How to close apps on iPhone 13 - iPhone User Guide

Ciaran Crawford | Sep 21, 2023

A seasoned mobile phone engineer with deep knowledge of smartphone hardware and software integrations.

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How to close apps on iPhone?

Closing apps is helpful when you encounter strange behaviors or bugs and want to start fresh with an app. However, how to close apps on iPhone 13 may not be the same as iPhone's older than iPhone X. Newer models are slightly different from earlier models.

Steps with no Home button:

  1. On the home screen, swipe up and pause in the middle of the screen.
  2. Swipe right or left to choose the app you want to close.
  3. Swipe up on the app's preview to close the app. If you want to close all apps at once, then use two or three fingers.
  4. Tap the wallpaper or swipe up from the bottom to return to the home screen.
    5. Closing apps on iPhone with no Home button.

Note: The steps above shows how to close apps on iPhone 13 without home button, including for a single app as well as how to close all apps on iPhone 13 all at once.

Steps with Home button:

  1. Double-click your home button to show the preview of all running apps.
  2. Swipe right or left to find the app you want to quit.
  3. Swipe the app off the top of the screen to close it.
  4. Press the Home button to return to the home screen.
    5. Closing apps on iPhone with Home button.

Should we close apps regularly?

According to Apple, it's not advisable to close apps regularly. You should only be closing apps when they appear broken. The iPhone 13 has built-in tools to automatically manage background apps from taking unnecessary battery or memory resources. The phone can run multiple apps simultaneously, so closing them appears redundant.

Once backgrounded, an app is entirely off unless there is a problem. Even if you see it in the app switcher, it is usually just a benign screenshot that doesn't take up any system resources. Nevertheless, some apps, such as navigation apps, continue to work in the background and collect data. In such cases, closing apps is quite helpful.

However, if an application runs slowly, is completely frozen, or acts up any other way, closing the app is a viable solution. Otherwise, if that doesn't solve the issue, you can always try the following methods.

Update Your Apps Automatically

Keeping your apps up to date is essential as you get the latest features your apps have to offer and patch up security flaws. You can enable automatic app updates on your settings app.

Steps:

  1. Open Settings
  2. Scroll down and tap App Store.
  3. Go to the Automatic Downloads header and tap the App Updates switch to turn them on or off.
  4. Once it turns green and flipped to the right, automatic updates are on.

Free up the iPhone Storage

Often, applications act up due to a lack of operational storage. When applications don't have enough space to run, they'll freeze or shut down suddenly. Hence, check what's taking up too much space on your iPhone and free some of it.

Method 1: Delete non-essential apps

Non-essential apps are those apps you rarely use and can do without them. You can identify them on the iPhone storage screen.

Steps:

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Click iPhone Storage.
    4. iPhone storage
  4. Wait for the apps to load on the graph, showing how much space you have left. The apps will be listed from the largest to the smallest in terms of size.
  5. Below an app's name, check Last Used to see which apps you rarely use.
    6. iPhone app last used
  6. After identifying them, tap the app to see its size and how much data it's storing on your iPhone.
  7. Choose whether to Delete App completely or Offload App
    8. Delete app or offload app on iPhone.

Note:

  • Offload App removes the app from your phone but leaves all its data behind. If you reinstall it later, the data will remain, and you can continue using it normally.
  • Delete App deletes the app and all of its data which is a good choice if the app's data is larger than the app itself.

Method 2: Remove or optimize excess iPhone photos

To optimize your photos on your iPhone, you can enable High Efficiency Mode for your camera pictures. The image quality won't be affected, and each photo will take significantly less space to store.

Steps:

  1. Open Settings>Camera>Formats.
    2. iPhone camera formats
  2. Set camera capture mode to High Efficiency.
    3. iPhone high efficiency format

Fix Your iPhone via Perfix

If you are unable to close an app because it causes your iPhone to freeze or get stuck on the Apple logo, your software could be the issue. So, how do you turn off apps on iPhone 13 in such a case? Your answer is Mobitrix Perfix, a professional iOS repair tool that can diagnose and repair 200+ iPhone system errors, including apps that won't close to make your iPhone work better.

Steps:

  1. Open Mobitrix Perfix on a computer and connect your iPhone.
  2. Click on Start in the main menu.
  3. Click Fix Now to download fixfile package and start repairing.
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Why Do I Recommend Mobitrix Perfix?

  • Safe to use - Preserves all the original data of your device.
  • Fast - The repair normally takes only 30-60 minutes.
  • Simple - It is easy to use regardless of technical knowledge.
  • Efficient - Repairs other iOS system problems with no iTunes needed.
  • Highly Compatible - It fully supports iPhone 5s to iPhone 15 and iOS 17 and earlier versions.
Summary

Hopefully, you've learned how to close open apps on iPhone 13. It's pretty simple, but you should only do it when necessary. Mostly it's when an app freezes or doesn't respond.

But if you're still having troubles with your iPhone or an app after relaunching it, perhaps you need a complete solution. Mobitrix Perfix is your perfect solution. Download it today for all your iPhone system repairs.