How To Close Apps On Apple Watch

Tips
1

I’ve noticed my Apple Watch getting slower and the battery draining faster than usual, and I think it might be because I leave too many apps running in the background. I’m confused about the correct way to close or force quit apps on watchOS, since different guides online say different things. Can someone explain the current, step-by-step method to close apps on an Apple Watch and any tips to keep it running smoothly?

2

On Apple Watch, apps do not keep running in the background like on a Mac. watchOS pauses them to save battery. Forcing a lot of apps to close all the time often hurts battery and speed instead of helping.

That said, here is how to close or force quit one:

  1. Wake the watch.
  2. Press the side button once. This opens the Dock with your recent apps.
  3. Scroll to the app you want to close.
  4. Swipe left on its card.
  5. Tap the red X.

If the app is frozen or glitchy, do this extra step:

  1. Open the app.
  2. Hold the side button until the power screen shows.
  3. Release the side button.
  4. Hold the Digital Crown until the app closes and you go back to the watch face.

That force quits the active app.

For slow performance and battery drain, focus more on these:

• Update watchOS to the latest version.
• On the iPhone Watch app, under General > Background App Refresh, turn off refresh for apps you do not need.
• Reduce animations: Settings > Accessibility > Reduce Motion.
• Turn off “Wake on Wrist Raise” if you do not need it, or lower Wake Duration.
• Check which apps use the most battery: on iPhone, Settings > Battery, look for “Apple Watch” entries and heavy hitters.
• Restart the watch once in a while. Hold side button, slide Power Off, then hold side button again to turn it on.

Apple’s own docs and tests show that forced closing all apps all the time tends to use more CPU and battery, because the watch has to load them from scratch each time.

So use force close only for a misbehaving app. For general speed and battery, tweak settings and background refresh instead of nuking every app from the Dock every hour.

3

You’re not wrong to suspect apps, but watchOS doesn’t really let stuff run wild in the background the way a Mac or even an iPhone does. @shizuka already nailed the actual close / force‑quit steps, so I’ll skip rehashing that list.

Couple of extra points and a slightly different angle:

  1. Closing apps vs performance
    Constantly killing apps from the Dock is usually a placebo. Every time you reopen, the watch has to reload the whole thing, which actually hits CPU and battery more than resuming a paused app. I slightly disagree with the idea that “too many apps in the Dock” is itself a problem. The Dock is more like a recent-apps list, not a list of stuff actively running.

  2. When you should force quit
    Only do the full force‑quit trick when:

    • An app is frozen or super laggy
    • Complications from that app keep failing to update
    • The app keeps crashing when you launch it
      In those cases, yes, force quitting can help a lot.

  3. Where the real battery hogs usually are
    Instead of obsessing over closing apps, look at things that actually stay active or wake the watch often:

    • Complications that refresh a lot (weather, stocks, third‑party fitness, etc.)
    • Always On display (on newer models)
    • Cellular or poor Bluetooth connection to your iPhone
    • Apps that use location / GPS or heart rate frequently

    Try:

    • Use a simpler watch face with fewer “live” complications, at least for a day, and see if battery improves.
    • Turn off cellular or Wi‑Fi on the watch as a test if you have an Ultra / cellular model and you’re not using it much.
    • For workouts, end the workout properly instead of just exiting the app. Leaving a workout running is one of the fastest ways to murder your battery.

  4. Background App Refresh nuance
    @shizuka mentioned turning off Background App Refresh, which is good, but you don’t necessarily want to kill it for everything. Messaging, calendar, and fitness apps might need it to feel “instant.” Turn it off only for stuff where you don’t care if it’s a bit stale: random third‑party utilities, infrequently used apps, etc.

  5. Check for “zombie” behaviors
    Sometimes a single misbehaving app is the entire villain:

    • Your watch heats up more than usual.
    • Battery plummets even when you’re not touching it.
    • You notice the same app showing weird behavior on iPhone too.

    In that case:

    • Force quit just that app on the watch (using the method @shizuka described).
    • Reboot both watch and iPhone.
    • If it keeps acting up, try reinstalling that app or just stop using it for a day and see if battery magically recovers.

