Smart & Connected Life Smart Watches & Wearables How to Close Apps on Apple Watch Stop apps from running down your battery by Amanda Derrick Freelance Contributor Amanda Derrick is a mechanical engineer, business strategist, and former Lifewire writer who has also written for USAF Civil Service, ATK, and Boeing. our editorial process Twitter LinkedIn Amanda Derrick Updated on October 22, 2020 reviewed by Michelle Adeola Adelufosi Lifewire Tech Review Board Member Michelle Adeola Adelufosi is a marketing consultant with 9 years' experience working for a variety of clients. Her expertise includes social media, web development, and graphic design. our review board Article reviewed on Oct 11, 2020 Michelle Adeola Adelufosi Smart Watches & Wearables Working From Home Headphones & Ear Buds Smart Home Smart Watches & Wearables Travel Tech Connected Car Tech iPods & MP3 Players Tweet Share Email If your Apple Watch is slowing down, loses battery charge quickly, or is stuck in an app, it may be time to close a few apps. Periodically giving your Apple Watch a fresh start is a great way to restore the watch's usefulness and get back to work. If you clean up apps and restart the watch from time to time, your watch should always be ready for action. Here's how to close apps on the Apple Watch. Information in this article applies to Apple Watch Series 6 through Series 3. bombuscreative / Getty Images How to Close Apps on Apple Watch Closing apps on the Apple Watch can preserve its battery life and make it easier for your watch to process the applications you're currently using. If you're ready to clean up your active applications, here's what you need to do: Unlock the Apple Watch with your 4-digit code. If you're wearing the watch, this step is likely unnecessary. Press the Side Button once. Use your finger to scroll through active apps until you find the app you want to close. Swipe from right to left on the app you want to close. Tap the large red X to close the app. How to Force Close Apps on Apple Watch When an app freezes on your Apple Watch, use this method to force close the application. You must be in the app to force it to close. Press and hold the Side Button. Release the Side Button when the shutdown screen appears. Press and hold the Digital Crown until the app closes. How to Reboot Apple Watch If your Apple Watch is struggling to close an app with either of the above methods, reboot the watch. You can do this a couple of ways: Hold down the Side Button, then slide to Power Off.If the watch is unresponsive, force it to reboot by holding down the Side Button and the Digital Crown at the same time until it powers off. How to Close Apps Using the iPhone Watch App While your Apple Watch has a companion app on the iPhone, the ability to control apps from the phone is limited to functions like changing the app layout, brightness, text size, sounds and haptics, your passcode and privacy settings, and removing and uninstalling apps. Managing the apps running on your watch must be done from the Apple Watch.