Closing an App on the Original iPad

By
Daniel Nations
Daniel Nations
Daniel Nations
Writer
  • University of Texas at Arlington
Daniel Nations has been a tech journalist since 1994. His work has appeared in Computer Currents, The Examiner, and other publications. He is a developer who has published apps in the Apple App Store, Google Play marketplace and Amazon Appstore; he also has worked as a data analyst and DB administrator.
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Updated on April 17, 2020

Apple stopped supporting updates to the original iPad with the version 5.1.1 of the operating system. There are still some uses for the original iPad, including browsing the web, but if you run into problems with it, you will find most troubleshooting steps are directed at the newer models. We retain this content for people who still own and operate the original iPad.

The iOS operating system for iPads and iPhones keeps track of which apps need what part of the system and stops apps from misbehaving. That being said, it isn't 100 percent reliable (but it's more reliable than your friends will suggest to you).

The original iPad, front and back
Apple

Closing Background Apps

Apple has redesigned the task screen several times since the iPad's inception. If you aren't using an original iPad but are still on an old operating system, you should update to the latest version and use the new task screen to close the app.

But if you have the original iPad, close an app by opening the taskbar by double-clicking the Home button. (This is the button at the bottom of the iPad.) This bar contains icons of the most recently used apps.

To close an app, you will first need to touch the app icon and hold your finger on it until the icons begin to shimmer back and forth. A red circle with a minus sign will appear at the top of the icons when this happens. Tap the red circle with the minus sign on any app you want to close. This procedure doesn't delete the app from your iPad, it only closes it down so it won't run in the background. This will also free up resources for your iPad, which could help it run faster.

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