  6. When in doubt, restart instead of mass‑closing
    If your watch feels sluggish overall, a restart is worth way more than swiping away 15 apps from the Dock. It clears out temporary junk and weird stuck processes in one go.

So: yes, you can close apps, and you can force quit them, but treat that like a wrench, not a daily ritual. Use it when something is obviously glitchy. For speed and battery, tuning settings, complications, and connections will move the needle way more than trying to keep your Dock looking “empty.”

4

@shizuka covered the “how to close / force quit” bit nicely, so I’ll stick to what actually helps your slowdowns and battery, beyond swiping apps away.

1. Don’t obsess over “too many apps open”
I slightly disagree with the idea that a long Dock list is harmless in every situation. In theory it is just recents, but in practice some third‑party apps keep scheduling background tasks as long as they’re frequently used. Cleaning out rarely used offenders from your Dock can sometimes reduce how often they wake the system, but it is a small gain, not a magic fix.

2. Use the Dock as a diagnostic tool
Instead of mass-closing everything, use the Dock to spot patterns:

  • If you always see the same app sitting there after you thought you were done with it and your watch feels warm, that is a suspect.
  • Try a full day without opening that app at all. If your battery goes back to normal, you found your culprit.

Then you can decide: keep it, limit use, or uninstall.

3. Focus on what actually eats battery

Closing apps is less important than:

  • Complications: Heavy ones (weather, live scores, certain finance apps) ping the network and CPU often. Try a super simple face for 24 hours and compare.
  • Workouts & sensors: The big battery killers are workouts accidentally left running, continuous heart rate, GPS, and “always on” background tracking. Double‑check you actually tapped End on workouts.
  • Connectivity: If your iPhone is often far away or Bluetooth is flaky, the watch leans on Wi‑Fi or cellular, which is far more expensive. Keeping the phone in range or turning off cellular temporarily can give you a big bump.

4. Background App Refresh: tweak, don’t nuke

@shizuka suggested trimming Background App Refresh, and I agree, but I would not disable it entirely. Turn it off for:

  • Rarely used utilities
  • Novelty or “fun” apps
  • Any app that does not need to be up to date the second you raise your wrist

Leave it on for:

  • Messaging
  • Calendar / reminders
  • Fitness / health apps you actively rely on

That balance usually feels snappy without crushing the battery.

5. Watch for “zombie” misbehavior

If your Apple Watch suddenly:

  • Drains 30–40 percent in a couple hours while idle
  • Feels hot on your wrist
  • Stutters in basic UI like swiping notifications

Then a single misbehaving app is more likely than “too many apps open.” In that case:

  1. Force quit just that one problem app.
  2. Restart both watch and iPhone.
  3. If the issue returns, uninstall that app for a day and retest.

Nine times out of ten, that outperforms constantly closing everything.

6. When to restart instead of micromanaging apps

If the whole system feels off, a simple restart usually outperforms going through every app:

  • It clears cached junk.
  • It resets stuck background tasks.
  • It often fixes laggy animations and weird haptics.

I actually disagree a little with the idea that force quitting should be rare in all cases. On older watch models with limited RAM, occasionally force quitting a couple of big third‑party apps that you are done with for the day can help smoothness. Not every hour, but every day or two is reasonable if you notice hiccups.

7. Pros & cons of treating “closing apps” as your main tactic

Pros:

  • Feels satisfying and gives you a sense of control.
  • Can stop a clearly frozen or buggy app instantly.
  • Sometimes helps with one specific app that keeps crashing or misbehaving.

Cons:

  • Reopening everything from cold can use more CPU and battery.
  • Gives a false impression that you are “cleaning memory” in a useful way.
  • Won’t fix battery drain caused by complications, radios, or workouts.

In practice, you get more out of managing faces, complications, and connectivity than trying to keep the Dock pristine.

If you were writing a guide titled something like “How To Close Apps On Apple Watch” for others to follow, I’d put the actual close / force‑quit steps in a small box and spend most of the article on these tuning strategies, with a short pros and cons section explaining why blindly killing apps is not the main solution. That keeps it readable, accurate, and more useful than just listing button combos.