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Welcome to the 'Closing unused apps on an Android phone' video course. In this video, you'll learn how to find the apps that are open on your Android phone and how to close them. The steps will be similar on an Android tablet.
The apps you use stay running in the background even after you move to another one. Closing apps can help your phone run smoothly and save battery. You can find and close apps any time your phone is unlocked. Whether you're in an app or web page, checking your messages, or making a call.
To get started, look along the bottom of your screen for three icons. The icon on the left is the Recent apps button and looks like three vertical lines or a square. Tap it. A carousel of app panels appears and you can swipe through them to see all the apps currently open. To close one app, gently swipe it upwards off the screen without removing your finger from the surface of the screen. To close all apps at once, tap the Close all button at the bottom of the screen.
If you see a navigation bar at the bottom centre of the screen instead of three icons, you will use a swipe gesture to find the open apps on your phone. Put your finger on the bar, then swipe up slowly from the bottom without removing your finger from the surface of the screen and pause in the middle.
You'll see the carousel of apps panels appear. Swipe up on any app panel to close it. To close all apps at once, tap the Close all button at the bottom.