How to force quit an app on a Mac

Force quitting ends an app at once, without giving it a chance to save. It's for an app that has stopped responding: its windows ignore your clicks, or ⌘Q does nothing. If the app still responds, quit it the normal way with ⌘Q so it can finish what it's doing and ask you to save; Apple recommends trying that first. Not sure whether an app is still running at all? See quit vs close on Mac.

Press ⌥⌘Esc

⌥⌘Esc opens the Force Quit Applications window, a list of the apps you have open. It works whichever app is in front, including the frozen one.

1. Press the keys

   Press ⌥⌘Esc together. On a Mac whose Touch Bar holds the Esc key, it's at the Touch Bar's left end.

2. Select the app

   Click the app that isn't responding.

3. Click Force Quit

   The app closes straight away, and changes it hadn't saved can be lost.

Finder is always running, so when you select it the button reads Relaunch instead. Use it when the desktop or Finder windows stop responding.

The Apple menu

Click the Apple menu at the left end of the menu bar and choose Force Quit…. It opens the same Force Quit Applications window, so it's the way in when the keys don't get through or you'd rather use the pointer. Select the app and click Force Quit.

The Dock

If an app stops responding, Control-click its icon in the Dock and choose Force Quit, as Apple's guide to the Dock describes. There's no list to pick from, so you can't end the wrong app by mistake. For an app that still responds, choose Quit in the same menu instead.

Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor can list every process on your Mac, including background ones with no icon in the Dock, so it can stop things the other methods can't reach. It's in the Utilities folder inside Applications (Apple), or search for it with Spotlight. For other ways to check what's open, see how to see which apps are running.

1. Select the process

   In the Process Name list, click the app or process. One that has stopped responding is marked “(Not Responding)”.

2. Click the Stop button

   It's at the top left of the window.

3. Choose Quit or Force Quit

   Quit asks the process to quit the way you'd quit it yourself, and it won't if that could lose data or disturb another app. Force Quit stops it immediately.

According to Apple's Activity Monitor guide, quitting a process you don't own may ask for an administrator's name and password, and View › All Processes, Hierarchically shows which processes depend on the one you're about to stop.

What you lose

A force quit skips everything a normal quit does, so Apple warns that you may lose unsaved changes. In practice:

• Unsaved work in that app. Anything you changed since the app last saved can be gone.
• Files it had open. Apple's Activity Monitor guide says a force quit can lose data in files the process had open.
• Nothing in other apps, as long as they don't depend on the process you stopped.

If the same app keeps freezing, Apple suggests making sure it works with your version of macOS, installing its updates, opening a different file in case the file is the problem, unplugging a device you connected recently, and removing plug-ins from other developers. When an app quits unexpectedly on its own, macOS offers a dialog with Reopen.

When the shortcut does nothing

Work down this list. Each step reaches the app a different way.

1. Check the keys

   Press Option, Command and Esc at the same moment. On some Macs with a Touch Bar, Esc is on the Touch Bar rather than a key of its own.

2. Use the pointer

   Choose Apple menu › Force Quit…, or Control-click the app in the Dock and choose Force Quit.

3. Try Activity Monitor

   If the Force Quit window opens but the app won't go, select it in Activity Monitor, click the Stop button and choose Force Quit.

4. Restart

   If nothing on screen responds, choose Apple menu › Restart. If the Mac won't restart, press and hold the power button for up to 10 seconds until it turns off (on a Mac laptop with Touch ID, hold Touch ID), then press it again to turn the Mac back on.

With Flick

Flick is a window switcher, and its actions menu can force quit an app from the window list without bringing the frozen app forward first. Hold ⌥ and tap Tab until one of the app's windows is selected, or type part of its name. Then press ⌥⇧K and F, or right-click the row and choose Force Quit App…. With the ⌘Tab trigger, the menu opens with ⇧⌘K.

Flick asks first: “Force quit Safari?”, with “Safari quits at once. Changes you haven't saved are lost.” Press Return or click Force Quit to go ahead; Esc, ← or Cancel goes back. For an app that still responds, ⌥⇧Q is the normal quit. Force Quit in Flick's help covers the details.

Flick reads each app on its own, so a frozen app doesn't hold up the rest of the list, though its windows can show up late or as a single row. It lists apps that have a Dock icon; for a background process, use Activity Monitor. In the free version, actions work on the rows it shows, your 5 most recent windows.

Close, quit and force quit from Flick's list