iPadOS: How to use the Five Finger Death Pinch

Multi-finger gestures have been on the iPad for a while; I remember using this gesture with my iPad 2 running iOS 5. I refer to it as the five finger death pinch. You can do it with four fingers but pinching that way is kind of awkward.

Closing Apps and Multitasking

With the introduction of the Home Bar these gestures are a bit redundant. But they’re great to use on iPads with a home button.

Before we start, open Settings > Home Screen & Dock. Tap on Multitasking and make sure that Gestures is enabled.

  1. With the first gesture, place five fingers on the screen and pinch them together. This will close the app you’re currently using.
  2. The second gesture is the same, except that instead of pinching all the way closed, we want to pause in the middle. This brings up the App Exposé to see all of your open apps. You can also accomplish this one by swiping up with four fingers.

Screenshot of Multitasking in iPad settings

That’s all there is to it. If you know of other multi-finger gestures, leave a comment below and I’ll include them here.

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