Force-quit a stuck Mac app, from the keyboard

Updated June 13th, 2019.

Force-quit a stuck app by pressing ⌘-Option-Shift-Escape. Try it once and see.

Warning: if you press those keys now (when you don’t have a stuck Mac app), you will force-quit whichever app is frontmost on your Mac, and you won’t get a warning dialog box.

You may have to hold the keys down for a few seconds but it will work eventually, pulling the plug on the app you’re using. This is not the way you want to quit ordinarily, but sometimes things get stuck. ⌘-Option-Shift-Escape is a great way to ditch the app that’s stuck.

The “regular” Force Quit box pops up when you press ⌘-Option-Escape (without the Shift key). You’ve probably see it before. Add the Shift, and the current app is 86’d.

Did this article help you?

Maybe you'd like to contribute to the
Christian Boyce coffee fund.

---

Want some some quick iPhone how-tos?
Visit me at iPhoneinaminute.com.

Looking for in-depth tutorials?
See my christianboyce.com website!