Force Quit the Safari app on the Mac

Mac computers can get hung for a while, or your browser might slow. In such a case, the best you can do is to force quit your Safari Browser. There are several ways to do so; you can use the Safari Menu bar, Force Quit Application window from the Apple icon menu, the system’s Activity Monitor, or Restart the system itself.

Apple Safari app can freeze or become non-responsive if you run low on resources. Mac computers are not an exception, which generally occurs in Windows machines.

So let’s face it, you cannot have a frozen app running on your Mac. This will affect your work, forcing you to quit to restart again. But how can you force quit the Safari app on Mac without crashing your system?

You can apply these methods to force quit the Safari browser and any app running on a macOS computer.

So in this article, let’s see how you can force quit a frozen or not responding app.

We have different methods you can try to force quit an app that is not responding or is laggy. You can use these methods to quit Safari or any other application running on a macOS computer.

Quit from Apple Menu

You can force quit any app from the Apple menu if the application is not responding. The option is also available for the Safari browser to close the running process.

Here are the steps to quit from the Apple menu option:

1. Choose the Safari app in an active state.
2. Click on Apple  for a quick menu.
3. Click on Force Quit Safari option from the list.
   

So the Safari app should quit forcefully. Alternatively, you can right-click on the app in the dock and select Force Quit if it’s accessible.

Quit from Force Quit Window

The Force Quit Window will be helpful when you cannot access the Apple menu for some reason. This Force Quit application will list all the running and not responding apps, including the background apps.

Follow the steps for the Force Quit window:

1. Press Command + Option + Esc keys at the same time.
2. This should bring up the Force Quit Applications window.
3. Select and highlight the app you wish to force quit.
4. Click the Force Quit command button.
   

Now the app should be stopped forcefully after you confirm, and you can resume working with your Mac.

You can relaunch the app to start running again. Using the Force Quit Applications feature, you can also kill the Safari browser running in the background without your knowledge.

Quit from Activity Monitor

The activity monitor is similar to the task manager in Windows. This app can help monitor the resource usage of your Mac and can also help to kill or quit any app that is not responding.

Here are the steps to kill the Safari process from the activity monitor:

1. Press Command + Space keys to open the spotlight search.
2. Type in Activity in the spotlight search bar.
3. Open Activity Monitor from the results.
4. Select the Safari app from the list of Activity Monitor.
   
5. Click on the X mark at the top left corner of the app to quit the Safari app forcefully.

So this is how you can kill or quit a non-responsive Safari app from an activity monitor. You can similarly choose any app that you want to quit.

Force Restart the Mac

If nothing else opens or responds and your system is completely broken, you cannot use the abovementioned steps or methods. So, you can only forcefully quit all apps and then restart your Mac.

1. Press and hold the Control + Command + MediaEject key shortcuts on the keyboard panel.
2. Leave those keys once you see your Mac turn off and turn on.
3. You should be able to log back into the computer without any app running.

Note: it will quit all the system apps without prompting to save the unsaved files or open documents. If you’ve any, do save them before performing the force restart.

You can also hold down the Control + Power key to forcefully turn off your Mac and resume starting it up usually.

Bottom Line

You can also try unplugging your battery to force restart your Mac. This is ideal for iMac, but if you have a MacBook, you must unscrew the back panel to detach the battery.

So this is how you can force quit Safari or any other frozen apps on your Mac. However, you can see that these steps are straightforward. If you’re facing the apps freezing frequently, you should consider updating your Mac or resetting it to restore it to the normal working state.

Force quitting Safari will delete an unsaved open window. Hence, do take a backup of any written document or online file. I often use the Safari browser, and with increased open and new tabs, the browser becomes heavy and sluggish. I had no other option than forcing quit the Safari browser.

If you’re an iPhone user with Safari being your primary browser, you can consider the resetting Safari on iPhone to eliminate any unknown issues.

What do you think of forcing quitting the Safari browser from Mac? Do you find this helpful? Why do you force quit the Safari browser in the first place? Do share it with us.

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