Android 16 Beta 3 has officially launched, and the new OS brings a couple of small changes that might normally go unnoticed. One minor but apparently important change is a new “close” app option that appears when the app icon in Android 16’s recent menu is tapped.
In the stable version of Android 15 and previous versions before it, swiping up will get you to the recent app menu, where you can see every app that’s currently open. To close an app, you’d need to swipe up. That will stop the app from running in the background, but it doesn’t always completely halt the app’s background processing. For that, you’d need to do a “force stop.”
Android 16 Beta 3 is breaking barriers and has added a new way to close apps. Now, when tapping an app icon in that recent menu, you’ll see a new option: “Close.” Tapping this is the equivalent of swiping up and dismissing an open app. It’s not a force-stop option, which would have been much better, to be honest. This option can be found among others like “Split screen” and “Pause app.”
If this new addition were among a sea of other Android 16 improvements, it wouldn’t be under such a microscope. However, Android 16 Beta 3 isn’t offering a lot in terms of big leaps or bounds. You can catch the rest of our Android 16 Beta 3 coverage as more is uncovered.
More on Android 16 Beta 3:
- Here’s everything new in Android 16 Beta 3 [Gallery]
- How to install the latest Android 16 Beta on Google Pixel
- Google rolling out Android 16 Beta 3 for Pixel
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