If your computer keeps freezing and the above solutions did not work, try running a disk check to see if it would help. To check for disk problems, follow the steps below: Turn off your Mac. Turn it back on, then press and hold the Command + R keys together immediately. Keep holding the keys until the Apple logo appears. What’s more frustrating than a frozen Mac?One that stops working altogether. When a MacBook Pro freezes, you can hit Command + Shift + Option + Escape to kill a frozen app or do a hard restart by holding the power button, but if those freezes keep happening, there’s a bigger underlying issue. Terminate The Application: It is possible that your MacBook Pro freezes due to an application.
The rainbow-colored spinning beach ball in macOS Mojave can be quite a painful sight for many Mac users. For some who are lucky, it’ll just disappear in a matter of seconds, but more often than not, it stays for minutes and minutes, leaving users hopelessly locked out of their Mac.
Now, since there is no definite way to deal with the spinning beach ball in Mac and there is no clear reason why it’s showing up in the first place, allow us to break things down for you.
In this post, we will discuss everything we know about the spinning beach ball in Mojave, including potential reasons why it surfaces and ways to get rid of it.
What the Spinning Beach Ball Signifies
Also called the “spinning beach ball of death,” the spinning beach ball in macOS Mojave is simply an indicator that your Mac is no longer capable of handling the tasks given to it at the moment.
Technically, every app on Macs has a corresponding server. Once the app receives more tasks than it can process, the server will automatically “release” the spinning beach ball. Sometimes, it’ll show in an instant, but most of the time, it will take about five seconds for the app to become non-responsive.
Aside from being unable to process more tasks, there are other reasons why the spinning beach ball of death appears. These include:
Depending on the cause, the solutions vary. However, the most common way to get around the problem is to simply find the right software and execute the appropriate system commands.
Stopping the Spinning Beach Ball
In case you find yourself stuck in a frozen app, then there is one thing you can do: Force Quit. To do that, follow these steps:
Forcefully quitting an app sounds like a brutal way to resolve your problem. Worse, it does not even address the real reason why the app got stuck in the first place. Well, it could just be a random glitch, but if the app keeps freezing to the point that other software and programs are already affected, then you may need to take a closer look.
Application Keeps Freezing
Since Mac apps don’t usually have a proper uninstaller, you would need to move them to the Trash bin. As a result, traces of the app are left behind, and these app leftovers are possible culprits over why the spinning beach ball surfaces.
Now, if a certain app keeps freezing every time you open it, you might need to reset or reinstall it.
Resetting an App
To reset an app, you have to access and use its own settings or preferences. But in the event that an app does not allow you to access its settings because it keeps freezing, you may try using third-party tools.
Acrobat Keeps Freezing Mac
There are plenty of apps out there that allows you to reset a Mac Mojave app. Best password app for iphone. Perform a quick search online or seek recommendations from friends if you need to.
Generally, to use such third-party apps, you have to download and install them first. From there, follow the on-screen instructions provided and you’re done.
If the beach ball keeps rolling whenever you attempt using the app again, you may need to reinstall the app completely. Instead of selecting Uninstall, click Reset. Just always remember that moving the app to the Trash bin won’t solve the problem.
Why Your Entire Mac Mojave Is No Longer Responsive
What if your Mac, not just an app, becomes unresponsive? What’s causing the spinning beach ball to occur and how do you get rid of that annoying ball? Again, depending on the reason, the solutions vary.
1. Your Processor Is Overworked.
One possible reason is that your Mac computer is getting old and abused. You can find out if the model of your Mac is causing the problem by checking your CPU usage. To check your Mac’s CPU usage, open Activity Monitor. You can find it under the Applications/Utilities folder.
Mac Keeps Freezing Spinning Wheel
In this folder, you can see your current system load in percentage. If all the processes amount to more than 50 percent and some processes remain opened for long, then it could be an indicator that your processor could no longer handle the tasks. To fix a processor that is overworked all the time, the only thing you can do is to get a new Mac.
2. You Have a Low Disk Space.
You need not fill your startup disk with lots of unnecessary stuff to see the pesky ball. A heavily loaded hard disk with large files can already trigger the ball to show up.
To clear a fully-loaded hard disk drive, you simply need to do a cleanup. The good thing is that it’s a relatively easy task. You can download Outbyte MacRepairto do the cleaning for you. Just run it, wait for it to finish scanning your system for any junk files, and you’re all good. It’s also a handy app for prepping your Mac for optimal performance.
3. You Have an Insufficient RAM.
Another possible reason why the spinning beach ball is showing up is that you have an insufficient RAM. To find out if you need more RAM, check the Activity Monitor again. Under the Memory tab, check the Memory pressure table graph. If it is red, it means your RAM is strained under the active apps.
To resolve your RAM problem, you need to upgrade to a bigger RAM. That means you need to buy a new one and install it. Oftentimes, an 8GB RAM is enough for most apps and tasks, but if you need to render heavy videos all the time, then you will need more RAM.
Summary
Some of the solutions we shared require updating hardware, but others merely need cleaning your system. There are other ways to get around the dreaded spinning beach ball issue on Mojave, but we hope we were able to tackle the basic stuff that you might need in order to temporarily fix the issue.
If you know other effective ways to deal with the spinning beach ball in macOS, let us know. Drop your comments below!
If you’re running into errors and your system is suspiciously slow, your computer needs some maintenance work. Download Outbyte PC Repair for Windows, Outbyte Antivirus for Windows, or Outbyte MacRepair for macOS to resolve common computer performance issues. Fix computer troubles by downloading the compatible tool for your device.
See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy Policy.
