How to close an app or game completely on Xbox One

When an Xbox One app or game is resisting work correctly, don't waste time restarting the console, instead use this tip.

Close Xbox One apps and games

You can quickly close an app or game on Xbox One, but only if you can find that “quit” option. It may have already happened to you that while playing a game, streaming a movie, or listening to music, suddenly the app stops responding or it’s not working correctly.

Usually, when this happens, you press the menu button, but only to find out that there isn’t an option to close or restart the app. Then you find yourself having to restart your Xbox One to force the app or game to close, which is not an ideal solution.

Thankfully, your game console includes an option to close an app or game, the only problem is that the option is hidden away for most users.

In this guide, you’ll learn the easy steps to completely close an app or game when you may have encounter a problem, or if you’re just trying to switch to another one.

How to close an Xbox One app or game

  1. Press the Xbox (logo) button on your controller to go back to Home and exit the app or game.

  2. Make sure the app is highlighted, and press the Menu (hamburger) menu button on your controller.

  3. In the menu, you’ll find a number of options, including a Quit button, select it and press A to exit the app.

Once you completed the steps to close the Xbox app or game, you can once again restart it. In the case, the app or game still not working, you can now try to restart your console to fix the issue.

It’s worth noting that you can only do this with one app or game at a time. Unfortunately, Xbox One doesn’t include an option to close all running apps and games at once.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.