How To Close Games Or Applications on PS5


PS5: How To Close Games Or Applications, And What To Do If PS5 Game Is stuck Or Frozen And Won't Close

While the PS5 UI is regarded as being much cleaner and simple than its predecessor, it doesn't mean that everything is immediately intuitive. One example is with closing down games and apps. This guide is all about How To Close Games Or Applications on PS5 in case you need to.

While in certain circumstances, the console will automatically close things down for you (we'll run through this in a second) there may still be times when you want to make sure something isn't running in the background.

So we'll explain how you can do this. And we'll also have a look at what you can do when you are left with a frozen PS5 or if the console decides to misbehave when you want to close a game or an app.

Read on below to find out How To Close Games Or Applications on PS5 and more.

How To Close Games Or Applications

As we mentioned above, games and apps will often be closed automatically by the console. Scenarios where this will happen include:

  • Using the Switcher function to switch to a different game
  • Launching a different game from the home screen
  • Turning off your PS5

So in many cases, you won't actually need to do anything other than just carry on using your console, as the PS5 will clean up after you. In contrast, exiting a game to go back to the home screen or control centre won't automatically shut it down. So if you want to make sure everything is shut down, here's what you need to do:

  • While in your game/app, press and hold the PS button to arrive at the home screen.
  • Highlight the active game or app and press the Options button on your DualSense
  • This will load a sub-menu, you simply choose the option that says Close Game
PS5: How To Close Games Or Applications, And What To Do If PS5 Game Is stuck Or Frozen And Won't Close
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What To Do If Your PS5 Is frozen And Won't Close

While attempting to close games and apps will normally be a really simple process, there may be the odd occasion where the console will freeze. This may prevent you from closing your games or apps as you normally would. In this scenario, we recommend the following:

  • Initially, the key is to restart the console if you can. So press and hold the power button until the PS5 system beeps twice.
  • This will turn the system off. This takes a while. Probably longer than you think it should.

If it's a one-off, then this may be all you need to do before restarting your console. However, if you find it happening repeatedly, you may need to consider more drastic action.

Read More: PS5 Slow Download Speed: Why Are My PS5 Downloads So Slow, And How To Speed Up PS5 Updates

More drastic measures

If it is happening on one game and one game only, then it's worth deleting and reinstalling the specific game, to see if this resolves the issue. To do this:

  • On your PS5, navigate to the game on the Game home screen.
  • Press the Options button and select Delete.
  • Reinstall your game

On the other hand, if it seems to be happening with multiple games, Sony recommends you rebuild the PS5 database. To do that:

  • Press the power button until the PS5 system beeps twice to turn the system off. The power indicator will blink for a few moments before turning off.
  • Press and hold the power button for at least seven seconds, only releasing it after you hear the second of two beeps.
  • Connect a DualSense® wireless controller via a USB cable and press the PS button on the controller.
  • Your system should now be in Safe Mode.
  • Once you are in Safe Mode, please select option 5: “Rebuild Database”.

Note: Rebuilding the database scans the drive and creates a new database of all content. This operation may take a long time depending on the type and number of data items.

If you find that the problem continues happening after doing all of this, then you may need to contact Sony to have your console repaired or replaced under warranty. In case you have no idea about warranty, read PS5 warranty.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Gaming, How To, Next-Gen, and PlayStation pages.