Closing background running aps

Double-press the HOME button, swipe left or right to the app, then swipe up.

Thanks! I've been looking everywhere trying to find how to do this! Such a simple way to do this, why do they make it so difficult to find? It's not in any of the user guides I looked in.

Probably because there is rarely any need to close an app. Apps in the launch bar don't use power or data. And killing an app does not stop it from responding to Notifications and relaunching on its own, even if it isn't showing.

And if you shut down apps you lose one of the really powerful features of iOS 7, the ability to switch between apps without exiting to the Home screen, then finding and tapping the next app you want to use. Instead, when you are in one app and want to switch to another just double-press the HOME button, then scroll to and tap the other app. The bar is dynamically reorganized, so if you you are using one app and you double-press HOME the previous most recently used app will be centered, and the next most recently used will be next to it.