Imagine this: you’re working happily on your Mac when the dreaded beach ball of death appears. A program stops responding or worse, the macOS (or OS X) itself refuses to do anything but stare at you, blankly. You have a frozen Mac app or an OS X freeze. Mac OS not responding can lead to lost productivity or even lost work. Let's go over why it happens, what to do when your Mac freezes or when an Mac OS app stops responding, as well as some tips for preventative maintenance.
We’ll go over frozen apps first, so if your whole Mac freezes, you can jump to the part about fixing a frozen Mac.
Fixing a frozen app: Why Mac OS apps freeze
There can be a few reasons why apps freeze on Mac. First, sometimes an app freezes on its own, and sometimes it takes down the whole Mac with it. Here's what could be happening:
What to do if an app freezes on your Mac
A frozen app becomes unresponsive and brings your work to a halt. In the worst case scenario, it can lead to lost work or a corrupted file. Fortunately, there are several options to try, and most are quite simple. Here’s what you can do when a program freezes on your Mac. First, you need to quit it. Then, if the app keeps freezing when you launch it, try the next options.
![]() How to quit a frozen or unresponsive program
Quitting and then re-starting an app is a good way for Mac OS to handle a crash. You can do this from the OS X Dock or from the Force Quit window. To force-quit an app from the OS Dock, follow these simple steps:
That’s it. The app is instantly closed. Re-launch it and try again. If you prefer to work with the Dock hidden — or if the Dock itself is unresponsive — you can simply bring up the Force Quit dialog box to perform the same task.
Here’s how:
If you’re using a maintenance utility like CleanMyMac X, it has freezes covered. When CleanMyMac spots an unresponsive app, a notification window with a Quit button pops up, so you could force-quit the app without rummaging around in its menu.
CleanMyMac keeps an eye on other performance issues, too, so if you'd like to get alerts like this one when anything goes wrong, download CleanMyMac X for free and give it a try.
How to fix Mac apps that keep freezing
First, check what apps are running in the background and launch with the startup.
To do it go to Settings > Users and Groups > Login items. Uncheck anything you think might be causing trouble. In fact, just to be sure, uncheck every app and restart your Mac.
Now, find out which process or program is causing the problem. How to see what programs are running on Mac in general? You need launch Activity monitor.
How to find Activity Monitor on Mac: You can do it via the Spotlight Search or just open Launchpad and type it in. How to open Activity Monitor in Finder: launch it from Applications > Utilities folder > Activity Monitor.
When it opens, you'll probably see hundreds of processes in each tab, but the ones you need now are CPU and Memory tabs. Click on the % CPU sign to sort processes by their influence on your Mac's work. The heaviest ones will show up on the top. They could be your main issue, but don’t rush to deal with them. Some, like kernel, are important system processes and you shouldn’t mess with them.
How to kill a process on Mac OS
However, sometimes your problem does lie within a specific process, you can force quit it (Apple doesn't call it 'to kill a process on Mac', they make it sound fancy). But we're not at Apple HQ, so here's how to kill a Mac OS process:
Macbook Air Keeps Freezing
Occasionally the problem isn’t with the Mac app, but with the Mac OS itself. If you’re experiencing troubles regularly, it’s time to ask why your Mac keeps freezing. There are several possible reasons, so let’s start with the simplest potential solution.
First, the file you were working with at the time of the freeze may be the issue. To help determine if this is true, try opening a different file with that app and work with it for a while. If it behaves normally, quit and then go back to the file you were working with at the time of the crash. If the errant behavior persists, you may have found your problem. Salvage what you can into a new file.
Make sure that your software and OS X are up-to-date. This is easy to do with software purchased from the Mac App Store. The same goes for OS X. Launch the Mac App Store on your Mac, and you’ll see the list of pending updates, including any for the OS X itself. For third-party software purchased outside of the App Store, visit the manufacturer’s website.
What to do if Mac OS X freezes
If you cannot force-quit a program, or if the Mac OS is completely unresponsive, it’s time for the most obvious action — a reboot.
You can bring up the Restart/Sleep/Shutdown dialog box instantly by hitting Control plus the Power button. Option four, Shut Down, is selected by default. Alternatively, you can press and hold the Power button for 1.5-2 seconds to bring up the same dialog box. If things aren’t hopelessly messed up, you’ll get a chance to save your work before your Mac shuts down. If that still doesn’t work, a more drastic option is available. How to force reboot a frozen Mac
Press Command ?, Control and Power (on earlier MacBook models, use the Media Eject key instead of the Power button) to restart your Mac immediately. Note that you won’t have the option of saving anything in this scenario, but it will definitely reboot your icy Mac. How to install iphone app on macbook.
Once your Mac has restarted, you might find that the hard restart has corrupted the file you were working on. Salvage what you can from it and create a new file.
Macbook Pro Keeps FreezingHow to fix a frozen Mac
After the reboot, ensure that your Mac has enough free hard drive space for the OS X, and enough free RAM to do what you want. CleanMyMac X can help you here, too. It removes all the useless files that take up space on your hard drive: app leftovers, mail attachments, cache files, and so on. That way, you can free up additional disk space for the OS X without deleting any of your own files. Plus, CleanMyMac X keeps tabs on how much RAM you’re using and lets you free some up with a tap.
Finally, if system cleanup also fails to fix the problem, you can try to run a clean install of your Mac OS. Just follow the instructions: How to clean install macOS Sierra 10.12
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Note: If you don’t know which system your Mac runs, click the apple icon in the top left corner and choose About this Mac. Best mac app for note taking. You’ll see the name on the popup window.
That’s it, we hope this guide has helped you fix a frozen Mac. Remember, with day-to-day maintenance, your Mac can offer years of reliable work. On the rare occasion of a frozen program or even frozen OS X, these tips will help get you working and productive again. And software like CleanMyMac X can do some of the monitoring and maintenance for you, so you can focus on what needs to be done.
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