macOS has excellent memory management capabilities, so you generally don’t have to worry about clearing RAM or closing apps that run in the background. However, it’s not always perfect, in which case shutting down apps might be beneficial.

Last Window Quits can help you out by automatically quitting any application when its last window is closed by the user. There are exceptions, and you can blacklist any apps you like, as well as set a quit timeout if necessary.

Unlike on Windows, most apps aren’t actually shut down when you close all their active windows. They’re allowed to run in the background until more memory is needed, thus speeding up access times when you bring up the app again.

If you find that this system doesn’t work as well as it should, your aging Mac is struggling, or you just want to keep your Dock free of closed apps, this utility may be the solution.

Once Last Window Quits is running and enabled, it will monitor running applications, and if all their windows are closed, they will be shut down automatically. Of course, apps that are meant to run in the background will not be touched.

A blacklist is available, with many apps already included, and you can add as many others as you like. There’s also an app quit timeout, which is meant to avoid quitting apps that briefly close a window before opening another one.

As far as the app’s benefits are concerned, it will largely depend on your system and workflow. Some may see an improvement, while others will just get slower app access times. In any case, Last Window Quits does its job as advertised, and it’s certainly a good way to avoid cluttering your Dock.