Force Quit

Press Option-Command-Esc, or choose Apple menu > Force Quit. In the Force Quit Applications window, select the app and click Force Quit.

You can also Control-click the app's icon in the Dock, hold down the Option key, and choose Force Quit.

Select the process in the list, then click the Stop button (the X) at the top of the window. Choose Quit to close it normally, or Force Quit to end it immediately. Quitting a process that belongs to another user may ask for an administrator password.

Only quit processes you recognize. Do not quit system processes such as kernel_task, launchd, or WindowServer. Many system processes are restarted by macOS right away, and some cannot be quit at all.

Find the process ID with pgrep -l AppName, then run kill <PID> to ask it to quit. If it does not respond, kill -9 <PID> ends it immediately, with the same data loss risk as Force Quit.

Start with the gentlest option and work up. Each step gives the app less chance to save and clean up.

• The app responds but you want it closed: choose Quit from its menu, or press Command-Q.
• The app shows the spinning wait cursor: wait a little, since it may be finishing a long task.
• The app is marked Not Responding and stays that way: use Force Quit.
• A background process with no window misbehaves: select it in Activity Monitor and try Quit before Force Quit.

Sometimes the Force Quit window does not open, or the app stays on screen after you force quit it. Apple recommends these steps, in order. A restart closes your other apps too, so save your work in any app that still responds before you start.

1. Choose Apple menu > Restart.
2. If the Mac does not restart, press and hold the power button for up to 10 seconds, until the Mac turns off.
3. Press and release the power button to turn the Mac back on.

Finder cannot be quit like other apps, because macOS needs it running. If Finder stops responding, open the Force Quit window with Option-Command-Esc and select Finder. The button changes to Relaunch, which quits Finder and opens it again.

When you quit a process in Activity Monitor, it may warn you before it goes ahead. A message that quitting a process "might disrupt your computer" means the process belongs to macOS. A message that quitting it will log you out means the process holds your login session. In both cases, click Cancel unless you know exactly what the process does.

Activity Monitor also has View > Send Signal to Process, which sends a specific Unix signal to the selected process. Quit and Force Quit cover almost every case, so you rarely need it.