Device unusable: on J4 Android 9 (pie) , no ability to switch tasks / invoke Task Manager / Task Switcher / Active Apps list

On a Samsung J4 Android Pie device, that I have to use for work to do
Android Application development, there appears to be NO ability to
switch between running applications / tasks , or to stop running
applications easily.

Pressing the “Recents” button brings up a horizontal display of the last
screens of the last apps I have run; if I press on one of these screens,
the associated application is Restarted & Restored to that screen,
even if it was already running,

This is very different from the behavior of all other Android versions
I have used, where there is a ‘Activities’ list accessed by pressing the
left most button, that allows you to switch between running tasks.

There appears to be no way to switch between active tasks on Android 9 pie
on the Galaxy J4 .

The page at:

incorrectly states that there is an ‘Active Applications’ tab in the Recents list .
There is no such button displayed in the Recents list in android 9 (pie) on this galaxy J4.

Moreover, the Recents list presents no way of Stopping / Killing a running task , without
going to Settings->Apps->${APP}->Force Stop , or pressing ‘Close All’ to clear all
applications from the Recents List (even though they are left still running in the background) -
there is no way to Switch to one of these background running tasks.

This makes the phone really unusable for android development / general usage ,
since there is no way to switch between a running app and another app without
restarting & restoring the running app , and there is no easy way to stop
a running app without using Settings->App->${APP}->Force Stop .

This is a major departure from the way all other Android versions work ,
and makes the device really unusable.

Would anyone know of any way to access any Task Switcher / list of Active Applications
feature on a Galaxy J4 running Android 9 ?

If so, please could they let me know.

I’d prefer not to have to install third party applications to restore basic functionality
that was present in all other android versions , and appears to be present in the
description of the stock Android 9 Recents list . Is there any way to uninstall the
Samsung Recents list and restore the stock Android 9 Recents List ? If anyone knows
a way, please let me know.

Thanks & Best Regards,
Jason