The spinning wheel on your Mac is a cursor that appears when an application is busy processing something. It is also known as the “spinning beachball of death” or “spinning pinwheel of death.”
If the spinning wheel is stuck and your Mac is not responding, you can try the following to stop it:
- Close the application that is causing the problem. To do this, click on the application’s icon in the Dock and then click on the “Quit” button.
- Force quit the application. To do this, press
Command+Option+Escapeon your keyboard. This will open the Force Quit Applications window. Select the application that is causing the problem and then click on the “Force Quit” button. - Restart your Mac. To do this, click on the Apple menu and then select “Restart.”
- Update your Mac’s software. To do this, click on the Apple menu and then select “About This Mac.” Click on the “Software Update” button to check for updates.
- Contact Apple Support. If you are still having problems, you can contact Apple Support for help.
Here are some additional tips for preventing the spinning wheel from appearing on your Mac:
- Close unused applications. The more applications you have open, the more resources your Mac will need to use. This can lead to the spinning wheel appearing.
- Avoid running resource-intensive applications. Some applications, such as video editing software and games, can use a lot of resources. If you are not using these applications, close them to free up resources.
- Keep your Mac’s software up to date. Apple releases updates for Mac software that can fix bugs and improve performance. Keeping your Mac’s software up to date can help to prevent the spinning wheel from appearing.
- Back up your Mac regularly. If the spinning wheel does appear and you lose data, you can restore your data from a backup.