This brief tutorial will show you how to close (quit) any currently running Apps on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.
Since the introduction of multitasking to iOS, you can now run more than one program on your iDevice at the same time. That doesn’t mean you always want them open though – so this tutorial will show you how to close (or quit) any program running on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.
- Start out by “double-clicking” the Home button on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. The Home button is the one at the bottom of your iDevice, as illustrated in the image below.
- This will bring up the ‘list’ of currently running Apps – by way of an “App bar” at the bottom of your screen. Tap and hold down on any one of the currently running Apps (even if it’s not the one you want to close).
- You’ll notice that each App will start to “wiggle” and now has a small “minus sign” circle in the upper left corner. Tap the “minus sign” of the App you want to close/quit.
- That App will now close. NOTE: This will close the App, not delete it. For instructions on how to delete an App from your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, see this tutorial.
- You can continue tapping the “minus signs” to close all open Apps, if needed.
- That’s it!
there should be a better way. i for one do not like over using the home button….
I don’t know why this does not work with my ipod touch. Is there any configuration required?
F
. If no, then I’m not sure…
Is your iPod touch a “3rd gen”, 8GB version? if yes, then it’s not a true 3rd gen device and does not support multitasking. I have the same problem
This is fine but why should I need to go through the extra step of “checking” periodically for open apps? There should be a way, as there is on computers, to close an app when navigating away from it, leaving it open only if desired.
I completely agree with RJ. There needs to be an easier way to close an app.
What happens if you do not get the minus signs, just the wiggling?
Nina
What device a you using? IPod or IPad?
Does this not work on The 3rd generation or something? Because I changed the settings so when i double clicked that button it would go to my music. Can i change it back somehow? or is it just because its a 3rd gen?
NINA~ its because you are holding down the button not double clicking
Claree: What device are you using? Is it an iPod Touch or an iPad?
If its an iPod Touch, is it the 8gb, 16gb or 32gb version?
I have a 3Gs 16GB and double clicking goes to the search iPhone…. How do I close them out?
Hi Tamara
If you double click the home button, it should bring up a line of app icons at the bottom of your screen. Tap and hold one of the icons and after a couple of seconds a little red circle with a White bar in the middle will appear in the top left hand corner of each icon and the whole row will start to wobble. Then just tap the little red circle of each one you want to close. When you are done, click the home button to return to the app you want. One question. Does the row of icons appear at the bottom of your screen when you double click the home button?
I tried that and it doesn’t do that…
Tamara:
Which part doesn’t work? And, which version of the iOS are you using on your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch ?
Guess they close by themself when I leave the app or page…. What someone told me anyway..
Hi Tamara
Sounds like you don’t have the latest version of the operating system loaded on your phone. From the home screen, touch ’settings’ then select ‘version’. What number do you see there?
3.1.3 (7E18)
Hi Tamara
Ah! There’s the problem! You need version 4. Version 4 of the iTunes software introduced multitasking. The latest version is currently 4.3. Looks like you only have 3.1 installed. You need to connect your device to iTunes and down load the latest version of the software. Are you familiar with how to do that?
Regards
chris
Thank You!! I got it now ; )
Apparently open apps are the reason the Masters Tournament app performs poorly. Once I closed out all open apps, it worked fine. Is that a design flaw for the MT app?
Chris Brown;
i am using an 8gb i pod touch
Hi Claree
Unfortunately no, the 8gb 3 rd gen touch has different hardware inside and will not support the multitasking function, whereas the 16 an 32 gb versions do support multitasking
I was wondering if there was an app that deletes it for you. I overheard someone saying there was an app that does it for u. I was just wondering.
Thanks! I m new to this
Hey James
What do you want to delete?
regards
Chris
Hello! Please help me. Why is it when I double click my home it does nothing but lock my iPhone
It closes. 
Hi Jacklynne
What model iPhone do you have? 3, 3G, 3GS or 4?
Regards
Chris
My phone is an iPhone 3GS 8gb, version 4.1
Hummm… So it should work… Best bet would be to connect the phone to your computer, launch iTunes and download the latest version of the software (4.3 or 4.4) and see if that fixes it. Let me know how you get on
Regards
Chris
Hi Chris,
I am new to idevices and I cannot figure out how to close my email so that it must be opened each time I use the ipad2. Any ideas? Thanks for your helpfulness to everyone!
Hi Darryl
OK, so can you walk us through step by step what you are doing and what results you get? So, for example, you start by touching the mail application icon on your iPad home screen. Then the mail comes up and you get a list of the messages that are in your In Box. Then what happens?
I have a 1gen ipod touch, It is jailbroke.someone said go to sysinfo but i cant find it… it dosnt exist. or says api error but everything else works. How do i close all my apps in the background, which is a lot?
please write back asap!
Hi Cody
I don’t believe that your device supports version 4 of the software. Can you look under settings and tell me what version of the operating system you have. Take a look earlier in the post to see how you do that if you are not sure. Let me know how you get on.
Awesome ~ Thanks.
It doesn’t work, IM+ still pops up when there are new messages.
Thanks – really helpful. No wonder the battery on my iPhone was running down so fast. I had all the apps I had ever used open in the background. Doh!
Great tutorial.
Hey Chris, i haave the same problem as Jacklynne , same iphone but 4.2 ver and it doesnt lock my iphone, just goes to the fav contacts. I’ll try tomorrow and let you know. Thanks
When I double-click the home button all my apps come up except the “mail.” I cannot figure out how to close out my email on this iPad. For example, when I click on mail whatever email I had open is still there. How do I close the email out to where the screen is blank or just the box with the list of emails show up? Thanks.
Ok,how do you re-open them, when I click the app icon only a brief flash of the app starting occurs then it closes itself.
Thanks!!!!!!
Adam
Double clicking the button from the home screen should bring up a line of icons that represent the apps that are running. From here you can do two things:
1. Briefly touch one of the icons to bring that app up to run. I.e. touch the mail icon to bring mail to the foreground, iPod icon for music etc
2. Touch and hold one of the icons until they all start to wiggle and have an ‘x’ in their top left hand corner. Then touch the x on each app that you want to close.
Hope that helps
Chris
I have an iPod touch 2 and this way isn’t working. Any ideas?
Hi lily
What version of the operating system are you running? (See posts above to find where to find that info). Are you double clicking the button?
Morning Chris
I have a 8 gb 4.2.1 iPod touch 2, and yes as far as I can tell I’m double clicking it. But when I do I takes me to the home screen or the search bar.
Hi Lily
Does your device have a camera?
Hey Chris
No my iPod doesnt have a camera. I wish it did though.
Hi Lily
Ok, so I think you must have a 2nd or 3rd generation iPod Touch. If that’s the case, then I am afraid you, like me, are out of luck as far as multitasking goes
The 8GB version of the 3rd Gen Touch, has some different hardware to the 16 and 32 GB versions. The difference means that the 8GB version of the 3rd Gen device does not support multitasking, whereas the 16 and 32 MB versions do! Very frustrating for us 8GB owners ;-(
Sorry the news is not better..
the problem i seem to be having is that i AM able to close the apps, such as my Mail app, but then a 1 in a red circle shows up after i’ve closed it, even though i have already read the email.
How can I change the apple id for my apps-imlogged in with my id in apps and iTunes but my daughters I’d keeps popping up and can’t change back to my I’d?