How to Remove Contacts from the App Switcher on the iPhone 5

Did you double-tap your Home button after installing iOS 8, only to find a list of your contacts at the top of the screen? iOS 8 added favorite and recent contacts in this location in an effort to provide another way to reach the people that you are most likely to contact.

This settings is not permanent, however, and you can completely turn it off if you no longer wish to display contacts on the app switcher screen. Simply follow our tutorial to find out where you need to go to adjust the setting.

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Stop Showing Contacts on the Screen Where You Close Apps on Your iPhone 5

The screen that you access when you double-tap your Home button is referred to as the App Switcher by Apple, but many people will recognize it as the place where they go to close apps. Regardless of how you use this screen, you may not like the addition of contacts at the top of it. Fortunately this is setting that you can adjust by following the short steps below.

Step 1: Open the Settings menu.

open the settings menu

Step 2: Scroll down and select the Mail, Contacts, Calendars option.

open the mail, contacts, calendars menu

Step 3: Scroll down and select the Show in App Switcher option.

select the show in app switcher option

Step 4: Touch the button to the right of each option on this screen to turn it off. You will know that an option is turned off when there is not any green shading around the button, as in the image below.

turn off both options

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