X

Launch the iOS app switcher with 3D Touch

You don't need to double-tap the Home button to switch or close apps if you have an iPhone 6S or 6S Plus.

Matt Elliott Senior Editor
Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.
Expertise Laptops | Desktops | All-in-one PCs | Streaming devices | Streaming platforms
Matt Elliott

Double-tapping the Home button to call up the app switcher to jump to another app or close an app has probably become such a force of habit that you can't imagine app switching or app closing by any other means. But should you have an iPhone 6S or iPhone 6S Plus with 3D Touch and a desire to shun the Home button, there is another way to access the multitasking app switcher.

To open the app switcher with 3D Touch, press down on the left edge of the screen -- at the very left-most edge of the screen. Press down hard enough until the screen slides a bit to the right. From here, you have two options: quickly swipe right to jump to the last app you used, or slowly swipe right to open the app switcher.

And while we are on the topic of the app switcher, there is a setting that changes the way you swipe through the carousel of apps. Head to Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion and toggle the switch on.

ios-app-switcher.jpg

Left: the app switcher with Reduce Motion turned off.

Right: with Reduce Motion turned on.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

With Reduce Motion turned on, swiping through the app switcher occurs in a more controlled manner. Apps are presented one by one, so you can swipe through the carousel more slowly but without ever skipping past an app you are searching for.

Check out each way to make your own decision about the Reduce Motion setting.

For more, see everything you can do with 3D Touch.