Once you’ve identified the culprit, there are a few ways to go about forcing the app to quit. When a frozen app isn’t responding, you’ll see the colorful wait cursor. When an app is working fine, you’ll see your normal arrow cursor. But you can also figure it out by switching between your apps. In most cases, you’ll know which app isn’t working properly because it will be frozen and you won’t be able to use it.
It’s time to force quit the unresponsive app causing the problem so you can get back to what you’re doing. When the wheel of doom - more formally known as Mac’s wait cursor - pops up, it signals that one of your apps has crashed, likely taking with it any work you haven’t saved. An app on your computer is slowing down your MacOS, and it’s time to take action so you can get back to work.
However, if none of these work or you’re unable to perform any of these operations, you can force a shutdown by pressing and holding the power button the Mac shuts down.We’ve all dealt with it: the colorful spinning wheel of doom. In most cases, you can force quit unresponsive apps on your Mac with any of the methods above and restore its functionality to resume working. Select the frozen app in the Force Quit Applications window and click the Force Quit button.įorce Quit an Unresponsive App to Resume Mac Operations.Press the Command+Option+Esc key combination.Here are the steps to force quit a frozen app using the keyboard shortcut: It’s the same functionality that we used in the second method, except that, this time, we’ll trigger it with a keyboard shortcut. To this end, Apple’s got you covered with its predefined keyboard shortcut for the Force Quit Applications functionality. But, if your misbehaving app has completely frozen your Mac-to the point where you can’t move the pointer-your only resort to close it is to use your keyboard. While the methods listed so far help you force quit unresponsive or frozen apps on your Mac, they all involve using the mouse/trackpad. Force Quit Mac Apps With Keyboard Shortcut The Terminal is a powerful Mac application that allows you to access and control various macOS components and services using commands. If you prefer working with a CLI over GUI, you can use the Terminal app to force quit apps on Mac. Force Quit Mac Application Using Terminal When prompted for confirmation, click on Force Quit.Ĥ.Locate the frozen app on this application list and click on the ( x) button.Click on the Process Name heading to view active processes alphabetically.Use the steps below to force quit a Mac app using Activity Monitor: If for some reason, the above two methods fail, you can use Activity Monitor to force quit the unresponsive app. Force Quit Mac Apps With Activity Monitor If you bring up the Force Quit Applications menu while you’re on the frozen program, it’ll already have the app preselected, and you can simply click the Force Quit button to close it. Select the unresponsive app in the Force Quit Applications menu and click the Force Quit button.Click the Apple icon () in the menu bar on the upper-left corner of the screen.It might not be apparent to many users, but Apple includes a Force Quit option in its menu, which lets you quickly force quit the app without having to move your mouse much.įollow the steps below to force quit on Mac from the Apple Menu: Choose Force Quit from the available options.Hold the Option key and right-click on this app’s icon.Locate the frozen app that you want to force quit in the Dock.
The following steps demonstrate how to do this: After pressing the above keyboard combination, the Force Quit Applications should appear. One of the easiest ways to force quit Mac apps is to use the Dock. Press the combination Cmd+Option+Esc, and a window will pop-up.
Is it bad to force quit on Mac? Or are there any drawbacks to force quit on Mac? How do you unfreeze a Mac? Or How do I fix an unresponsive Mac?