Table of Contents
It‘s happened to the best of us – you‘re working away in your favorite app when suddenly it freezes and stops responding. The dreaded "spinning beach ball of death" appears. You try to click around but nothing happens. Force quitting the app is usually the go-to solution, but what if that doesn‘t work either?
According to a recent survey by the Mac IT administrator community MacAdmins, over 60% of Mac users experience an app freezing at least once per month. For 15% of users, it happens weekly. You‘re definitely not alone in this frustration.
As a Mac software engineer with 15 years of experience, I‘ve seen my fair share of frozen apps. In this guide, I‘ll walk through what‘s really happening when an app hangs, the 8 most reliable methods to force quit a frozen app, and tips to prevent freezing in the first place. Let‘s dive in!
Table of Contents
- Common Ways to Force Quit Apps
- What Happens When an App Freezes?
- Most Common Apps That Freeze on Mac
- Advanced Methods to Force Quit Frozen Apps
- Troubleshooting in Safe Mode
- When to Reinstall the App
- Tips to Prevent Apps From Freezing
- When to Contact Apple Support
Common Ways to Force Quit Apps
Let‘s start with a quick refresher on the standard ways to force quit an app:
- Press Command-Option-Escape to open the Force Quit dialog. Select the frozen app and click Force Quit.
- Right-click the app‘s icon in the Dock, hold Option, and click Force Quit.
- Click the Apple menu > Force Quit. Select the unresponsive app and click Force Quit.
If the app doesn‘t show up in the Force Quit dialog or the above methods don‘t work, keep reading for more advanced techniques.
What Happens When an App Freezes?
Under the hood, frozen apps are often caused by what‘s known as a "deadlock" or "infinite loop" in programming terms.
A deadlock happens when two or more threads (units of computation) get stuck waiting for each other to complete. Imagine two people who both refuse to let the other pass through a doorway first. Neither thread can proceed, so the app freezes.
An infinite loop is when a process gets stuck endlessly repeating the same operation with no exit condition. Like a skipping record, it keeps doing the same thing over and over, never moving forward.
Other common culprits include memory leaks, running out of RAM, and trying to access corrupt data. When you force quit an app, you‘re effectively terminating the problematic process so it frees up the resources it was hogging.
Most Common Apps That Freeze on Mac
Based on diagnostic data from AppleToolBox, the applications that freeze most often on macOS are:
| App | % of Users Affected |
|---|---|
| Google Chrome | 32% |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | 18% |
| Zoom | 15% |
| Spotify | 10% |
| Photoshop | 8% |
| Microsoft Outlook | 6% |
| Slack | 5% |
| Final Cut Pro | 4% |
| Other | 2% |
Web browsers like Chrome and Safari tend to top the list because they are some of the most used and resource-intensive apps. Media apps like Premiere and Final Cut often deal with huge files that can overwhelm RAM. Cloud-based services like Zoom and Slack rely on a stable internet connection.
Advanced Methods to Force Quit Frozen Apps
If the basic force quit techniques aren‘t working, here are some more tricks to try, from easiest to most advanced:
Use Activity Monitor
The Activity Monitor utility lists all processes currently running on your Mac. You can use it to force quit a frozen app, even if it‘s not responding to normal methods. Here‘s how:
- Open Activity Monitor from Applications > Utilities.
- Select the app you want to force quit.
- Click the X button in the toolbar, then confirm Force Quit.
Tip: Click the "%CPU" column to sort by CPU usage. Unresponsive apps often appear at the top consuming an excessive amount of processing power.
Use Terminal
For power users, you can force quit an app using the Terminal and some command line wizardry:
- Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities.
- Type
ps -axand press Enter to list all running processes. - Find the frozen app in the list and note its PID (process ID number).
- Type
kill -9 [PID]and press Enter. Replace[PID]with the actual number.
Alternatively, type killall [process name] and press Enter. Replace [process name] with the app‘s exact name in Activity Monitor.
These commands send a SIGKILL signal to immediately terminate the app. Be careful, as force quitting this way can lead to data loss if the app was in the middle of saving.
Restart Your Mac
Sometimes you just need to turn it off and back on again. If all else fails, restart your Mac. Click the Apple menu and select Restart. If the frozen app prevents you from clicking, press and hold the power button until your Mac shuts down. Wait a few seconds and press it again to power back on.
Troubleshooting in Safe Mode
Safe mode is a special diagnostic environment you can start your Mac in to troubleshoot issues. Only the bare minimum services, extensions, and apps are loaded in safe mode, which can help you identify problematic login items, extensions, or system configuration files.
To start up in safe mode, follow these steps:
- Turn off your Mac completely.
- Press the power button, then immediately hold the Shift key.
- Keep holding Shift until you see the login screen.
- Log in with your password. You may need to log in twice if FileVault is enabled.
- You should see "Safe Boot" in the top-right corner indicating you‘re in safe mode.
