Terminate the frozen and unresponsinve applications on Mac

Apple computers are a leader in terms of computer performance and stability. Your MacBook or iMac will usually operate for long periods of time without glitches or problems, however, Apple cannot control every aspect of their products. Some third-party applications might contain optimization and resource usage faults causing frozen apps or, in some rare cases, a freeze of the entire Mac system. Most Mac users will have experienced the spinning beach ball on their screens for at least a second, but this is clearly much more frustrating when the ball does not stop spinning and the application freezes and becomes unresponsive.

A more frustrating situation occurs when the entire computer becomes unresponsive, leaving the spinning beach ball displayed. Fortunately, Apple developers have implemented several different methods to 'kill' problematic applications. You can choose a keyboard shortcut, Activity Monitor, Terminal, or right-click on the Dock icon. All of these methods will force quit an application, rescuing your Mac from an inactive state. In this article, we cover all methods to close unresponsive applications and they work on all versions of the Mac operating system.

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You can also force quit an app on Terminal using the app's Process ID (PID) Open a new Terminal window and enter the command: top -o cpu. Then a list of all running applications and processes will appear in Terminal with the app's process ID. Take down the PID of the app that cannot quit. Nov 28, 2019  If you see the dreaded spinning beachball, or an app just won't do anything, you should force quit it. There are several ways to force quit an unresponsive application: Press Command-Alt-Esc and click on the application in the window that opens. Press Force Quit; Control-click or right-click on the application's icon in the Dock and choose Force Quit. If an app doesn’t quit as expected, you can force quit the app (you may lose unsaved changes). Choose Apple menu Force Quit, select the app in the dialog that appears, then click Force Quit. See also Change General preferences on Mac Open apps and documents on. Jun 29, 2020  On the top left corner of your screen, you will see the Apple Icon, click on it Choose Force Quit from the given list. Then a Force Quit Application wizard will appear on your screen that will display the open application. Here, you need to select the application that is troubling you and select Force Quit. To use this method, make sure you are on the frozen app window. After that, press and hold the Option key. Now right-click on the app icon in the Dock. Here you should find an option called Force Quit. Use this option to force quit apps on Mac. Oct 22, 2019  To do this, just follow a few simple steps: Open the Activity Monitor app Locate the frozen application in the processes list ( hint: you can use the search box in the upper-right portion of the. Click on the app to highlight it Click on the ‘X’ button in the upper-left corner of the Activity. Mar 02, 2012  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.

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Force to quit specific app through Dock icon

Start with the easiest method. Enter the menu by right-clicking on the icon to reveal the Quit option. This option will first attempt to stop the process and only then will close it. When an application is unresponsive, this method will not work. Therefore, you must hold down the Option key on your keyboard when right-clicking to enter the hidden menu. You will then find the Force Quit option. Choosing this option instructs the operating system to stop processes related to the specific application, without waiting until the application is inactive.

Force to close a specific application via Apple Menu

This method is similar to closing via Dock, but if you have enabled the hide option, the Dock may not appear due to the frozen application (the menu bar is on top and conceals it). To access the force quit option, hold down the Shift key, click on the Apple logo in the menu bar at top of your screen, and select the Force Quit option displayed together with the active application name.

Use keyboard shortcut to enter Force quit menu

This method is useful, since you do not need to navigate to a certain feature or click anywhere. You simply need to remember an easy keyboard shortcut. Press the Command, Option, and Escape keys together to access the Force quit applications window. You can then select the frozen application and stop it by clicking Force quit. Furthermore, you do not need to re-open the window if you wish to close another application - this window essentially works like a small part of the Activity Monitor app with the close function only. Accessing the Force Quit menu returns Macs to responsive states.

Use keyboard shortcut to close specific app

A combination of keys can also be used to quit active applications. This is similar to the shortcut that opens the Force quit menu (above), and it is very easy to remember both shortcuts. Even if you are unable to use your mouse, this shortcut will close an active application. To close an active application using a keyboard shortcut, simply press the following keys together: Command, Option, Shift, and Escape.

Force to quit apps via Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor contains a variety of useful functions, such as monitoring current Mac resource usage and list all running applications and processes (together with information, such as process IDs and user accounts that are running the processes). Activity Monitor also offers the option to quit an application or force quit any running process. Additionally, unresponsive applications are usually is displayed in red within Activity Monitor - in this way, you can use it to determine if a specific application is frozen. This is one of the most effective methods to close unresponsive applications or processes (such as frozen tabs on a web browser).

Launch Terminal to immediately close an application

The Terminal application is a built-in command line application and very effective to close applications, however, it does require some commands that may seem confusing to inexperienced Mac users. To close applications, you will need to use a low-level kill command. To start, launch Terminal by using Spotlight. Simply press the keyboard shortcut of Command and Spacebar, then type in Terminal and press Return. Alternatively, open Finder and go to Applications, then select Utilities and launch the Terminal application. When the command line window appears, type the following command and press Return to execute it.

• killall AppName

Replace the 'AppName' with the name of the application you wish to close, for example:

• killall Safari

Video Showing how to force quit applications on Mac

To quit (close) a Mac app normally, choose Quit from the app's menu in the menu bar, or press Command (⌘)-Q. If the app doesn't quit, follow these steps to force the app to quit.

How to force an app to quit

1. Press these three keys together: Option, Command, and Esc (Escape). This is similar to pressing Control-Alt-Delete on a PC. Or choose Force Quit from the Apple () menu in the upper-left corner of your screen.
   
2. Select the app in the Force Quit window, then click Force Quit.
   

Force Quit All Applications Mac Terminal

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Force Quit App Mac Terminal

• You can also force the Finder to quit, if it stops responding. Select Finder in the Force Quit window, then click Relaunch.
• If none of your apps are responding, you can force your Mac to restart.
• You can also force an app to close on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.