How and Why to Quit Apps in iOS 7

Quitting apps in iOS 7 isn't obvious at first glance but, once you know how, it's much more intuitive than previous versions which sometimes made people think they were actually deleting the app from their device. To quit an app that's running, follow these steps:

1. double-click the home button to show the app-switcher (pictured)
2. swipe left or right to find the app you want to kill
3. flick the app upwards

Why would you need to quit an app?

There are a few reasons you might want to quit an app. Here are the top two:

• Even though there are conflicting reports, I'm a big believer that quitting apps you are not using can help improve battery life. There are some apps that continue to use resources (and therefore battery life) while just being open in the background. This is especially true for streaming audio apps like Pandora, VoIP apps like Skype, navigation apps, and apps that are trying to complete a task (think Facebook trying to complete that last photo upload). Every week or two, I go through and quit all the apps I'm not using.
• Once in a while, an app continuously crashes or acts oddly. The problem can often be fixed by quitting it and re-opening it.