While working on Mac, if an application starts acting weird, you need to close it. But what if you can’t close the app, then the next solution is to forced shutdown the program on a Mac. This method is needed to be known by the Mac users as it can get handy. In this article, we solve this issue for you as we have stated five methods on how to force quit applications on Mac.
Methods to force quit an application on Mac
This is to view all open application on mac and you can quit selectively any application. This is also the quick way to go to finder. Use Terminal to Force Quit Apps 1. Open Terminal by typing “Terminal” into Spotlight. Type the following command to find the process number of the hanging application: ps -ax grep ' Application. Scan the resulting list for the correct application or process. Take note of the four-.
Mac is a clean operating system with wonderful features, but sometimes, it can act strangely. This might be due to the fact of some error or outdated operating system. Remember to keep your system updated, and the disk storage decluttered. As it directly impacts the performance on Mac and issues like application refuses to close occurs.
1. Using Menu Bar
When you find yourself in this situation, the first thing to do, open the Menu bar. It is the given feature to force quit an application on Mac.
Here you will see the Force Quit option in the drop-down menu. Click on it, and this shows you the list of all the running applications.
Select the application you want to force close on Mac. Now click on the Force Quit button.
2. Using Dock Panel
To learn how to force quit an application on Mac using Dock, follow the option steps given below. Another secure method is to use the mouse together with your keyboard. Press the Alt key on your keyboard. When you see your application icon on the Dock, use the mouse to right-click on it.
Here you will see the Force Quit option appearing in the options visible. Click on it to force quit an application on Mac.
Note: If you right click on the app icon on Dock without pressing the Alt key, the option only shows Quit option.
3. Using Activity Monitor
Activity monitor is the best bet when you want to learn how to quit a program on Mac. It shows all the running applications and comes with an option to quit. To open Activity Monitor, go to Launchpad.
Now to force quit a program on Mac you need to click on the CPU tab on Activity Monitor.
Here you will see the names of the applications, select the one which is hanging. Locate the cross icon on the top left, click on it.
You will see the prompt message appearing on the screen – “Are you sure you want to quit this process? “
Click on Force Quit option.
4. Using Terminal
If all of the above steps did not help, then you still can force shut down the application via the command line.
To learn how to close the application on Mac using Terminal, follow the steps given below:
1. Open Spotlight from the Menu Bar.
2. Now type Terminal and open it.
3. Launch Terminal.
4. Start the forced shutdown of the program on Mac by typing this command-
killall “Name of application”.
Note: This command is case sensitive, so please enter the name of the application as it is. For example Killall FaceTime
5. Click Enter.
6. Use TuneupMyMac
TuneupMyMac is a Mac cleaner tool that helps clear app cache which refreshes the app. This means when the app launches the next time, you can use it as new. It is one of the finest tools for Mac to clean the junk files interrupting the regular operation of closing applications. Once you install TuneupMyMac, it will thoroughly scan your Mac. It can remove junk files, unwanted log-in items or system files which are most likely to be causing trouble.
TuneupMyMac can also be used to uninstall an application on Mac completely. So, So if you looking for a way to refresh app or close any app try using TuneUpMyMac. This one click mac optimizer will do wonders.
Conclusion
So if you find yourself stuck with the application, use any of the above methods to force quit an app on Mac. Declutter the disk storage with TuneupMyMac, as it is a great application to clean your Mac and help it to run all functions smoothly. It is one of the methods to use when all others fail to force shut down an application on Mac.
We hope that this method helps you understand how to force quit an application on Mac. We would like to know your views on this post to make it more useful. Your suggestions and comments are welcome in the comment section below. Share the information with your friends and others by sharing the article on social media.
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Related Topics
Are you seeing the infamous spinning beachball of death? Has an application become unresponsive and needs to be closed? There could be too many processes running at once, or you have not one but two or three problematic apps that are putting too much pressure on your hardware. Luckily there is a very simple way to force-quit all apps, and in fact we can even show you how to quit apps in six different ways.
The Difference Between Quit and Force Quit
Force Quit is usually used to close an app that has stopped responding completely and prevents quitting the app normally. To quit (close) the app, you simply need to press Command + Q to choose Quit from the app's menu in the menu bar. A normal closure of the app will display a prompt (if needed) to save any changes you have made and will quit only after answering this prompt. That option disappears when you force the app to quit, similar to choosing “End Task” in the Control Panel after pressing Control + Alt + Delete on a PC.
Six Ways to Quit an App in Any Version of macOS
- Use a keyboard shortcut: hit Command + Option + Escape to bring up the “Force Quit Applications” window, and select the faulty app.
- An advanced version of the key combination without bringing up the aforementioned window: hit Command + Option + Shift + Escape. You might need to hold down those keys for a second or two.
- Use the Option + Right Click trick on the targeted app's dock icon to bring up the “Force Quit” option, and select it to kill the app.
- From the Apple menu: hold down the Shift key while clicking on the Apple menu, and you'll see “Force Quit [application name] in the drop down menu. This isn’t the most effective method, however, as unresponsive apps may have inaccessible menus.
- Use Activity Monitor: if you keep an eye on your Mac's resource hog, Activity Monitor is the best tool to spot unresponsive apps and quit them. Launch Activity Monitor if you haven't already done so and, in the CPU tab, select the process that is using most of the processor's resources and click the “Quit Process” button.
- Use Terminal: this may be the preferred method for advanced Mac users, but it's easy to get used to once you have got the taste for working with Terminal. If you have tried all the above without success, you can always turn to Terminal and type the following command:
killall [processname]
Download CleanMyMac X from MacPaw’s website and clean up to 500MB of junk data from your computer while enjoying all the features of the software without major limitations.
Some Mac optimization apps such as CleanMyMac include a handy system monitoring features. Since it keeps an eye on your system, CleanMyMac notifies the user if it spots an unresponsive app and offers to quit it via the notifications window.
How to Quit All Open Apps at Once
macOS includes a very handy feature called Automator, which is used in this trick to close all running applications. And it can also be tweaked by adding exceptions.
- Launch Automator by typing its name into Spotlight, and hit return when you see it in the search suggestions.
- Hit Command + N to initiate a new action.
- Choose to create a new “Application”.
- In the search box, type “quit”, then drag and drop the “Quit all applications” into the right side of the app window.
- Hit “Save”, and name it something like “Quit All Open Apps”.
With this you have created a new app with a single purpose: to quit all apps. The best part of all is that you can fine tune it by adding exceptions. In our example, the exception was Spotify. Isn't that fun?
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