Newer iPhones, including the iPhone 16 lineup, feature an edge-to-edge display and Face ID support. Hence, the iPhone 16 and its predecessors do not have Touch ID or a physical home button. The lack of the home button also changes how you navigate through your iPhone.
How can I close apps without the home button?
You need to use specific swipe gestures to see open apps, close running apps, and exit out of apps on your iPhone 16. The procedure is the same for previous generation iPhones with Face ID support, including the iPhone 15 and iPhone 14.
This quick guide shows how to see all open apps, view recently used apps, force close an app, and get out of an app on iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, or 16 Pro Max.
How to close an app on iPhone 16 or 16 Pro
To close an app on iPhone 16 and return to the home screen, swipe up from the bottom edge of your iPhone’s screen. Doing so will close the app you were running, but it may continue to run in the background.
How to see open apps on iPhone 16
Various apps remain open in the background even when you are not using them actively. To see your recently opened apps, switch between apps, or force close an app you need to see open apps first. The App Switcher or Recent Apps section will show all your open apps in one place.
To see open or recently used apps on iPhone 16, follow the steps below:
- Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle of the screen. The multitasking view will display all your opened apps, including recent ones.
- Swipe right or left through the list of open apps and tap the app’s preview you want to open.
See apps running on iPhone
Alternate Way (Using Back Tap)
You can also use the Back Tap functionality to view apps opened on your iPhone. This is a handy way to quickly open the App Switcher by tapping the back of the iPhone. For this:
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch.
- Scroll down to the bottom and select “Back Tap“.
- Go to ‘Double Tap’ and select App Switcher under the System category. You can also assign App Switcher to the ‘Triple Tap’ action.
- Double-tap (or triple-tap) firmly on the back of the iPhone to open or close the App Switcher.
How to force close apps on iPhone 16
There are instances when an app becomes unresponsive or gets stuck on the loading screen. If this happens, you can simply force close the app from the App Switcher and open it again.
A force stop lets you kill an unresponsive app and stop it from running in the background. It is a simple solution to close background apps or fix a frozen app on your iPhone.
To force close an app on an iPhone 16 or 16 Pro:
- Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle of the screen.
- Swipe right or left and find the app you want to force close.
- To force stop an app, swipe up on the app’s preview.
Force quit an app from App Switcher
NOTE: After force closing, re-open the app if you want the app to run in the background and check for updates.
How to close all apps on iPhone 16 at once
Though you can close background apps, iOS offers no way to clear all open apps. Therefore, you cannot close all apps at once on iPhone 16 or earlier models. However, you can force close individual apps or multiple apps in one go using specific gestures.
To close multiple apps on iPhone 16 or 16 Pro Max:
- Swipe up from the bottom and pause in the center of the screen. The App Switcher will display all your open apps.
- Place three fingers on three different app previews simultaneously and swipe up to close all three apps at once.
Similarly, you can use two fingers to clear background apps.
RELATED TIPS:
