How to Force Quit an Unresponsive App on a Mac

If you are a Windows user who has recently switched to a Mac, you may be wondering how to force quit or control alt delete on a Mac. When an app becomes unresponsive and you see the ‘spinning beach ball’ or your mouse stops working, you need to force quit the app before you can continue using your Mac. However, this requires a different key combination on a Mac than on a Windows machine.

In this article, we provide a detailed guide on various ways to force quit an unresponsive app on a Mac without having to use the power button. We also discuss what to do if your computer freezes and summarise some of the main points below.

How to Force Quit an App Using the Dock

If an app becomes unresponsive, you can try hovering over the menu bar at the top of the screen, but if you see a spinning beach ball and can’t select any options, you need to force quit the app. You can do this through the Dock in the following way:

1. Go to the Dock at the bottom of your screen.
2. Locate the icon for the unresponsive app.
3. Right-click (or Ctrl + click) to open the context menu.
4. Select ‘Exit’ from the bottom of the list to quit the app.
5. If the app still won’t close, hold down the Alt key and change ‘Quit’ to ‘Force Quit’ in the menu to close the app more powerfully.

How to Force Quit an App via the Apple Menu

You can also access the Force Quit command through the Apple menu:

1. Switch to an app that is working fine.
2. Click the Apple icon at the top left of your screen.
3. Select ‘Force Quit’ from the drop-down menu.
4. A list of all open apps will appear. Select the frozen app you want to quit.
5. Click ‘Force Quit’ to close the app.

How to Force Quit an App Using the Keyboard

Another way to force quit an app is to use the keyboard:

1. Hold down the Command + Alt (Option) + Escape keys.
2. A list of all running apps will appear, and the unresponsive app will likely have “(not responding)” in parentheses next to it.
3. Highlight the app and click the Force Quit button at the bottom of the window.
4. Restart the app to see if the issue is resolved.

What to Do If You Can’t Exit an App

If you can’t escape from the unresponsive app using any of the above methods, there is another command you can try:

• Hold down the Cmd + Alt (Option) + Shift + Esc buttons and macOS should close the app that’s currently active on your screen.

How to Force Quit an App Using Activity Monitor

If you experience the spinning beach ball frequently, you can use the built-in Activity Monitor to diagnose the issue:

1. Press Command + Space and type ‘Activity Monitor’, or go to Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor in the Finder.
2. Activity Monitor shows all apps and services that use CPU, memory, network, and more.
3. Double-click an unresponsive app to see more information.
4. Select ‘Quit’ to close the app.

What to Do If Your Computer Freezes

If an app causes your entire system to crash, you need to shut down your Mac through the power button:

1. Press and hold the power button on your Mac for a few seconds.
2. Your system will go to sleep and display a message asking if you want to shut it down or restart.
3. If the dialog box doesn’t appear, continue to hold the button until the machine shuts down completely.

Note that a sudden shutdown may result in unsaved data being lost.

If you want to prevent the app that caused the problem from opening again when you restart your computer, be sure to uncheck the box next to ‘Reopen windows when logging back in’.

Remember, it’s worth regularly backing up your data and doing a clean install of macOS if apps frequently become unresponsive on your Mac.

If you’re still struggling to force quit an app or fix a frozen Mac, check out our article on how to repair a frozen Mac for more tips.

FAQs

1. What do you do if a force quit doesn’t work on Mac?

If force quitting an unresponsive app using any of the above methods doesn’t work, try restarting your Mac. If that doesn’t work, try booting your Mac in Safe Mode and then retry the above steps.

2. Will force quitting an app on a Mac delete unsaved data?

If you force quit an app on a Mac, any unsaved data in that app will be lost. It’s essential to regularly save your work to prevent data loss.