How to Force Quit Apps on Mac

This is how you can make an app quit on mac when it has frozen or stopped working

Prerequisites: Computer running Mac OS

Difficulty Level: Member • Nerd • Platypus

Estimated Time: 1 minute

Expected Outcome: Misbehaving app is forced to quit operations

Tools Required: Computer running Mac OS with a keyboard

Screen Shot 2020-03-27 at 5.00.45 PM-1

If an app on your Mac stops responding and you can't quit the app normally, use Force Quit to close the app.

 

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

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

Then select the app in the Force Quit window and click Force Quit.

You can even force the Finder to quit, if it stops responding: Select Finder in the Force Quit window, then click Relaunch.