There are a few ways to determine whether the problem is being caused by an app. Quitting and restarting the problem app is usually the best way to unfreeze your Mac. Often you’ll spot this because the app’s menus and icons are unresponsive, and you may see the rainbow wheel, also known as the spinning beach ball, the ‘spinning pizza of death’ or just SPOD. The first job is to determine whether the whole of macOS is affected, or just one app.Ĭhances are, if you can still use your mouse and keyboard, the problem is being caused by one app in particular.

We’ll look at the steps to take to determine if you have insufficient storage space, a memory problem, an issue with the version of the Mac operating system you are running, or a problem with certain apps.

Even if you manage to unfreeze your Mac, you will want to investigate the cause of the problem.

Failing that, you can Safe Boot your Mac.

If after rebooting the problem continues you may benefit from unplugging any peripherals that are attached to your Mac and rebooting again.

How to reboot your Mac in more detail below.

In that case, you may need to reboot your Mac.

If you can’t move your cursor, or use your keyboard, you can’t force quit.

We look at how to force quit an app below. Sometimes closing that app can solve the problem. The problem might be specific to a single app rather than your Mac in general.

If your Mac froze while you were using an app, see if you can force quit the app you are using.

Keyboard command for force quit on mac