Why Your Mac App Keeps Running After You Close the Window (and How I Fixed It)

Description and use

TrueClose automatically quits macOS apps when their last window is closed, restoring Windows‑like behavior and freeing resources.

Problem

On macOS, closing the last window of an app leaves the app running in the background, consuming memory until Cmd+Q is pressed.

Outcome

TrueClose restores Windows-like behavior on macOS by automatically quitting apps when their last window is closed, reducing background clutter and memory usage.

Workflow

• Install TrueClose via Homebrew or download .pkg/.dmg
• Remove quarantine with xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/TrueClose.app
• Launch TrueClose and grant Accessibility access in System Settings
• Configure delay, blacklist/whitelist, and pause/resume options as desired

Evidence

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.

Source

TrueClose is a small, free, open-source menu bar app for macOS. When you close an app's last window, it quits the app after a short delay.

Source

TrueClose uses the macOS Accessibility API to count how many windows each running app has. When an app drops to zero windows, TrueClose starts a timer. If the app still has no windows when the delay ends, TrueClose asks it to quit with NSRunningApplication.terminate()

Source

With Homebrew: brew install --cask nhatnam7kz/tap/trueclose

Source