Apple Watch apps are faster than ever thanks to watchOS 3, but if you ever run into the rotating dial of death, sometimes quickly force quitting the app can help.
With watchOS 3, Apple has made the force quitting process a bit different. Wearers used to be able to double click the side button to force quit an app. Now the process also involves the Digital Crown.
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Force quit apps in three steps:
1. Open the app you want to force quit.
2. Press and hold the Dock button until you see the shutdown screen.
3. Press the Digital Crown and the active app will force quit.
If force quitting an app didn’t solve your problem, you can also try deleting the app and then reinstalling it via the iPhone Watch app. Or reboot the device by holding down the side button until the shutdown option appears.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
6 responses to “How to force quit apps on watchOS 3”
This didn’t work at all. Hold side button til shutdown screen. Then push digital crown button just returns me to the app.
Same here. It didn’t force quit at all. All it did was take me back to the app. I’m wondering if the usual iOS trick of swiping up when in Dock mode works. The app does slide upwards, but is replaced by text that says Remove or Cancel. I don’t do either, but can’t tell if the app is closed or not. Going back to the Dock, the app is there again, but I don’t know if the Dock shows only open app or all apps.
Apparently you have to press-and-hold the crown.
Press and hold side button until you see the shutdown screen. Then press and hold the crown. The app will quit after about 1-2 seconds.
Thanks!
You have to press and hold the crown till the app closes, not just press it.
I think this a better process than the previous way which seemed to take much longer and was a little janky on the Series 0 Watch. Seems much cleaner now.