How To Force Quit An App On Mac? A Quick Guide

It becomes a tad bit irritating when you are working on an application on your Mac, it suddenly stops working and you don’t know how to force quit an app on Mac. Now there might be cases where such application is frozen, and you are trying your best to shut down such app, but the options provided on your Mac don’t work, making the whole process much more irritating. Ever had to experience such turmoil on your Mac? Couldn’t find any sound solution to frozen apps? Do not worry, as we have put together a bunch of tips and tricks for you to make sure on how to force quit an app on Mac.

Part 1: Way to fix a regularly freezing App 

You might’ve been stuck in situations wherein your applications are frozen on Mac and are not able to figure out the reason behind it. Here are some of the potential ways you can force quit an app on Mac.

• Keep your applications up to date because you are less likely to run into the problems of your app being frozen on Mac.

• Make a habit of clearing out your cache of regularly used apps, as lots of cache on your Mac can be a big reason why your apps keep getting frozen in between your work.

Re-Installing the application that regular freezes can also help fix your problem.

Also read: How To Install And Delete Apps On Apple Watch

What if your Mac freezes and not the app? 

What to do when your Mac becomes non-responsive and freezes itself? We will provide some sound solutions to tackle the same.

• Keep the power button pressed till the time the screen of Mac shuts off completely. This process takes a few seconds before it kicks in.
• After the Mac turns off, wait for a second and the switch on your Mac again.

This way of rebooting your Mac is less reliable, and chances of losing your unsaved data is always a possibility through such a method, but when it is the need of the hour, you may have no other option than to exercise this method.

Also Read: How To Install And Delete Apps On Apple Watch

Part 2: Force Quit Applications on Mac

Force Quit Mac From Apple Menu

Let us see how you can force quit an app on Mac via Apple Menu:

• Select the Apple logo placed at the top left corner of your screen.
• Post that, click on the Force Quit option.
• Navigate and select the app that is frozen.
• Now click on the Force Quit button, and your frozen app will force quit on Mac.

Force Quit Mac Application Using Your Keyboard Shortcut

Another way to force quit an app on Mac is by pressing on a keyboard button’s combination. We will tell the step by process of this method-

• Press Command+Option+Esc altogether.
• You will see a pop-up window showing the applications running in the background. Select the app that you want to force quit on Mac.
• Click on the Force Quit option, and now the app will stop running in the background.

Force Quit App on Mac Using Activity Monitor

This method is the most potent one that you can put to use to end the application that is frozen on Mac. Navigate to Applications > Utilities, and once you open it, just punch in the Process name or the ID of the application that you want to end. Post that, simply click on the ”Quit Process’Process’ option and you are done.

Force Quit App on Mac From Your Dock

This method lets you force quit an app on Mac using your Dock, and we provided the steps for the same:

• To open the Dock, you need to right-click on the app you want to force quit on Mac.
• Now hold on to the Option(Alt) button until you start seeing the change from the ‘Quit’ option to the ‘Force Quit’ option.
• Post that, select Force Quit and you are good to go.

Force Quit App on Mac by Terminal Mode

his option is for those who prefer to force quit an app on Mac by putting a command line on the Terminal. Here is how you should proceed:

• Go to Application > Utilities > Open Terminal Utility.
• Put in the ”Top” word and hit on the Return button. This command will take you to the list of currently running applications.
• Navigate to the program under the column “COMMAND” and look for the name of the program you want to quit.
• Search for Process ID (PID). As soon as you find the name of the app you want to force quit, be on the lookout for the number under the PID column on the list and jot it down.
• Start typing kill #### and replace the #### with PID Number that you jotted down. For example, if you were trying to close Chrome and the PID number you jotted down was 1234, you should simply type kill1234.
• You can exit the Terminal mode once the application has been forced to quit on Mac.

Also read: Cyber Swachhta Kendra: How To Keep Your Devices Bot Free?

Conclusion

These are some ways you can force quit an app on Mac but remember that you may lose your data if you choose to opt for any of these methods, so if you have a little bit of patience, then keep your Mac aside and wait for a while before the app unfreezes to avoid loss of any data that was unsaved while you are using the Mac. 

Also Read: We Bet You’ll Love These 11 Best Apple Watch Games