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How to Boot a Mac into Safe Mode

Follow these steps in order to boot your Mac into Safe Mode.

  1. Shut your Mac down completely

    Choose Shut Down from the Apple menu to fully power off your Mac before attempting Safe Mode -- a restart alone won't work.

  2. Enter Safe Mode on Apple Silicon Macs

    Press and hold the power button until "Loading startup options" appears, select your startup disk, then hold Shift and click "Continue in Safe Mode."

  3. Enter Safe Mode on Intel Macs

    Power on the Mac and immediately hold Shift, keeping it held through the Apple logo until the login screen appears -- it will then boot into Safe Mode.

  4. Confirm you're in Safe Mode

    After logging in, check the menu bar or the Software overview in System Information for the words "Boot Mode: Safe" to confirm Safe Mode is active.

  5. Why Safe Mode helps with troubleshooting

    Safe Mode loads only essential kernel extensions and skips login items, fonts, and some caches, which helps isolate whether a specific app or extension is causing a problem.

  6. Restart to return to normal mode

    Once you're done troubleshooting, simply restart the Mac -- it returns to normal mode automatically with no extra steps.

Why the steps differ by Mac model

Apple Silicon Macs use the startup options screen triggered by the power button, while Intel Macs use the Shift key held down right after power-on. Since the method depends on the chip, it helps to know which type of Mac you have before you start.

Once you're troubleshooting, custom shortcuts can help too

If your Mac feels sluggish for reasons unrelated to Safe Mode, learning to build your own keyboard shortcuts for frequently used actions can speed up everyday tasks once things are back to normal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the screen feel slower than usual in Safe Mode?

Safe Mode runs with a minimal configuration that skips some graphics acceleration and caching, so screen transitions and app launches can feel noticeably slower than in normal mode.

Will booting into Safe Mode affect my files?

No -- Safe Mode only limits certain features and runs diagnostics; it doesn't delete or change any files, so everything you've saved stays exactly as it was.