How to Force Quit an Application on a Mac

Last Updated: November 23, 2021 Tested

There's nothing more frustrating than a frozen app that just won't close. Fortunately, force quitting the app should solve the problem. This wikiHow will walk you through the different easy ways you can force quit an app on your Mac.

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:

Using a Keyboard Shortcut

1
Press ⌘+⌥ Option+Esc. The "Force Quit" dialog box will open.^{[1]
X
Expert Source

Gonzalo Martinez
Computer & Phone Repair Specialist
Expert Interview. 30 March 2021}
2
Click on the app you want to quit.
- The note "(Not Responding)" will appear in red next to frozen apps.
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3
Click on Force Quit. The app will quit and can be restarted.

Method 2

Method 2 of 5:

Using the Apple Menu

1
Open the Apple menu. It's the black Apple on icon in the upper-left corner of the screen.
2
Click on Force Quit… toward the middle of the menu.
3
Click on the app you want to quit.
- The note "(Not Responding)" will appear next to frozen apps.
4
Click on Force Quit. The app will quit and can be restarted.
- If your computer is frozen, you may need to restart it.

Method 3

Method 3 of 5:

Using the Dock

1
Press ⌥ Option on your keyboard.
2
Right-click or control-click the application in the Dock.
3
Click Force Quit.

Method 4

Method 4 of 5:

Using Activity Monitor

1
Click on Spotlight. It's the magnifying glass in the upper-right corner of the screen.
2
Type "Activity Monitor" in the search field.
3
Click on Activity Monitor under "Applications."
4
Click on the application you want to quit.
5
Click on "Quit Process" in the upper-left corner of the window. This will stop the application from running.^{[2]
X
Expert Source

Gonzalo Martinez
Computer & Phone Repair Specialist
Expert Interview. 30 March 2021}

Method 5

Method 5 of 5:

Using Terminal

1
Open the Terminal utility. By default, this is in the Utilities folder, located in the Applications folder.
- If a normal Force Quit doesn't work, you may need to use this method to end the program.
2
Type "top" and press ⏎ Return. The “top” command displays information about the applications that are currently running.
3
Find the program you want to close. Under the column titled "COMMAND", find the name of the application you wish to quit.
- The COMMAND list may use a truncated name for the program. Look for a name that looks similar to the program you are trying to close.
4
Find the PID (Process ID). Once you find the name of program, find the number to the immediate left of it, under the PID column. Make a note of the PID number.
5
Type "q". This will exit the list of applications and return you to the command line.
6
Type "kill ###". Replace the "###" with the number from the PID Column you just located. For example: If you were trying to quit iTunes, and found iTunes to have PID number 3703, you would type "kill 3703".
- If the program does not respond to the “kill” command, type “sudo kill -9 ###”, replacing ### with the PID number.
7
Exit the terminal. The application should quit and you can be relaunched.

Expert Q&A

Question

What do I do if an application is not responding on a Mac?

Gonzalo Martinez
Computer Specialist
Gonzalo Martinez is the President of CleverTech, a tech repair business in San Jose, California founded in 2014. CleverTech LLC specializes in repairing Apple products. CleverTech pursues environmental responsibility by recycling aluminum, display assemblies, and the micro components on motherboards to reuse for future repairs. On average, they save 2 lbs - 3 lbs more electronic waste daily than the average computer repair store.

Gonzalo Martinez

Computer Specialist

Expert Answer

You can access the Force Quit option by pressing Command + Option + Escape.
Question

Can't force quit an application on Mac?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

It is recommended that you try at least one, if not all, of the five methods for force quitting an application on a Mac as outlined above; one of these has the potential to work. If none of these work, there may be a fault with the app, the operating system or even your computer. It might be worth shutting down, especially if your computer has frozen as a whole, and restarting, to see whether this can make a difference.
Question

How do I kill an application in Mac terminal?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Open the Terminal utility in the Utilities folder, type “top” and press Return. Select the program needing to be closed under the column COMMAND, noting that its name may be shortened. Find the PID - the number to the left of the program’s name and note it down. Type “q” to exit and return to the command line, then type “kill ###”, using the PID in place of the ###. If it still won’t respond, type “sudo kill -9###”, again using the PID in place of the ### in this example. More detail and images on this process are found above in this article.