Welcome to the AppHalt Help Center, where you’ll learn how to get the most out of your Mac by pausing resource-heavy apps and improving system performance in one click.
AppHalt is designed to be lightweight, powerful, and intuitive. If you’re not sure how it works or just need a quick tip — you’re in the right place.
Frequently Asked Questions
AppHalt is your pause button for Mac performance.
AppHalt is a lightweight utility for macOS that helps you pause any active application that consumes CPU or slows down your system.
It doesn’t quit or force-close the app, it just freezes it temporarily so your Mac can breathe again.
Think of it as a pause button for performance.
Use the search bar at the top of the main window. Just start typing the app’s name (e.g. “Photoshop”) and AppHalt will instantly filter the list.
When you click Pause, AppHalt uses a secure system-level signal to suspend the selected application. While paused, the app won’t use CPU or interact with the system, but it stays open in memory.
• You won’t lose any data.
• You can Resume it anytime.
• Perfect for apps running in the background or idle.
Right-click on any app and choose “Show informations…”. This opens a detailed graph of CPU usage history, showing real-time activity and past spikes.
This is ideal for spotting apps that occasionally spike, even if they seem quiet most of the time.
The CPU peak is the highest recent CPU usage AppHalt has recorded for that app. Useful to detect apps that caused slowdowns in the past few seconds.
Example: Finder showed a peak at 67.4%, even though it’s currently idle.
When you right-click an app in the list, you get a handy context menu:
• Pause / Resume – suspend or restart the app
• Show in Finder – see the app’s location on disk
• Quit – safely close the app
• Force quit… – emergency kill (⚠️ use carefully)
💡 Pro tip: Use Force quit… only if the app is frozen or unresponsive.
By default: No. All paused apps will resume automatically when AppHalt closes.
⚠️ Note: Apps will not resume automatically. You’ll need to reopen AppHalt to manage or resume them.
The free version of AppHalt lets you pause 2 apps at a time,
With Pro, you unlock unlimited simultaneous app pauses.
– Pause apps you don’t need right now (e.g. Photoshop, Chrome, music software)
– Don’t pause apps doing background sync (cloud, backup) unless you’re sure
– Combine AppHalt with Activity Monitor for advanced diagnosis
Some system or helper processes may be hidden by default.
If you’re missing a specific app, check if it’s running in the background or has no visible interface.
No worries, we’ve got your back. Contact support.
We’re here to make your Mac faster, lighter, and smoother. ❤️