6 Ways to Force Quit Mac Applications
Do you need to force quit an unresponsive Mac app? Is your Mac seeing the infamously dreaded spinning beachball of death? Is an app failing to respond to any input? Maybe you have an errant process or two? When any of the above happens, you’ll probably want to forcibly quit the application in question, and that’s what we’ll cover with this walkthrough, showing you how to force quit apps on a Mac with six different methods.
Whatever your skill level with Mac, you’ll find a way to forcibly exit out of an app. Read on to learn more!
How to Force Quit Mac Apps: 6 Different Ways
Take a moment to review the tricks below, and then remember a few keyboard shortcuts or sequences now to save yourself a hassle later if you find yourself in a situation where you need to force quit a Mac app. And yes, these tricks work in all versions of Mac OS and Mac OS X.
1) Use a Keyboard Shortcut for “Force Quit Applications” on Mac
Starting with one of the best and easiest is the system wide Force Quit function: Hit Command+Option+Escape from anywhere to bring up the simple “Force Quit Applications” window, then click on the app name to select, followed by clicking the “Force Quit” button, this will end the app immediately.
Think of this as a simplified version of Activity Monitor, and it’s also a great keystroke to remember to use since it allows for quickly ceasing multiple apps. If you’re going to remember nothing else for force quitting apps in Mac OS X, remember this keystroke: Command + Option + Escape
That Force Quit keyboard shortcut is probably the best combination of easy and power when force quitting apps in Mac OS X, since you can access it with a keystroke, select and force quit multiple apps if necessary, and summon it from anywhere.
2) Force Quit Currently Active Mac App with the Keyboard
Hold down Command+Option+Shift+Escape for a second or two until the app forcibly closes. Be sure to do this while the app you want to force quit is the foremost application on the Mac, as it will force quit whatever is active when held down.
This is not well known, but offers perhaps the quickest way to force quit the foreground application in Mac OS X and a very good keyboard shortcut to remember.
3) Force Quitting Apps from the Dock
Option + Right Click on an apps icon in the Dock to bring up the “Force Quit” option, selecting this will kill the app without any confirmation.
4) Force Quit an App from the Apple Menu
Hold the Shift Key and click on the Apple menu to find “Force Quit [Application Name]”.
This is easy to remember but not necessarily the most powerful method, since sometimes an application is completely unresponsive and the menus are inaccessible.
5) Use Activity Monitor to Force Quit Apps
Activity Monitor is a powerful way to forcibly quit any app, task, daemon, or process running on Mac OS X. You can find it in /Applications/Utilities/ or open it from Spotlight with Command+Space and then type ‘Activity Monitor’ and the return key. Using Activity Monitor is very easy: Select the process name or ID you wish to kill (unresponsive apps will usually appear as red), and hit the red “Quit Process” button.
You can think of this as the Mac equivalent to a task manager from the Windows world and a more complex version of the second tips Force Quit window. If one of the previous methods fails, this will almost certainly work.
6) Using the Terminal & kill Command
If all else fails, using the command line is a surefire way to force an app or process to quit by issuing the low-level kill command. Launch the Terminal and type one of the following commands:
For example, “killall Safari” would kill all instances of the Safari process. If you know the process id, which you can find with the ps or ‘ps aux’ command. Aim kill at that process specifically:
The kill commands will take out just about anything, and sometimes have the side effect of not honoring Versions, Window Restore, and Auto-Save, so be cautious of potential data loss.
Another option for command line users is the pkill command, which works similar to the kill command to forcibly exit and close applications and processes.
What’s your preferred method of forcibly quitting an app? Mine is the Command+Option+Escape trick, or by using Activity Monitor, but I often turn to the command line for more complex situations.
Remember, when you force quit an app, you will lose any unsaved data in that application. Don’t forget that.
Bonus Force Quit Tips
You can also force quit several Mac apps at the same time if you find yourself in a situation requiring that.
Mac users without an ESC key will instead need to get accustomed to force quitting with Touch Bar, which can sometimes be a few extra steps to access the escape option.
Rebooting a Mac will also initiate soft quit, but if you force reboot a Mac or turn it off, then it will basically force quit out of apps as well – that’s pretty extreme though so it’s best to avoid that method for quitting any app as it’s not intended for really anything other than a totally frozen Mac.
This obviously covers the Mac, but from the iOS side of things, you can force quit apps on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, as well, depending on the version of iOS and the iOS device itself. Swiping up from the bottom of the screen on a new device and then swiping up to discard the app will force quit on any new iPhone or iPad, and older models can force quit by double-pressing Home button to then initiate the quit app process. And finally, much older iOS versions can accomplish this by holding down the Power button until the slide to power option appears, and then hold the Home button until the app closes.
Do you have any other tips or tricks for force quitting Mac apps? Share with us in the comments below!
