Why Your Mac App Keeps Running After You Close the Window (and How I Fixed It)
If you came from Windows, you've probably noticed this: you click the red close button, the window disappears, but the app is still running . There's a small dot under its icon in the Dock, and it keeps using memory until you press Cmd + Q . On Windows, closing the last window quits the program. On macOS it doesn't. I wanted that Windows behavior on my Mac, so I built TrueClose . Does closing a…
On macOS, clicking the red close button merely closes the window, leaving the app running in the background. This differs from Windows, where closing the final window also terminates the program. To mimic Windows behavior, developer Hoang Nhat Nam created TrueClose, a free, open-source menu bar app for macOS.
TrueClose automatically quits an app after a brief delay once it loses all its windows. Users can adjust the delay between 0.2 to 5 seconds, providing enough time to open another app without accidentally quitting. Users also have the option to whitelist or blacklist applications, ensuring key programs like music players continue running even when a window is closed.
The app is designed to respect system applications like Finder and System Settings, automatically blacklisting them to prevent unintended termination. TrueClose runs quietly in the menu bar, allowing users to pause or resume operations from there. It can also be launched automatically on login and can hide its icon for a cleaner interface.
TrueClose is MIT licensed and free to use, without any tracking or data collection. It can be installed via Homebrew or downloaded from the developer's website. For those who prefer other solutions, Swift Quit and RedQuits have similar functionalities, although they haven't been updated recently. TrueClose stands out with its configurable delay, separate modes for whitelisting and blacklisting apps, and a pause function.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
