsers, can change the function of the "back" button. For instance, if you're using a web browser app and you hit the back button repeatedly, you may just shuffle back through your browsing history, making little progress in terms of actually closing the app.
- Avoid using the "home" key unless you want to minimize the apps. The "home" button on the virtual taskbar may seem to close apps quickly, but, in fact, it actually just minimizes the apps. This means that the app is still technically running (usually in some sort of "paused" state) and that you will be able to resume your progress quickly if you try to reload the app. Because the home button doesn't truly "close" apps — it just gets them out of the way — it's best to avoid using it when you're trying to end processes and conserve your Android device's resources.
Tips
- Note that in some Android phones, you can adjust the Developer Options in the Settings menu to activate the command labeled "Don't keep background processes" or "Clear background processes as soon as the screen is locked/turned off," which does exactly as its name suggests. This is not usually recommended for beginners, however, as it can keep important apps from performing the automatic tasks they need to function properly.
- For some Android devices, like the HTC One M7, you can double tap the "home" button, then swipe up on the apps that display to close them as a handy shortcut.
Warnings
- Third party task killers can stop programs, but research suggests that newer versions of Android can actually perform better if you don't force quit applications. Doing this forces the Android device to load the app all over again the next time you want to open it, whereas normally the app would be quickly loaded from the phone's RAM.
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