How To: Force Quit an Application

Description

Sometimes a program on your computer can get "stuck" in what is called a "frozen" or "not responding" state. In cases like this, it is often helpful to know how to forcefully close an application. Doing this will cause any information or files open in that application that have not yet been saved to be lost. This article explains how to forcefully quit applications on various devices.

Device

• Microsoft Windows
• macOS
• Chrome OS/Chromebook
• Android
• iOS (iPhone or iPad)

Steps

Microsoft Windows

1. Open the Task Manager. This can be done in three ways:
   1. Right-click on an empty space in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, and click Task Manager
   2. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del (all three buttons held simultaneously), and select Task Manager
   3. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc (all three buttons held simultaneously)
2. Locate the Window or Application to be force quit, select it, and click End task

macOS

1. Press Command (⌘) + Option + Escape to open the Force Quit Applications dialog box
2. Select the application to be force quit, and click Force Quit

Chrome OS/Chromebook

1. Click the menu button
2. Point to More Tools
3. Select Task Manager
4. Select the process to be force quit, and click End Process

Android

1. Open the Recently opened applications menu with your device's Menu button
2. Swipe the application you wish to force close to the left or right, moving it off the screen

iOS (iPhone or iPad)

1. Double-press the Home button (iPhone 8 and earlier)  -or-  swipe up from the bottom (iPhone X and later) to open the list of recently opened application
2. Scroll to find the application that you wish to force quit
3. Swipe the application's thumbnail up and off of the screen