How to Close Apps on Apple Watch

Stop apps from running down your battery

Apple Watch App Close
Is your Apple Watch struggling and losing battery life? Close some apps and restore your watch's functionality.

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by
Amanda Derrick
Amanda Derrick is a mechanical engineer, business strategist, and freelance writer who has written for USAF Civil Service, ATK, and Boeing.
Updated September 11, 2018

If your Apple Watch is starting to slow down, lose battery faster, or even gets 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 help you restore the watch's usefulness and get back to work.

If you clean up your apps and restart from time to time, your watch should always be ready for action. Here's how to close apps on the Apple Watch.

How to Close Apps on Apple Watch

Closing apps on the Apple Watch can preserve your battery life and make it easier for your watch to process the applications you're using currently. If you're ready to clean up your active applications, here's what you need to do:

Note: These steps work for the Apple Watch Series 1, 2, and 3.

Closing apps on Apple Watch
  1. Unlock your Apple Watch with your 4-digit code.
    1. Note: If you're wearing the watch, this step is likely unnecessary.
  2. Press the Side Button once.
  3. Use your finger to scroll through active apps until you find the app you want to close.
  4. Swipe from right-to-left on the app you want to close.
  5. Tap Remove.

How to Force Close Apps on Apple Watch

If you're using an app on your watch, but it's frozen, use this method to force close the application.

Note: You must be in the app to force it to close.

Force Close App on Apple Watch
  1. Press and hold the Side Button.
  2. Release the Side Button when the shutdown screen appears.
  3. Press and hold the Digital Crown/Home Button until the app closes.

How to Reboot Apple Watch

If your watch is struggling to close an app with either of the above methods, you may need to reboot your watch. You can do this a couple of ways:

  • Hold down the Side Button, then slide to Power Off.
  • If your watch has become 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 also has a companion app on the iPhone, the ability to control apps from your phone is limited to functions like changing the App Layout, Brightness and Text Size, Sounds and Haptics, your Passcode and Privacy settings, and removing/uninstalling apps. Managing the apps running on your watch must be done via the watch itself.