How to Force Quit Safari on Mac

Why won’t Safari quit on your Mac?

When it seems like Safari won’t quit on Mac, I’ve learned there can be several causes, the most common of which is browser crashes or a Safari virus. One of the simplest ways to fix this is to shut down Safari on Mac manually by selecting Force Quit in the Apple menu and then choosing Safari.

A note from our experts: 

 

Safari crashes often happen when the browser eats up too much RAM and there’s not enough left to keep things running smoothly. I’ve found the best way to prevent this is by using MacKeeper’s Memory Cleaner, a popular tool for macOS that’s developed by Clario Tech and notarized by Apple, to free up RAM space whenever it starts to get low.

 

Here’s how you can do the same:

1. Download and install MacKeeper.
2. Select Memory Cleaner in the sidebar, then click Open.
3. Choose Clean Memory to safely free up system RAM.

I experienced frequent Safari crashes before recently getting a new Mac. My previous MacBook Air died, so I temporarily switched over to a very old iMac with only 4GB of RAM. After browsing the web for a little while, it would inevitably start to stutter until Safari froze up completely. However, by remembering to use MacKeeper’s Memory Cleaner regularly, I was able to eliminate crashes almost entirely.

How to force close Safari on Mac

I’ve found the quickest way to force close Safari on Mac when it won’t quit is to first press Command + Option + Escape on your Mac’s keyboard to open the Force Quit menu. Choose Safari, select Force Quit, then click the Force Quit button again to confirm.

If you find Safari not working on Mac when you try to close it, try these solutions:

• Use applications window to exit Safari: Try closing the problematic Safari window first to prevent the browser from freezing, then quit it normally.
• Use Force Quit from Apple menu: The Force Quit option in the Apple menu is one of the easiest ways to shut down Safari on Mac, and my favorite way to deal with problematic apps.
• Close Safari with Activity Monitor: This helpful utility, built into Apple’s macOS, lets you manage all running apps and force quit any that aren’t responding.
• Restart your Mac to force quit Safari: When all else fails, I find that restarting my Mac usually fixes any software issues.

1. Use applications window to exit Safari

Sometimes, Safari crashes because a certain website that’s open is not behaving properly. This leads to the webpage eating up too many system resources, which in turn causes Safari to freeze and your Mac to become slow.

Here’s how you can fix it:

1. In Safari, click the red X button in the top-left corner of a window to close any you’re not using, including those in Private mode.
2. If you have a Safari window with multiple tabs, click the X on the left side of unwanted tabs to close those individually.

An important insight to share: 

 

I should point out that closing Safari tabs and windows doesn’t completely close the browser itself. However, if you’re able to stop the problematic page and unfreeze the browser, you can then close Safari normally—or continue using it. It’s always a good idea to close websites you no longer need anyway, as a build up of unnecessary tabs is the main reason Safari is slow on your Mac.

2. Use Force Quit from Apple menu

When I’m unable to close Safari tabs and windows, I like to use the Force Quit menu that’s part of Apple’s macOS operating system to stop Safari.

Try this:

1. Click the Apple logo in the macOS menu bar, then select Force Quit.
2. Choose Safari, then click Force Quit.
3. Select the Force Quit button again to confirm.

3. Close Safari with Activity Monitor

There may be times when the Force Quit feature isn’t enough to close Safari. The good news is there’s also Activity Monitor, another program in Apple’s macOS, that is even more effective at quitting crashed apps.

Here’s how to use it:

1. In Finder, go to Applications > Utilities and open Activity Monitor.
2. Click the Process Name tab to sort all running processes alphabetically.
3. Find and select Safari, then click the X button.
4. Click Force Quit to confirm.

4. Restart your Mac to force quit Safari

If you can’t force close Safari on Mac using the methods above, I recommend you reset your computer. This will force all apps and processes to close and therefore eliminate anything that’s stuck.

Here’s how to restart your Mac:

1. Click the Apple logo in the menu bar, then choose Restart.
2. Select Restart again to confirm.

Some Mac users ask me if they should delete Safari when it keeps crashing. My answer is always no. Firstly, it’s not possible to uninstall Safari on Mac, and most performance issues can be improved by managing your tabs more effectively and freeing up system RAM whenever necessary.

Conclusion

If you need to force quit Safari on Mac because it’s frozen, there are several easy tricks you can use, like closing the application window or force quitting the Safari process inside Activity Monitor. When these things don’t work, you can restart your Mac.

My advice is to minimize Safari crashes and avoid having to force quit the app by freeing up RAM on your Mac. Developed by Clario Tech, MacKeeper has a handy Memory Cleaner tool that safely removes old data from your Mac’s RAM so that Safari and other apps can run more smoothly. Try it out today.