A common issue Mac users often experience is the ”the application is not open anymore” error. Yes, Mac is user-friendly, but setbacks such as the aforementioned are quite annoying, especially how it presents itself.
This particular error is often experienced when accessing native Apple apps such as Finder, Preview, or Steam. Nevertheless, users have reported experiencing it on other apps like Google Chrome, Safari, Xcode, iTunes, and much more.
What makes this wordy error more annoying is that you can see the app open in the Dock as opposed to what it says. Features associated with the app are often visible. However, it becomes unusable and unresponsive, making Mac summarize that ‘the application is not open anymore.’
Quitting the app might be your ideal first response, but at this juncture, it is often difficult to close or relaunch the app. Even when you successfully close the app, it refuses to go; sometimes, it stays visible in your Dock while showing you pieces of the app on your screen; this is pretty annoying if you ask me. Keep reading to find out how to tackle this issue.
What causes ‘the application is not open anymore’ error
“Why do I see ‘the application finder is not open anymore’?” Well, a ton of reasons could have caused it. Commonly, low system memory, compromised hardware, or software malfunctions are some of the top causes.
When you get the annoying ‘the application messages is not open anymore’ while you are typing, you will be unable to save or edit, as you have already noticed. Before the error message shows up, you may see a small dot appearing below the Dock section.
How to solve the ‘the application is not open anymore error’
They are over five ways to solve this problem; it’s best you go orderly and don’t skip any solution if the problem persists. Every solution that follows is somewhat critical.
1. Force quit the unresponsive app
The first solution is always to try force quitting the app. This might often work other times; you won’t even find the app in the Force Quit Application list, but follow these steps.
- Click on the Apple logo, then locate and select the Force Quit option. Alternatively, you can bring up the Force Quit window using the Command + Option + ESC shortcut keys.
- Find and select the problematic application, then click the Force Quit button below.
You can also Force Quit the app by right-clicking its associated icon from the Dock and selecting the Force Quit option from the pop-up menu.
2. Quit the process with the Activity Monitor
If you can still see ‘the application steam is not open anymore,’ you can look for the Steam app in the Activity Monitor and kill the process associated with the Steam (or any other) app process. Please, only force quit a process you are sure of here.
- Open Mac Finder window and navigate to ‘Application > Utilities > Activity Monitor, or you can search for it from in the Spotlight with Command + Space keys
- Select the CPU tab after launching the Activity Monitor.
- Find the unresponsive app by typing its name into the search bar.
- Select the app and click on the ‘x’ button or the Stop button at the Activity Monitor window’s top-left corner.
- If a window pops up, select Force Quit and try to relaunch the app to confirm if it has been solved or proceed to the next solution.
3. Restart or Force Restart your Mac
Does the ‘the application safari is not open anymore’ error message keeps showing? How about you restart or hard restart your device. Doing this has often solved a vast amount of computer-related issues.
The number of processes that the unresponsive app runs is often hard to identify in the Activity Monitor; restarting your device will kill all processes. Don’t forget to save other progress on other apps.
- Go to the Start menu and select the Restart option, or you hard restart your Mac by holding down the Power button until the screen goes blank.
- Wait for a few seconds, then hit the Power button to turn on your Mac.
- If Mac attempts to open any app, click the Cancel option.
4. Delete its container folder
Suppose you can still see the ‘the application finder is not open anymore’ error message. In that case, you should try deleting its container folder by following the instructions below.
- Open Mac Finder and select Go > Go to Folder, then enter this file path: ~/Library/Containers, then hit Go.
- Locate the container associated with Finder (or the unstable app). com.apple.Preview is the Preview app’s container; use this as a clue, and find the corresponding app’s container.
- To be on the safe side, create a copy of this folder and place it outside the Library/Container folder or on your Desktop.
- Now delete its original container folder.
- Try relaunching the app to see if it has been resolved.
5. Launch the app in Safe Mode
A user somewhere reported that he fixed this issue by opening the app in Mac’s safe mode. If the problem persists after trying all solutions above, you could check this out.
- Power off your Mac from the Start menu.
- Allow it for a while, then press the Power button while it is booting up, and hold down the Shift key (most times, you might hear a start-up sound when you press the Shift key).
- Once you see the progress indicator below the Apple logo, you release the Shift key.
- Confirm you are on Safe mode; a noticeable feature is Mac boots only the required apps running in your background.
- Now launch the application causing the issue, then Restart your Mac normally after a while and check if the error persists.
6. Update or Reinstall Mac
Before you take your device to a repair shop, we should leave no stone unturned.
Connect your device to a strong network, go to System Preferences, then Update Software, and download and install the available updates. You can check the Automatically keep my Mac up to date box to automatically install updates in the future.
You can also reinstall your Mac OS; in most cases, this is an extreme method. First, take a backup of your system using the Time Machine.
- Now, shut down your computer from the Apple menu, then allow Mac to go off completely.
- Press the power button to restart, then simultaneously press the Command + R shortcut keys to enter Recovery Mode.
- When in, click on Reinstall macOS and follow all onscreen instructions.
- When done, reboot your machine and confirm if the error has been resolved.
Best practice to avoid ‘the application is not open anymore’ error
‘Prevention,’ they say ‘is better than cure,’ as it is sometimes difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of this error to know if it will happen again. We can still try some best practices to avoid or deal with it in the future.
- Ensure your macOS, relevant Drivers, and all applications are up-to-date.
- Most times, this problem is caused by malicious software or applications. To be safe, your Antivirus and Anti-malware should be up-to-date.
- Taking a periodical backup of your device with Time Machine is a good practice; this helps restore your device if a critical error comes up.
- Having an excellent file recovery tool is also ideal.
Conclusion
We can agree on one thing; “the application is not open anymore error is really annoying”. However, if you encounter this common error, you can either quit the process from the Force Quit menu or kill all its processes from the Activity Monitor.
You can also force restart your Mac, delete the unresponsive application’s container folder, launch the app in Safe Mode, or update your OS. Tell us the method that worked for you.
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