Force Quit on a Mac: 3 Easy Ways to Close Frozen Applications
Ok, I get it. There is no equivalent to the PC’s Ctrl+Alt+Del shortcut on a Mac® to force quit an application. So how do I quit that annoying program that’s not responding?
Luckily, Apple® has you covered and gives you multiple options. The shortcut actually exists, and moreover, there are a few other extremely convenient ways to fight buggy apps. Today I’m going to list three easy ways to force-quit an application on a Mac, without harming the system.
Is it Safe to Force Quit?
Forcing a frozen application to quit is the same as killing the symptoms when we get sick versus curing the virus. We need to see the bigger picture and understand what causes the problem and how to cure it while understanding how to avoid it from happening again.
The number one reason we have a problem with frozen applications in a Mac is insufficient RAM—or, in other words, a lack of computer memory to operate the system compared to the number of applications you usually open (including those numerous open tabs in a browser). So anytime your system utilizes all of its existing resourses to run the task, it becomes unresponsive. Think of RAM like a physical workbench. The more space (memory) you have to work, the more projects you can have out to work on. Less space? Less ability to work on multiple things at once.
Forcing Mac to quit the application does resolve the problem but may have downsides. When you close an application in the traditional manner, it will clean everything it runs in the background and alert you to save the work. When you force close on Mac, you may end up losing files and data, or mess things up on the drive. Although the effect will only be related to that one particular application that got stuck, sometimes it can hurt.
Using a smart app like Parallels Toolbox can help you to free up unused memory on the fly and prevent the applications from getting frozen over and over again. The package includes over 30+ useful apps for everyday needs that any Mac user will benefit from, including downloading videos and music from sites like YouTube, taking screenshot or record videos, optimize your Mac performance, free up extra space and so much more.
You can download Toolbox and try it out for free here (no registration needed).
1. Force Quit Using the Apple Menu
The most conventional and effective way to close frozen programs is to go to the macOS® menu bar, located along the top of the screen in the Finder menu.
To force quit an application, simply do the following:
- Click on the black apple icon in the upper-left corner.
- From the drop-down menu, select “Force Quit…”. You will be directed to the new window named “Force Quit Application” where all the magic happens.
- Now all you have to do is select the application you want to close and choose “Force Quit.”
If you don’t know which application is stuck, pay attention to the ones that have the note “Not Responding.” This usually appears next to frozen applications.
2. Force Quit with Mac Shortcut
To do the same thing but faster, use Mac shortcut keys to close frozen applications.
- On your keyboard, press and hold Command + Option + Esc. It will immediately bring up a “Force Quit Application” window.
- Select the frozen application from the dialogue box and select “Force Quit.”
This could be your go-to method if the mouse or trackpad is lagging.
3. Close Application from Activity Monitor (Ctrl+Alt+Del Alternative)
Here’s the pinnacle of this article.
Very few Apple owners know that macOS provides an almost identical alternative to the traditional PC Control+Alt+Delete shortcut—and does it better. Yes, we all know that in Windows that keyboard shortcut is often used to open the Task Manager window. (To be honest, it’s needed too often, which is why we’re on a Mac.) From Task Manager, you can track applications, services, performance, and processes, and kill some of them when they’re unresponsive.
You can easily do all of that and more on the macOS native application called Activity Monitor.
To kill an application using Activity Monitor, do the following.
1. On your keyboard, press Command + Space, or click on Spotlight in the top-right corner of the screen.
2. In the “Spotlight Search” window, start typing “Activity Monitor.”
3. Once Activity Monitor is highlighted, hit Enter.
4. In the Activity Monitor processes list, select the application you want to quit and click “Force a process to quit” in the left corner.
What to Do If Force Quit Isn’t Working?
If all the applications stop responding and you can’t quit them using one of the methods described above, you can force your Mac to restart. To do so, press and hold the Control+Command+Power buttons.
Alternatively, you can force Mac to shut down by pressing and holding the power button, or use one of the many other shortcuts.
What’s the Solution?
Since your Mac doesn’t have enough space to run all those applications you need, the most obvious step would be to increase the RAM. If you own an iMac® or the older generation of MacBook Pro®, you can simply buy memory and upgrade your existing computer. With the new Mac generation, you don’t have that option anymore because the RAM is glued and soldered to the motherboard. You either buy a new computer or struggle.
Alternatively, you can clean your memory to free up space using Parallels® Toolbox. Parallels designed a tool set for macOS and PC users to efficiently manage their computer with just a few clicks—without any professional knowledge needed. Within the application (which is available to try for free), you can easily free up unused computer memory, clean your drive, and help your Mac run at max speed with a dozen other useful utilities.
If you’re interested in learning how easily one click can save precious disk space, check out how much space I took back with the Parallels Toolbox tool Clean Drive:
In one click (and about 10 seconds), I successfully removed 4 GB of clutter and reclaimed space on my hard drive.
So there you have it. Take care of your Mac with those quick tips, and remember to always save your work!