Now try opening the app that was previously freezing. If it works normally, you know a third-party extension or login item is likely the culprit.
To identify problematic items in safe mode:
- Go to Apple Menu > System Settings > General > Login Items.
- Uncheck items one at a time, restarting each time, until you find the guilty extension or app.
Likewise, you can try disabling Launch Agents, Daemons, and Application Support files in safe mode to further isolate the cause. Check out this deep dive into safe mode for more details.
When to Reinstall the App
It‘s possible the app itself got corrupted at some point, making it unstable. If you‘ve determined the frozen app isn‘t being caused by hardware or other software, try uninstalling it completely and reinstalling a fresh copy:
- Quit the app if possible. Use force quit if needed.
- Go to the Applications folder and drag the app to the Trash.
- In Finder, go to Go > Go to Folder.
- Type
~/Library/and click Go. - Look for any leftover support files for the app, like caches and preferences, in these folders:
- Application Support
- Caches
- Containers
- Preferences
- Saved Application State
- Drag any relevant files to the Trash.
- Empty the Trash to fully uninstall the app and its files.
- Reboot your Mac.
- Redownload the app installer from the official source.
- Install the app from scratch.
Tip: Use a dedicated Mac uninstaller tool like AppCleaner or AppZapper to automate finding and deleting all the app‘s associated files.
Tips to Prevent Apps From Freezing
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Use these tips to minimize app freezing in the first place:
- Keep your macOS and apps updated to the latest versions. Updates often contain stability improvements and bug fixes.
- Don‘t open more apps than necessary at once, especially if you have an older Mac with less RAM.
- Quit apps you‘re not actively using. I recommend using the Quitter app to automatically quit inactive apps after a certain time period.
- Uninstall apps you‘ve tried but no longer need. It‘s easy to forget about apps you installed once but never used again. Periodically go through your Applications folder and remove apps you don‘t need.
- Only install apps from trusted sources like the App Store or the developer‘s official website. Sketchy apps from untrusted sites are more likely to contain bugs or malware that can destabilize your system.
- Avoid using cheap, off-brand USB hubs, docks, and adapters. Stick to reputable brands recommended by veteran IT admins, like OWC and Anker.
- Run First Aid periodically in Disk Utility to scan for and repair disk permissions and errors that can cause app issues.
If an app still keeps freezing after taking the steps above, don‘t hesitate to contact the developer directly for support. They may be aware of known issues and can provide a fix or workaround.
When to Contact Apple Support
Despite your best troubleshooting efforts, apps freezing may be a symptom of a deeper problem with your Mac. If you frequently experience freezes across multiple apps, it‘s time to contact official Apple Support for further diagnostics.
Schedule a support call or Genius Bar appointment through Apple‘s support site or the Apple Support app. The techs have access to advanced diagnostic tools and logs that can pinpoint hardware or software issues causing instability.
Common problems that may need Apple‘s attention include:
- Faulty RAM
- Failing hard drive or SSD
- Insufficient drive space
- Overheating caused by broken fans or sensors
- Flaky logic board
- Corrupted operating system
Be prepared to answer questions about when the freezing started, any recent changes you made to your system, and details about your Mac model and configuration.
Actual Apple Support discussion threads show freezing can be tricky to diagnose sometimes:
"It‘s hard to pin down the cause without seeing it in person. It could be a bad stick of RAM, hard drive going out, GPU problem…If it passes the diagnostics we‘ll do some troubleshooting like test in a new user account, test in safe mode, isolate if a peripheral is causing it, or worst case erase and reinstall macOS to rule out software." – Apple Community Specialist Dah•veed
"The apps freezing issue can be incredibly frustrating for users because the cause is rarely straightforward. We have to methodically rule out possible culprits one-by-one and then look deeper. Many times we‘ll still end up needing to send it to the repair depot for the technicians to diagnose a hardware issue." – Apple Support Senior Advisor Ryan S.
In the event your Mac needs to be sent in for service, be sure to have a complete Time Machine backup. Repairs requiring a system restore or drive replacement will wipe your data.
Conclusion
App freezes are an all too common pain point for Mac users. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to break free from being frozen. Start with the basic force quit techniques using keyboard shortcuts or the Dock. If those don‘t work, pull up the Activity Monitor or Terminal to quit the process directly.
For persistent freezing, booting into safe mode can help isolate software causing the problem. A full uninstall and reinstall of the offending app is also an option. Be sure your Mac and apps are fully updated.
When app freezing becomes frequent across multiple programs, it‘s best to loop in the experts at Apple Support. They can run in-depth diagnostics and repairs to resolve hardware or system issues at the source.
Above all, keep calm and don‘t lose your cool (that‘s your Mac‘s fans‘ job). With this information in hand, you‘re empowered to troubleshoot frozen Mac apps like a pro. Stay frosty out there!