When using an application you may want to send it to run in the background and switch to the Home screen in order to run another application. The easiest way to do this is to briefly press the red End/Power key (the key immediately to the right of the Escape key). Some applications may also support a Hide menu item or button on some of their screens which you can select to send the application to the background.
Warning If the Phone application is in the foreground and a call is in progress then pressing the red End/Power key will disconnect the phone call. The Phone application supports a Hide menu item in this case, but if you’ve enabled Password Security then you will need to select the Unlock menu item first and enter your password before the Hide menu item will be displayed on the Phone application menu.
To bring an application running in the background back so it is displayed in the foreground do one of the following:
- Find its icon on the Home screen (or in a folder of the Home screen) and click it to launch the application
- If your BlackBerry has a QWERTY keyboard, you’ve enabled application launch hotkeys and the application in the background supports such a hotkey then press it while on the Home screen. For more information see “Launching Applications using Hotkeys on QWERTY keyboard Smartphones“.
- Press the BlackBerry Menu key while on the Home screen, select the Switch Application menu item to display a ribbon showing the icons for all running applications. Scroll to and then click the ribbon icon for the application you want to bring into the foreground to switch to it. Note that some other applications may also support the Switch Application menu item.
- If your BlackBerry has a keyboard then press and hold the Alt key followed by a press and release of the Escape key - this will display a ribbon showing the icons for all running applications. Scroll to the ribbon icon for the application you want to bring into the foreground and then release the Alt key to switch to it.