How To: You Can Finally Swipe Up to Close Apps on the iPhone X Again

You Can Finally Swipe Up to Close Apps on the iPhone X Again

Apple has finally released iOS 12 for everyone to enjoy, and there are plenty of cool features to go around. Perhaps the coolest feature, at least, for those of us with an iPhone X, is the return of an oft-used gesture we loved on other model iPhones.

When the iPhone X arrived, following iOS 11, it featured an odd, three-step gesture to force-close apps from the app switcher. You'd swipe up to reveal the app switcher, tap-and-hold on an app card, then tap on the little red button for each app you wanted to quit out of. While it set it apart from iPhone models that used the traditional method of double-clicking on the Home button, followed by swiping up on app cards, it proved to be less intuitive in the end.

Thankfully, iOS 12 has ditched the old tap-and-hold gesture in favor of a more intuitive gesture of force-closing apps. Instead, you now get a more fluid gesture which basically entails swiping up to open the app switcher, then swiping up again on a target app to close it. You can even use multiple fingers to swipe up and kill a number of apps in one go. It's pretty much just like any other iPhone, except when it comes to accessing the app switcher since there's no Home button.

Image by Justin Meyers/Gadget Hacks

This improvement arrives just in time, as Apple's 2018 batch of iPhones will no longer have a Home button that many have grown accustomed to. Millions of customers will no doubt upgrade to either the iPhone XS, XS Max, or iPhone XR, and this new gesture to force-close apps will help ensure they get used to their devices in as little time as possible.

Just updated your iPhone? You'll find new Apple Intelligence capabilities, sudoku puzzles, Camera Control enhancements, volume control limits, layered Voice Memo recordings, and other useful features. Find out what's new and changed on your iPhone with the iOS 18.2 update.

Cover image by Amboy Manalo/Gadget Hacks

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