How to Force Quit Apps on Your Mac – Working Methods

If you’re trying to use an app on your Mac and run into the endlessly spinning beach ball cursor, it can lead to frustration. Quickly. Knowing how to force quit on Mac is an essential skill — frozen or unresponsive apps can stop you in your tracks as you’re forced to wait until the app finally rights itself or you take intervening actions. You’re in luck, though.

Here are 5 easy methods to force quit on Mac with steps for each one.

Try a Normal Quit First

Force quit should be a last resort. Because it closes an app immediately, any unsaved work will be lost. Before reaching for a force quit method, try a normal quit first — it gives the app a chance to shut down cleanly and save your data.

There are two easy ways to quit an app normally:

• With the app active, press Command + Q on your keyboard
• Click the app’s name in the menu bar at the top of the screen, then choose Quit

If the app seems sluggish but not completely frozen — for example, it may just be processing a large file or loading a heavy task — give it 30 to 60 seconds before assuming it’s stuck. Only move on to force quit if the app remains unresponsive after that wait.

1. Force Quit Mac Apps Using The Keyboard Shortcut

One of the simplest methods to force quit on Mac is using your keyboard. Here’s how:

1. Press and hold the Command, Option, and Escape keys at the same time: Command + Option + Esc
2. A Force Quit applications window will appear
3. Select the app that’s being troublesome
4. Click the Force Quit box
   

2. Force Quit Using The Dock

The Mac Dock is home to common apps and will automatically be located at the bottom of your screen, but it can also be moved to the left or right side. Mac’s Dock menu is a useful place to access frequently used applications and is also a great way to force quit on Mac. Here’s how:

1. Go to the Dock and find the app that’s frozen
   
2. Hold Option, then right-click or Control-click the app icon in the Dock. When Quit changes to Force Quit, click it.
3. The app menu will give you the option to Force Quit
   
   

3. Force Quit From The Apple Menu

Another easy way to force quit on Mac is through the Apple menu. Here are the steps:

1. Select the Apple logo on the upper left corner of your screen
2. A pop-up menu will appear. Choose Force Quit
   
   
3. The same Force Quit Applications menu from before will appear that was in the keyboard shortcut instructions
4. Select the app you want to quit
5. Click Force Quit

4. Force Quit With The Terminal

This tactic is more involved than the other force quit Mac methods we’ve covered so far. Using Terminal will let you force quit through the command line. Here’s what to do:

1. Select the Launchpad icon on the Dock
2. Type Terminal in the search box
   
3. Click Terminal
4. The command line window will appear
5. Type: killall [name of the application] A real-life example of this would be something like killall Safari
6. Push the Return key and your app will shut down

Things to note:

• When you type the app name, use a capital letter
• If the app is two or more words, put the app name in quotation marks
• Be aware that you may lose anything that isn’t saved

5. How to Force Quit on Mac Using Activity Monitor

Mac’s Activity Monitor is the Mac equivalent of Windows Task Manager — it shows every process running on your system, not just the apps visible in your Dock. This makes it one of the most powerful force quit Mac methods available, because it can find and stop runaway background processes that won’t show up in the Force Quit window or the Dock at all. According to Apple’s official support documentation, Activity Monitor is the recommended tool when standard force quit options fail to close a process. Here are the steps:

1. The fastest way to open Activity Monitor is via Spotlight: press Command + Space, type Activity Monitor, then press Return. You can also use Launchpad to find it.
2. The Activity Monitor will open, showing all the current processes running on your Mac
3. If you’re not sure which process is causing the problem, click the CPU or Memory tab at the top and sort by usage (highest first) to identify any apps or background processes consuming too many resources
4. In the list, select the app or process you want to force quit. Note: Unresponsive apps will show (Not Responding) next to them. This method works even for processes that don’t appear in the Dock or the Force Quit window.
5. Once the process is selected, click the circled X symbol (the Stop button) at the top of the Activity Monitor window
   
6. A pop-up will appear asking Are you sure you want to quit this process? Try Quit first — it gives the process a chance to close cleanly. If it doesn’t respond, repeat the steps and choose Force Quit.

If Force Quit Doesn’t Work or Your Entire Mac Is Frozen

Sometimes a single app isn’t the problem — the whole Mac feels locked up and none of the force quit Mac methods above are responding. Here’s what to try, in order:

1. Relaunch Finder if Finder is the frozen app

Finder is the app that manages your desktop and file system, and it can sometimes become unresponsive. You can’t quit Finder the normal way, but you can restart it. Open the Force Quit window with Command + Option + Esc, select Finder from the list, and click Relaunch instead of Force Quit.

2. Restart your Mac from the Apple menu

If apps still won’t close or your Mac is behaving erratically, go to the Apple menu in the top-left corner and choose Restart. This is a cleaner option than a forced shutdown when you still have some cursor control.

3. Force shut down with the power button

If your Mac is completely unresponsive and you can’t click or interact with anything, press and hold the power button for up to 10 seconds until the Mac shuts down. Then press the power button again to turn it back on. Note: on MacBooks with Touch ID, the Touch ID button is the power button — press and hold that.

4. Be aware of data loss risk

A forced shutdown will close everything immediately without saving. Once your Mac restarts, check any documents or files you had open and look for auto-recovered versions where available.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a force quit on Mac?

When an app is being unresponsive, it can cause things to freeze or stop working. Sometimes quitting an app the usual way is not possible with such disruptions. Force quit on Mac makes the app close, giving you a fresh start. Just be aware that your data won’t be saved if you force quit an app.

Can you force quit on Mac when the computer is frozen?

Usually, but not always. If your Mac is frozen, try using the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + Esc

From there, choose the app you want to close from the Force Quit window. If your Mac won’t allow you any cursor movement or interactions, you may have to hold the power button until it turns off, then turn it back on and see if that fixes things.

What can you do with an unresponsive Mac?

You can try any of the force quit Mac methods above, and hope that it’s just an application that is the culprit. Other troubleshooting steps include:

• Rebooting your computer
• Checking for Viruses
• Unplug all accessories (like USBs, printers, etc) and reboot
• Make sure power sources are working
• Uninstall any apps that are causing repeated problems
• Free up disc space by uninstalling apps that you don’t use
• Do a software update in case of any bugs or glitches that may need fixing
• Take your Mac in to be serviced