Force Quit App Mac Terminal

Although it is quite rare, you must have come across incidents of apps becoming unresponsive or frozen once in a while on your Mac. You will find below multiple ways to Force Quit Apps or Programs on your Mac, instead of waiting forever and getting frustrated.

Force Quit Apps or Programs on Mac

Most native Apps and Services on your Mac are designed to run smoothly, without freezing up or lagging in any way. However, some third party Apps that are not exactly optimized to run efficiently on a Mac may end up freezing or becoming completely unresponsive.

Quit App Using the Force Quit Window on Mac This option is available for every Mac user. All you need to do is to use the ‘Command + Option + Esc’ keyboard shortcut to open up the Force Quit Applications menu. Then select the app name using a cursor and use the force quit option from the bottom to. May 06, 2020  Once you hit force quit, it’s too late for all of that, and MacOS will immediately shut the app down without any prompts. Just a word of warning — using force quit should be a last resort. Aug 28, 2019  Right-click on the app you want to quit on the dock (Mac’s dock), at the bottom of the screen. Press Alt (or Option) and then select “ Force Quit ” from the menu. The selected application will automatically be closed, without any alerts or confirmations. Force Quit A Program On Mac From Menu.

You can use AppleScript to tell the application to quit: osascript -e 'quit app 'Slack' this will tell the application to quit and will start all the save and cleanup tasks. Or you can send the TERMsignal with pkillbut it could be that the application will not shut down cleanly. Jul 07, 2015  3. Force an App to Quit by Using Terminal. Instantly stop a certain app from running by using Terminal through the use of the kill command. In order to force a command to quit using Terminal, the first step is to find the process ID (PID) of the target app you want to shut down.

In such cases, it becomes difficult to close the unresponsive App in a normal way and the only option left is to Force Quit the application on your Mac.

Unlike regular closing of the Apps, Force Quitting abruptly closes the application and does not save your work or settings. However, sometimes you need to be prepared to lose unsaved work and settings, in order to get your Mac back to its normal self.

Force Quit Apps or Programs Using Dock

Perhaps the easiest way to Force Quit Apps on a Mac is through the Dock, located at the bottom of your Mac’s screen.

1. Locate the App that you want to close on the Dock of your Mac

2. Next, right-click on the App icon and then click on Force Quit in the little menu that appears (See image below).

Note: The Force Quit option may also appear as “Quit” in some cases, however most of the times when the application is frozen or unresponsive it appears as “Force Quit”.

3. Depending on the App that you are Force-quitting, you may see a pop-up asking to confirm that you do want to Force Quit the App. Tap on the blue Force Quit button to quit the unresponsive app.

Force Quit Apps or Programs on Mac Using Keyboard

You can also force quit Apps on your Mac by using keyboard shortcuts. There are 2 keyboard shortcuts which allow you to Force Quit unresponsive apps.

1. On the keyboard of your Mac, press Command + Option + Esc key combination to Force Quit any unresponsive App. In case you are using a Windows keyboard with your Mac, press Windows + Alt + Esc keys.

Note: Do not press all 3 keys at the same time, rather press them in a sequence, first Command then Option and then Esc.

2. Pressing above keys will open the Force Quit Application Manager Window on your Mac (See image below)

3. Next, click on the unresponsive App in the Application Manager and then click on the blue Force Quit button to close the unresponsive app.

4. Depending on the App that you are quitting, you may see a pop-up asking to confirm that you do want to Force Quit the App. Tap on the blue Force Quit button to quit from the unresponsive App.

Force Quit Apps On Mac Using Apple Menu Bar

Another way to Force Quit Apps on your Mac is by accessing the Force Quit Applications manager by using the Apple Menu Bar.

1. Click on the Apple icon in the top menu bar on your Mac and then click on Force Quit… option in the drop-down menu (See image below)

2. Clicking on Force Quit will open the Applications Manager Window on the screen of your Mac.

3. In the Application Manager, click on the App that you want to Force Quit and then click on the Blue Force Quit button to Quit the selected App on your Mac (See image below)

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4. Depending on the App, you may see a pop-up. Click on the blue Force Quit button in the pop-up to close the selected App.

Force Quit Apps On Mac Using Activity Monitor

The Activity Monitor on a Mac is quite similar to the Task Manager as found on a Windows Computer. The Activity Manager on a Mac allows you to take a look at the amount of Memory, CPU, and Storage space used by the apps and also allows you to Force Quit Apps.

1. Click on the Finder icon (Happy Face!) in the Dock of your Mac (See image below)

2. Next, click on Applications and then click on the Utilities Folder.

3. In Utilities Folder, locate Activity Monitor and click on it (See image below)

4. On the Activity Monitor screen, click on the app that you want to Force-close and then click on the X icon, located in top left corner of the window (See image below)

5. Next, you may see a pop-up, asking you to confirm that you do want to Force Quit the application. Click on Force Quit (or Quit) to close the application.

Force Quit Apps On Mac Using the Terminal Window

In addition to above ways, you can also make use of the Terminal Window to Force Quit Apps on your Mac.

