How to Find, Close, and Restart Apps on Android

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Force restart any app on your Android

Written by Rain Kengly

Last Updated: October 30, 2025 Fact Checked

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Restarting Apps on Android

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This wikiHow teaches you how to restart apps on Android smartphones and tablets. If an Android app becomes unresponsive, you can force it to quit in the Settings menu and then restart the app. You can also use a simple motion on your home screen to quickly close it.

Find and Restart Android Apps

To restart apps on Android, open Settings and select Apps. Tap the app you want to force-restart, and then tap the Force Stop icon. Tap OK, return to your home page, and then tap the app to open it again.

Section 1 of 2:

Restarting Apps on Android

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1
Open Settings
. It's the gray app that resembles a gear, usually located in your Android phone's app drawer. You can also swipe down from the top of the screen to open the notification drawer, and then tap the gear icon in the top-right corner.^{[1]
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- The icon may look different if you have a different theme installed on your Android device.
- If you want to quickly close an app, you can swipe up from the bottom of your screen, hold for a second, and then release. Swipe up on the app you want to close or tap Clear all to close all open apps.
It's next to an icon of four circles in the Settings menu. You will see an alphabetical list of all the apps installed on your Android device.^{[2]
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This will display the Application Info screen with additional options.
You can find this near the bottom of the screen.^{[3]
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It's in the bottom-right corner of the pop-up window. This will stop the app, and the "Force Stop" button will now be grayed out because the app is no longer running.^{[4]
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Press the Home button to return to the home screen.
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Open the app again. Open the app drawer and select the app you recently closed.
- If you're restarting the app to troubleshoot an issue, you should also try restarting your Android device.

Section 2 of 2:

Frequently Asked Questions

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How do I restart apps from the Home screen? To quickly close an app from the home screen, swipe up from the bottom, hold, and then release. Swipe up on the app you want to close (or tap Clear all to close all open apps). Then, open the app again.
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How do I reboot to safe mode on Android? If you have issues with your Android device freezing, crashing, or running slower than usual, you can try restarting it in safe mode. On most devices, power it off, and then press and hold the Power and Volume Down button at the same time. On Samsung Galaxy, this is Power and Volume Up. Use the volume buttons to navigate the recovery menu, and use the Power button to select an option.^{[5]
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How do I check recently opened apps on Android? To see your open apps on an Android phone or tablet, swipe up from the bottom of the screen, hold, and then let go. You can then swipe back and forth to see the apps currently open. If you want to close an app, swipe up on it, To close them all at the same time, tap Clear all.

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Question

How do you restart the app after you force the stop? This only is showing the forced stop (to me at least).

Rudy Toth

Community Answer

You will have to perform a factory reset, which can wipe out all your apps and data. You should never use those buttons. "Force Stop" is mean only for workers at the factory, so they can do bench testing of the device.

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Question

Will I lose my progression in a game?

Freddy Chavez

Community Answer

Most games these days are always connected to the internet. This way they back up all your game data on their servers. If you lost your phone, uninstalled it or did anything to lose the game you would merely need to log back in and the progress will return. Note that some games even have a backup code as a secondary option to restore an account.

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