How to force quit an app on a Mac

These steps apply to every current version of macOS, including Mac laptops with Touch ID and Macs with a Touch Bar (where Esc sits at the left of the bar). Before you reach for force quit, it's worth knowing the difference between an app that's frozen and one that's simply busy.

Force quit, from gentlest to strongest

1. Quit normally

1. Click the app's window, then press Command-Q.
2. Or choose Quit from the app's menu in the menu bar (for example Safari > Quit Safari).
3. Give it 20-30 seconds if it's saving or exporting - the beach-ball cursor doesn't always mean frozen.

2. Force quit with the keyboard or Apple menu

1. Press Option + Command + Esc at the same time, or choose Apple menu > Force Quit.
2. In the Force Quit Applications window, select the app (it may say *not responding*).
3. Click Force Quit, then confirm.

3. Force quit from the Dock

1. Hold Option and right-click (or Control-click) the app's icon in the Dock.
2. Choose Force Quit from the menu (it replaces Quit while Option is held).

4. Use Activity Monitor for stubborn processes

1. Open Activity Monitor (Spotlight: press Command-Space, type *Activity Monitor*).
2. Select the app or process - sort by % CPU to find what's stuck. A process that isn't responding is shown in red and marked *(Not Responding)*.
3. Stop the selected process from Activity Monitor, then choose Quit to close it safely, or Force Quit to close it immediately. Unsaved data may be lost.

Quit, force quit, restart or shut down?

Work down the table one row at a time. Each step is more disruptive than the last.

Our take: check whether it's busy before you kill it

The spinning beach ball means an app hasn't responded for a few seconds - not that it has crashed. Video exports, large spreadsheet recalculations and photo imports often trigger it while doing real work. Force quitting at that moment throws the work away.

Open Activity Monitor and look at the app's % CPU. If it's high and changing, the app is working; wait a little longer. If it's at or near 0% and the app has been unresponsive for a minute or more, it's genuinely stuck and force quitting is the right call. Many apps, including Microsoft Office and Apple's iWork apps, offer to recover your document the next time you open them.

If it fails

• The Force Quit window doesn't open. Use the Apple menu instead of the shortcut, or press Command-Space and open Activity Monitor.
• The app reopens frozen every time. It may be restoring a problem window. Hold Shift while opening it to skip restoring windows (supported by many apps), or update the app.
• Force Quit does nothing. Apple's advice is to restart the Mac from the Apple menu.
• The Mac won't restart. Press and hold the power button for up to 10 seconds until the Mac turns off (on laptops with Touch ID, hold the Touch ID button), then press it again to turn the Mac back on.
• Apps freeze often. Check free disk space - a nearly full drive is a common cause; see how to free up disk space on Mac. Also install macOS and app updates in System Settings > General > Software Update.

Browser tabs and web apps

When a single tab in Chrome or Safari hangs, you rarely need to force quit the whole browser. Try closing just that tab first. For repeated crash pages in Chrome, see the Aw, Snap! fix; if Chrome itself behaves strangely after an extension install, reset Chrome's settings.

Windows users switching to Mac

Option-Command-Esc is the Mac equivalent of Ctrl+Shift+Esc on Windows, and Activity Monitor plays the role of Task Manager. If you use both, our Windows 11 Task Manager guide covers the PC side.