How to Turn off Pandora

Save memory and battery life when you're not streaming

man listening to music on tablet

Guido Mieth/Getty Images 

by Jordan Baranowski
Jordan Baranowski is a former Lifewire writer and educator with experience writing for SVG, The Nerd Stash, and Feast Magazine.
Updated May 22, 2019

Pandora is a great way to find music for any occasion, but when you aren't using the app, it can drain your battery and cause other apps on your device to slow to a crawl. Learn how to close Pandora on a variety of devices so you aren't killing your battery by running it in the background.

This article provides instructions for turning off Pandora on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows.

How to Turn off Pandora on Android

There are a few different ways to close down the Pandora app on Android device.

Using the Pandora App

  1. When Pandora is running, make sure you return to the Now Playing page. If you need to access this page, tap the blue box near the bottom of the screen as Pandora is playing.

  2. Tap the Hamburger icon to open the app menu.

  3. Tap Quit to shut down Pandora.

When Outside the Pandora App

If you have music playing through Pandora, but are currently on a different screen, you can also close Pandora through the All Running Apps screen. There are a few ways to access this, depending on what device you're using. In either case, the music should stop streaming when the app is closed.

  • On most older devices: Access the All Running Apps screen by holding down the Home button for a few seconds. You can then individually close any app by swiping it left or right off the screen.
  • On newer devices: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to the middle. From there, swipe up on the Pandora app to close it.

Turn off Pandora on iOS

Again, you can shut Pandora off multiple ways, depending on your device.

  • From the Multitasking Tray: Double tap the Home button to open the Multitasking Tray, which is a list of all apps currently running. Swipe up on the Pandora app to close it.

If your iPhone (like an iPhone X) doesn't have a Home button, access the Multitasking Tray by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and hold your finger in place for a second.

  • From the Home screen: Find the Pandora app, then tap and hold on it. When it starts to shake, tap the red circle with the line in it to close it down. This will completely delete the app from your device.

If you see a gray 'X' in the corner of the app, tap that instead, then tap Delete.

Close Pandora on Windows

If running the app on a Windows PC or laptop, simply right-click or tap and hold on the app to pull up the menu, then select Close. If you're running it through a browser instead of the app, select the X in the top right to close the browser tab.

Turn off Pandora on macOS

To close Pandora in MacOS, ensure it's the main app open, then click Pandora > Quit Pandora in the top left corner. Alternatively, you can also use the keyboard shortcut Command+Q.

Save your data plan and shut down your music when you aren't listening any longer. Pandora will always be ready to open back up when you are ready.