1. On the keyboard of your Mac, press Command + Spacebar to open the Spotlight Search

2. Once Spotlight Search opens up on your Mac, type the word Terminal and click on the Top Hit suggestion Terminal to open the Terminal Window on your Mac (See image below)

3. On the Terminal Window, type in ps –ax (there is a space after ps) and press the Enter key (See image below).

Note: There is a space after ps

4. The above Terminal Command will list all the processes that are currently running on your Mac. Locate the App that you want to Force-close and note down its PID Number (See image below)

5. Once you have noted down the PID number of the app. Type kill (PID number) in the Terminal Windows and hit the enter key (See image below)

Once you type in the above command, the unresponsive/frozen application will be closed. For example, in our case we closed the stuck Safari App on our Mac by typing kill 279 in the terminal Window.

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by Sophie GreenUpdated on 2019-12-25 / Update for Mac OS

If your Mac apps stop responding or if they stay stuck at some point no matter what you do, it might be helpful to learn how to force quit an app on Mac. This way, you can force your apps to close no matter what they are doing and what their current status is. It helps you get rid of your unresponsive apps so you can focus and work on the ones that you actually want.

There are actually multiple ways to force quit an app on Mac. You can use any of the available methods to force an app to close, and regardless of which method you go for, they all ultimately do the same thing.

If you have any unsaved work in any of the apps that you are force closing, you might not want to close the app as this will make you lose your work. However, if you do not have any other option, then you can proceed to exit the app on your Mac.

Part 1. 5 Easy Ways to Force Quit an App on Mac

As said earlier, you have multiple ways to force quit an app on your Mac and here we show all of the available methods to do the task. You will want to use the one that you think is the best and most convenient for you. Here are some of the ways on how to force quit an app on a Mac.

1. Force Quit an App on Mac Using Keyboard shortcut

The easiest way to forcibly quit an app on a Mac is to use a keyboard shortcut. By just pressing the combination of three keys on your Mac, you can easily get rid of an app that is stuck on your screen for hours.

The keyboard shortcut for force quitting an app is Command + Option + Esc. While you are inside the app that you want to force quit, simply press these keys at the same time and the app will be forced to close.

2. Force Quit an App on Mac from Apple Menu

Another way to force close an app on your Mac is to use the default Apple menu on your system. It is located at the top part of your screen letting you access various system functions of your Mac.

Using the menu to close an app is pretty easy and the following is how do you force quit an app on Mac using this Apple menu.

  • You do not necessarily need to be inside the app you want to quit on your Mac.
  • Click on the Apple logo at the top-left corner of your screen and you will see several options. Find the option that says Force Quit and click on it.

  • A box will open letting you select the apps you want to quit. Click on the app to quit and select Force Quit.

Your selected app will be force closed.

3. Force Quit Mac App from Dock Panel

In addition to letting you launch apps, the Dock on your Mac also lets you force quit apps on your Mac. All you basically have to do is select the app, choose an option, and your app will be force closed.

  • Find the app you want to force quit in the Dock of your Mac.
  • Hold down the Option key on your keyboard and right-click on your app.
  • Select the option that says Force Quit to force close your app.

4. Force Close Frozen App on Mac via Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor helps you keep a tab on your Mac's activities and you can use it to force close apps as well. If you have been wondering 'how do I force quit an app on Mac', this should answer it for you.

  • Launch the Activity Monitor from the Launchpad on your Mac.
  • Select the app you want to force quit and click on the X icon at the top.

  • Select Force Quit on the following screen.

Force Quit App Windows 10

5. Force Close Frozen App on Mac Using Terminal

Terminal lets you force quit apps as well and the following shows how to do it.

  • Open Terminal on your Mac.
  • Type in the following command and hit Enter. Note down the PID for your app.

    ps -ax

  • Type in the following command replacing PID with your PID and hit Enter.

    kill PID

Part 2. What Happens when Force Quit Doesn't Work on Mac?

I tried option-cmd-esc, clicking force quit on the app, activity monitor and terminal. I read that sometime restarting helps, but it won't even do that. Everything works fine, except I can't shut down my laptop or use the app.

If force closing an app does not work for some reason for you, you can try force rebooting your Mac to see if that helps fix the issue.

Click on the Apple logo at the top and select Restart to reboot your Mac.

Force Quit App Mac Terminal

One More Tip: Best Mac Data Recovery Software – 2020

One of the issues you could come across while force closing is an app is losing your data. If this has already happened to you, you might want to do something to recover your lost data. There is a good app for that called Tenorshare UltData - Mac Data Recovery that helps you recover files on your Mac. It comes with the following features in it:

Can't Force Quit App Mac

  • Recover lost, deleted or fomatted files from your Mac
  • Recover photos, videos, documents, emails and more than 550+ file types
  • Recover data from crashed, dead or corrupted Mac
  • Supports recovery from external storages
  • High success rate
  • Works on the latest versions of macOS including Catalina

The following shows how you can use it on your Mac.

  • Download and launch the app on your Mac. Select your drive and click on Scan.

  • Preview the files, select the ones you want to recover, and click on Recover.

  • Choose the folder where you want to save your files.

Your files are now recovered.

If An App Won't Force Quit Mac

Conclusion

How would you quit/exit a program that is frozen or not responding on a Mac computer? Is one of the most asked questions by Mac users. The above guide aims to answer the question and offers some of the ways to fix stuck apps on your machine. And Tenorshare UltData - Mac Data Recovery is highly recommended if you want to recover data from Mac even if your Mac won't turn on, or get dead, crashed.