Is the red close button the same as swiping up in the app switcher?

[macrlz9]

Like the title says, we know we aren't supposed to regularly Force Quit apps by swiping up in the app switcher other than a troubleshooting step. But with the iPadOS 26 changes, is swiping up in the app switcher now the same as the red close button?

I've worked out that the yellow minimize button closes the window but keeps the app open in the app switcher and when the red close button is used, the app no longer shows in the app switcher.

 

[It’s always something]

I close apps all the time, both because they consume memory and because I dislike the clutter of having apps open that I’m not using. There’s nothing wrong with doing this. 👍

 

[macrlz9]

I close apps all the time, both because they consume memory and because I dislike the clutter of having apps open that I’m not using. There’s nothing wrong with doing this. 👍

Well, I should say I know people do this but Apple has always said it’s not necessary.

“If an app isn’t responding, you can quit it and then reopen it to try and resolve the issue. (Typically, there’s no reason to quit an app; quitting it doesn’t save battery power, for example.)”

https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/quit-and-reopen-an-app-ipad79518d15/ipados

To each their own.

I’m mostly looking to determine is quitting apps by swiping up in the app switcher the same as the red close button or do they function differently in some way? I’m thinking they are the same as there was no other way to “quit” an app before iPadOS 26. Pressing the home button / swiping up to go back to the desktop seems to be like the yellow minimize button where the red close button seems to be the same as quitting apps via the app switcher.

Apple here says the red close button closes the window, not quits the app so maybe they are still different?

https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/work-with-multiple-windows-at-once-ipad08c9970c/ipados

 

[BigBlur]

Apple here says the red close button closes the window, not quits the app so maybe they are still different?

You could have multiple windows of the same app open, so it wouldn't be correct to say that it quits the app because it still leaves the other windows open.

My guess is that both actions do the same thing and behave like some apps on macOS. For some apps on macOS, clicking the red button closes the window...and if it's the last window open, it also quits the app.

Also, FWIW, it's somewhat interesting that iPad apps don't have a 'Quit' option. It's not there in the menu bar, nor does the Command-Q keyboard shortcut do anything.

 

[papbot]

You could have multiple windows of the same app open, so it wouldn't be correct to say that it quits the app because it still leaves the other windows open.

My guess is that both actions do the same thing and behave like some apps on macOS. For some apps on macOS, clicking the red button closes the window...and if it's the last window open, it also quits the app.

Also, FWIW, it's somewhat interesting that iPad apps don't have a 'Quit' option. It's not there in the menu bar, nor does the Command-Q keyboard shortcut do anything.

Cmd + w will quit an app on the iPad. I use that frequently when an app is misbehaving to save me from pulling up the app switcher and swiping up from there.

 

[BigBlur]

Cmd + w will quit an app on the iPad. I use that frequently when an app is misbehaving to save me from pulling up the app switcher and swiping up from there.

Right, Command-W is the keyboard shortcut to close the window (or tab in Safari). It behaves similar to the red button in that it will quit the app if it's the only window/tab open for that app.

 

[macrlz9]

I just had a situation when I opened Safari, it was just a completely blank window. Command W (or clicking the red close button) and relaunching resulted with the same blank window.

Going into the multitasking view and swiping up to quit the app resolved the issue. That confirms to me that force quitting and closing a window are not the same thing and both actions have separate uses.

 

[papbot]

I just had a situation when I opened Safari, it was just a completely blank window. Command W (or clicking the red close button) and relaunching resulted with the same blank window.

Going into the multitasking view and swiping up to quit the app resolved the issue. That confirms to me that force quitting and closing a window are not the same thing and both actions have separate uses.

I don’t use windowed apps, but I have played around with it some, and have not found that using the red button force quits an app. If it was misbehaving I always have to use the globe key + the up arrow to bring up the recent apps and swipe it up from there. In full screen apps, which I use 95% of the time, cmd + W will suffice but every now and then it hasn’t seemed to do the trick so I’ve resorted to using the globe key combo option most often.