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How to close background apps on the Pixel 6a

Your Google Pixel 6a may have applications running in the background that may be taking up hardware resources, draining the battery charge and/or using mobile data. To see how you can close these apps, then you can check out this tutorial at Seeking Tech.

1. To start off, we recommend closing the app if you have if currently opened or suspended.

In order to do so, you need to open the App Overview menu.

If you are using a gestures-based navigation, the you need to swipe upwards from the bottom of the screen and then hold the position for a second to bring up the menu.

If you are using the buttons-based navigation, then you need to tap the square icon located at the bottom of the screen.

In the app overview menu, swipe upwards on the app that you want to closed. If you want to close all opened/suspended apps, then you can select the Clear All option located to the left of this menu.

2. Even if you close an app, it may still be running in the background on your Google Pixel 6a.

In order to completely force the application to stop running, you need to take the following steps:

  • To begin, open the Settings App.
  • From the Settings menu, you then need to head to Apps.
  • Inside the Apps menu, you should then select the See All Apps option.
  • In the All Apps menu, select the application that you want to force stop.
  • In the App Info screen, select the Force Stop option.
  • A notification will then pop-up saying that the app may misbehave if you force it to stop. Here, you need to select the Yes option to confirm the action.

3. Even if you force stop an app, it may run in the background again if you decide to open the same application and/or restart your device.

To limit the background apps from using mobile data and hardware resources, you can try doing the following:

  • Head to the Settings menu of your Google Pixel 6a and then select Apps.
  • You then need to select the See All Apps option from the Apps menu.
  • Next, select the application from the All Apps menu.
  • In the App Info screen, select Mobile Data & Wi-Fi.
  • From the Mobile Data & Wi-Fi menu, make sure that the Background Data setting is turned off.
  • Return to the aforementioned App Info screen and then select Battery.
  • In the Battery Usage screen, make sure to set the Manage Battery Usage setting to Restricted.
  • Repeat these steps again on other apps that you want to restrict from running in the background.

4. If you don’t want a specific to not run in the background at all, then you can disable or uninstall it.

In order to do so, you need to head to the App Info menu of the app. From there, you can select the Disable or Uninstall option.

Third-party applications can be uninstalled. On the other hand, you can only disable Google Apps.