I built a Mac app because the red X has been lying to me for two years
by•
On macOS, clicking the red X doesn't quit an app. It closes the window. The app
keeps running — RAM, Dock, Cmd+Tab switcher.
Every Mac user learns this and adapts. I never did. I'm a student, I got my first
MacBook not long ago, and I spent months "closing" apps that were still very much
alive.
So I built Quitly. A menu bar app that quits an app for real when its last window
closes. One-click Quit All. And a list of apps it never touches.
Launching here Saturday. Before that, a question I actually want answers to:
Which app on your Mac would you never want auto-quit? I'm building the default
exceptions list and mine currently has Chrome, Messages and Spotify. Curious what
I'm missing.
10 views
Replies
One thing I went back and forth on while building Quitly: how fast
should it quit an app after its last window closes?
Instant felt wrong the moment I tested it — close a document just to
switch to another one in the same app, and Quitly would kill it before
you even got there. So there's a 2-second grace period built in. Close
a window, and if a new one from that app doesn't show up within 2
seconds, only then does it quit.
Small detail, but it's the difference between "smart" and "annoying."
Happy to make it user-adjustable in a future version if people want
more or less buffer.
Curious if 2 seconds feels right to you, or if you'd want it
shorter/longer?
Something I want to be upfront about: Quitly isn't notarized through
Apple's developer program yet (that's $99/year). It's a real
decision, not an oversight — I wanted to validate that people
actually want this before putting money into it.
Practical effect: macOS will block the first launch with a security
warning. You'll need to go to System Settings > Privacy & Security >
Open Anyway once. After that, it runs completely normally, forever.
If Quitly does well, notarizing is the first thing I'll invest in —
removes this step entirely for new users. For now, wanted people to
know exactly what to expect instead of hitting it cold.