Mac OS has quite a reputation for being responsive and protected from malware or malicious attacks. However, some situations might arise when the apps you are currently running fail to respond. In this case, you may have to close the applications close forcibly. Let us discuss some quick approaches to accomplish this.
1. Keyboard Shortcut to Force Quit Apps on Mac
The usual shortcut to close an application is Command + Q.
The shortcut to force quit an app works when the above fails to deliver: Option (or Alt) + Command + Esc
This action will open a window showing you a list of apps you wish to quit. You can also relaunch the Finder if it fails to respond. As a rule of thumb, the Finder is always open. However, you can shut it down when needed.
2. Quit from the Apple Menu or Dock
The Apple menu has an option to Force Quit. Alternatively, you can right-click the app icon shown in the Dock. It should also show an option to Force Quit.
3. Quitting Apps through the Activity Monitor
The Activity Monitor lets you analyze the performance of processes and close apps when required. You can access this from Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor to see what is causing the problem. Clicking “X” will force them to shut down.
4. Use the Terminal
You can access the terminal from Applications > Utilities. The command “ps -ax” will show all the ongoing apps and processes. You can enter “kill [PID],” where PID is the process ID of the app you want to close.
What can you do when a Mac app does not force quit?
Occasionally, the keyboard shortcut for force quitting may also not work. In this situation, you can restart your laptop. If the usual restart approach fails, you can long press the power button or the Touch ID (up to 10 seconds) in the upper right corner.
Force-quitting apps can be dicey, risking data loss. But it can be inevitable in an unresponsive state to get your Mac up and running as usual again.