How do I close an app on Surface RT?

Drag from above the screen to the bottom.  Think from the camera to the windows logo.

Hi there!

In order to close an application, you can drag your finger from the top of the screen to the bottom. As you do this, you will see the application follow your finger and eventually shrink and drop from the screen.

To see the running applications, you can swipe in from the left side of the screen (very slightly), hold a moment, and swipe back toward the outer edge.  By doing that, a banner will pull up, showing you each application currently open. If you are using a mouse, simply hover over the bottom left corner to pull up the same banner.  In desktop mode, you will see each application in the bottom start bar.

To learn more about engaging with different Apps, you might want to check out this link, Start, Find and Close Apps.

In Windows 8, a simple swipe down fully closed.

Now in 8.1, a swipe suspends the app. To fully close it swipe down and hold at the bottom until you see the app "flip".

Hello Josh.

Apps you install from the Windows Store don’t slow down your Surface, so you don’t need to close them. When you’re not using an app, Windows will leave it running in the background and then close it eventually if you don’t use it. If you want to remove an app from view, drag the app to the bottom of the screen. To stop all processes associated with an app, drag the app to the bottom of the screen, and hold it there until the app flips over.

Note It’s still a good idea to close desktop apps when you're done using them, particularly before shutting down your Surface.

For more info, see Start and find apps on Surface.

Best regards.

I know how to close apps individually but bow to I close all of them at the same time?

Hey Derek,

You really don't have to close any apps if you don't want to as windows suspends all apps you are not currently working on, or sends them to work in the background if they have permissions to do so (like the mail app). When suspended, apps do not use any system resources other than RAM until that RAM is needed by another application or task.

However, if you still want to close multiple apps at once, the apps need to be in the switch list bar (the snapped display for apps on the left side of the screen.) Then swipe the charms, go to PC settings, go to general, and then click/touch delete history. This will close all the apps in the switch list at once.

Hope that helps!

I know how to close apps individually but bow to I close all of them at the same time?

You can't, really - not in one step, anyway.

When I have a lot of apps going and I just kind of want to metaphorically clear my head by clearing my tablet, I'll do the "task list" thing - where you swipe a little from off the left edge of the screen, then immediately back off the edge without lifting your finger - this brings up a list of all the apps you have open in little thumbnails, and you can drag each one off the bottom of the screen.

It's quicker and feels a little more organized than constantly swiping back, then down, then back, then down, etc.

The only weirdness with this way of doing it is that for some reason (bug? feature?  don't know), you can't close the last app in the list by dragging its thumbnail off the bottom of the screen - that just switches to it, and you close it the normal way.  Weird.

Or you could just sign off, or reboot :-)

This page has a video that shows you how to close an app:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/how-close-app

(tap and hold the top of the app, then drag the app to the bottom of the screen)

All the open apps appear in a recent apps bar on the left:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/switch-apps#1TC=t1

(swipe in from the left edge without lifting your finger, and then push the app back toward the left edge. You'll see the apps you've used recently, plus Start.)

Hope this helps,

Kate

just in case you didn't know... a program is closed by a swipe from the top of the screen, down to the bottom. This will close the app.

To see open metro apps you can swipe out from the left and return - this will pop out a list of currently open apps.

There has been a recent update to the music app... this might solve your problem with music skipping.

Steve