The Mac is trying to function, but nothing is happening, so the pinwheel keeps spinning and spinning.
Force quit the active app.
Determine whether the spinning wheel of death is the result of a single app by force quitting it.
Restart it again, and there may be no problem.
If you see the spinning pinwheel again with that app, it could be a culprit.
Check for an update to the app or delete and reinstall it.
Shut down the Mac.
Then restart it and resume your work.
Forcing the Mac to shut down doesn’t give you a chance to save unsaved work.
This means you will most likely lose your progress.
This step can also help with the spinning wheel if it relates to an software that requires corrected permissions.
Starting with OS X El Capitan, Apple included automatic file permissions repairs during software updates.
Wait forSpotlight indexingto end.
This process can bring a Mac to its knees while it creates orrebuilds the spotlight index.
How can you tell if Spotlight indexing is in progress?
Check theActivity MonitorCPU tab.
Look for processes with the namesmds,mdworker, ormdimport.
These are part of the MetaData Server process used by the Spotlight app.
If you experience SPOD, it’s likely that a single frozen app is the cause.
It appears when an app exceeds the Mac’s processing capability.
The utility could need to be updated or removed and reinstalled.
You may find luck making more space on your hard drive or upgrading storage internally or externally.
