


If you get multiple results for the application, look for the one that ends in /Contents/MacOS/.Ĥ. Here we can see that Chrome has the PID 2745. This is the process ID, or PID, which will be used to kill the application. Take note of the four- or five-digit number shown before the process’s name. Scan the resulting list for the correct application or process. This will simply show all the running applications that have that application’s name in their disk location. For example, to find Chrome, we would type the following: ps -ax | grep "Google Chrome"

Replace with the name of the application you want to force quit. Type the following command to find the process number of the hanging application: ps -ax | grep "" Open Terminal by typing “Terminal” into Spotlight.Ģ. It’s the most dramatic way to force an application or process to stop, but in our experience, it’s always effective.ġ. If you’re dealing with an application that won’t respond to force quit commands, Terminal’s kill command can shut the app down hard. Click the button with an X on a stop sign in the upper-left of the Activity Monitor window. Click on the application or process that shows in red text with “(Not Responding)” next to the application name.ģ. Open Activity Monitor by typing “Activity Monitor” into Spotlight.Ģ. You can also use it to quit processes, which are like sub-applications that don’t have Dock icons.ġ. Because Activity Monitor shows the status of all open applications, you can see at a glance if any apps need to be force quit. If you’re not actively using an application and it hits a weird hang, you might not know anything has happened. It lets you get a better handle on apps that have silently failed in the background. Use Activity Monitor to Force Quit AppsĪctivity monitor also has the power to close apps. Click the “Force Quit” button in the bottom right of the window. Click on the name of the application in red with “(Not Responding)” next to it.Ĥ. You can also press Option + Command + Escape to open this menu.ģ. Select “Force Quit …” from the drop-down menu. Click the Apple icon at the left of the menu bar at the top of your screen.Ģ. Your Mac also has a menu made specifically for forcing applications to shut down.ġ. Click “Force Quit” to force the application to close. Hold down the Option key to reveal the “Force Quit” option.ģ. Right-click on the icon of the misbehaving application.Ģ. It’s intuitively obvious and generally effective.ġ. Use the Dockįorce-quitting applications through the dock is the most familiar method for most users.

Find the app you want to force quit here, then click Force Quit at the bottom right corner. This will bring up the “Force Quit Applications” box. To do this, just click the Apple icon at top-left corner of the desktop, then select “Force Quit” from the list. The first, and simplest, way to try and force quit an app when it’s misbehaving is to use the Finder in macOS. There are a couple of methods we can use to force quit apps on Mac which we will look at below. So when you force quit apps on Mac, you will lose any data since your last save but won’t otherwise injure the program. You won’t have a chance to save your work, of course, but with many Mac apps (especially Apple’s own macOS apps) auto-saving progress at regular intervals, that’s become less of an issue. While it’s never an ideal way to close an application, it doesn’t generally hurt the app. This can happen when the app enters an infinite loop, crashes, hangs or otherwise ceases responding to user input. When Mac apps misbehave, sometimes you need to force quit apps to shut down.
