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Normally, your iPhone 13 keep apps running smoothly in the foreground (or suspended in the background, ready to resume when needed). But if an iOS app misbehaves, it's easy to force the app to close. Here's how.

Only Close Apps if They Malfunction

Before we start, it's important to know that iPhone 13's operating system, Apple's iOS, does a great job at automatically handling system resources. So you don't need to manually force an app to close unless the app becomes unresponsive or glitchy.

Related: Stop Closing Apps on Your iPhone

While it's temping to "clean house" by closing your suspended apps on a regular basis, doing so can actually slow down your iPhone and hurt your battery life. That's because the next time you launch an app, the app has to completely reload from scratch. It's slower and uses more CPU cycles, which drains your iPhone's battery.

How to Force an App to Close on iPhone 13

To close an app on your iPhone 13, you'll need to launch the app switcher screen. To do so, swipe upward from the bottom edge of the screen and pause near the middle of the screen, then lift your finger.

To launch the app switcher, swipe upward from the bottom edge of the screen and stop in the middle, then lift your finger.

When the app switcher screen appears, you'll see a gallery of thumbnails that represent all the apps currently open or suspended on your iPhone. Swipe through them left or right to browse through the apps.

When you locate the thumbnail of the app you want to close, quickly flick the thumbnail upward with your finger, toward the top edge of the screen.

In iPhone app switcher, swipe upward on the app thumbnails to close the apps.

The thumbnail will disappear, and the app will be forced to close. The next time you launch the app, it will reload completely. You can repeat this with as many apps as you'd like on the app switcher screen.

If you're still having trouble with an app after forcing it to close, try restarting your iPhone 13. You can also perform a system update or update the app itself. And finally, if you need to force an app to close on an iPad, a similar technique works there as well. Good luck!

Related: How to Close and Restart iPhone and iPad Apps