5 Easy Ways to Force a Frozen App to Quit on Your Mac

Under most circumstances, you can operate smoothly and seamlessly using macOS. However, you may still need help with the app freezing and unresponsive issues, especially when you are dealing with some heavy tasks. This article shares five helpful methods to force a frozen app to quit on a Mac. You can follow these tips to easily close frozen apps on your Mac.

Part 1. Common Causes of App Freezing on Mac

Before telling you specific solutions to close a frozen app on your Mac, I would like to talk about some common causes behind the unresponsive problem. By understanding these reasons, you can better troubleshoot and prevent future occurrences.

The overloaded RAM is one big reason why an app is freezing on your Mac. When there are too many apps running simultaneously, Mac's available RAM is depleted, leading to the app's frozen and slow performance. High CPU usage may also cause apps to freeze. As I mentioned above, while editing high-resolution videos or playing games, you are more likely to encounter a stuck situation. Besides, outdated macOS and apps may bring compatibility issues that can cause app freezing.

Sometimes, the frozen app on your Mac is due to software conflicts, damaged app preferences, malware, and some hardware-related problems. A failing hard drive can cause unexpected app crashes. In that case, you will see the app stuck on the Mac screen. What’s more, overheating is another factor that can affect your Mac's performance and cause apps to freeze.

Part 2. How to Close a Frozen App on Mac

Knowing effective solutions to force quit an app on Mac can be a valuable skill. This part tells you five simple ways to close a frozen app on your Mac.

Close a Frozen App on Mac from Dock

When an app is freezing and unresponsive on your Mac, you can locate it on the bottom Dock, and right-click on the app icon and display more options, such as Hide, Quit, Show All Windows, and others. Press and hold the Option key to change the source Quit option to Force Quit. Click the Force Quit option while pressing the Option key to close the frozen app.

Force Quit on Mac Using the Apple Menu

When an app is freezing on your Mac, go to the Apple menu and choose the Force Quit option to display a Force Quit Applications popup. Scroll down all opened apps and find the frozen one. Click to highlight it and then click the Force Quit button.

Close a Frozen App on Mac Using the Keyboard Shortcut

Press Command + Option + Esc to raise the Force Quit Applications window. Use the arrow keys to choose the specific app you want to force quit. Then, press the Return key to close the frozen app on your Mac.

Force a Frozen App to Quit Using the Activity Monitor

Open Finder and go to Applications from the left sidebar. Scroll down to locate the Utilities and expand it. Double-click Activity Monitor to open it. Click the CPU tab and find the app that's not responding. Double-click on the app's row and then click the Quit button. A dialogue box will appear on your Mac screen. Click Force Quit to confirm your operation.

Close an App That Is Frozen on Macvia Terminal

You can also rely on the command line to force quit an app on a Mac. Find and open the Terminal app using the Spotlight Search. Type in killall [the name of the frozen app] and then press the Enter key.

If you often encounter freezes with a particular app, you can delete the app on your Mac and then reinstall it. You can also check related settings or configurations that might be causing problems.

Part 3. Preventive Measures to Avoid Future Freezes

If you often face the app frozen issue on your Mac, you then need to manually close unnecessary apps you're not actively using to free up RAM and CPU. That ensures your Mac can offer a relatively high performance. Moreover, you can often use Activity Monitor to identify resource-hungry apps and processes.

To avoid system and performance issues, you’d better regularly install macOS updates. Similarly, you should keep your apps up-to-date. You can also scan your Mac with reputable antivirus software to find and remove malware. If you are using an old Mac device, you may consider upgrading your Mac's RAM if necessary.

Part 4. Recover Lost Data After Closing Frozen Apps on Your Mac

You can follow the tips above to easily force a frozen app to quit on your Mac. If you lose some valuable files after closing the unresponsive app, use the powerful Aiseesoft Data Recovery to recover them. It lets you retrieve lost documents, photos, videos, and others from a Mac, whatever the data loss situation.

Download this data recovery software on your Mac as soon as you notice some important files are lost. Open it and then select the specific data type(s) based on your lost files. Then, you can choose the specific disk(s) to search for them. Click Scan to start scanning your Mac data.

For the first scanning, the data recovery tool may take a long time to finish the process. To speed up the scanning, you can only select the specific data type you want to recover. You need to allow Aiseesoft to access specific folders on this Mac.

Once scanned, your selected files will be listed by the data type or path. Try finding target files and double-click them to view details. Use the built-in Filter to quickly locate related files. Confirm the selected data and then click the Recover All button.

Part 5. FAQs on How to Close Frozen Apps on a Mac

Conclusion

A frozen app can be a frustrating experience, especially when you are doing an important task. With the introduced five methods, you can effectively force a frozen app to quit on a Mac. If you often get frozen screens, it's recommended to consult Apple Support to seek professional help.