Find, open, and close apps on your Pixel Tablet

You'll find some apps on your Pixel Tablet's Home screens, and all your apps in All Apps. You can open, close, and switch between apps easily.

Important: Some of these steps work only on Android 15 and up. Learn how to update your Android version.

Find and open apps

Swipe up from the middle of your Home screen to the top.
Scroll or search to find an app.
Tap the app that you want to open.

Tips:

If you're using a Google Account for work or school, you’ll find your apps in a "Work" tab.
Add a shortcut to your Home screen for quicker access to content within apps. Learn how to add a shortcut.

Switch between apps

Switch between open apps in Overview

Swipe up from the bottom of your screen, hold, then let go.
- 3-button navigation: Tap Recent apps .
Scroll to find an open app or choose one from the Taskbar.
Tap the app that you want to open.

Switch between apps on your Taskbar

With an app open, slowly swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the Taskbar.
- Note: Your Taskbar is always displayed if you have 3-button navigation turned on.
Choose an app from your Taskbar or tap Action to browse all of your apps.

Tip: You can pin apps to your Taskbar when editing your Home screen. If you don’t pin any apps, Taskbar will show suggested apps.

Close apps

Important: Some apps, like Google Play services or system apps, can’t be stopped. Learn more about Google Play services.

Close one app: Swipe up from the bottom, hold, then release to go to Overview. Swipe up on the app tile.
- 3-button navigation: Tap Recent apps to go to Overview.
Close all apps: Swipe up from the bottom, hold, then release to go Overview. Swipe all the way to the left and tap Clear all.
- 3-button navigation: Tap Recent apps to go to Overview.
Find your Home screen: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
- 3-button navigation: Tap Home .
Stop apps working in the background:
- To open Quick Settings, swipe down from the top of the screen.
- To check the number of active apps running in the background, tap # active apps.
- To close each active app, tap Stop.

Tip: Even if you don't close apps manually, you won't run out of memory or battery. Android manages these automatically.

Pin the Taskbar

You can pin the Taskbar so it’s always accessible at the bottom of the screen.

To open the Taskbar, swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen.
When the Taskbar displays, touch and hold the divider line.
In the pop-up menu, turn on Always show Taskbar.

Choose an aspect ratio for your apps

Some apps aren't designed to fit your device's screen. To make an app fit your screen better, you can change its aspect ratio. Change one app's aspect ratio at a time.

Open your device's Settings app .
Tap Apps Aspect ratio (experimental).
Tap Suggested apps All apps to find all of the apps on your device.
Tap the app you want to change the aspect ratio for.
Choose an aspect ratio:
- App default: Open the app in its default size.
- Full screen: Stretch the app so it fills your screen.
- Half screen: The app only takes up half the screen.
- 16:9: Change the app's dimensions to a 16:9 ratio.

Tip: The app restarts when you change its aspect ratio, so save any changes first. Note that some apps may not be optimized for certain aspect ratios.

Get new apps

You can get more apps in the Play Store app . Learn how to download apps.

Related resources

Add apps, shortcuts, and widgets to your Home screens on your Pixel Tablet
Transfer files between your computer and Pixel Tablet
Use split screen on your Pixel Tablet
Add lock screen widgets to your Pixel Tablet

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Find, open, and close apps on your Pixel Tablet

Switch between apps

Switch between open apps in Overview

Switch between apps on your Taskbar

Close apps

Pin the Taskbar

Get new apps

Related resources

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