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In this article we will show you how to Completely Uninstall Mac Apps. If only you could just drag the icons of Mac apps to the Trash to remove them! Alas, it’s not. If you don’t know what you’re doing when you remove apps on your Mac, the installation files will stay on your hard drive, taking up valuable storage space.
Yes, there are apps with automatic uninstallers, but not all of them have this feature. Most of the time, you need to take a few extra steps to totally remove an app from your Mac. After macOS Catalina, there are a lot of good reasons to get rid of apps. If an app is 32-bit, it needs to be deleted. If you want to know more information about this Visit Official Apple Support site.
However, many app makers didn’t change their apps to be 64-bit as Apple asked. On macOS, old 32-bit apps no longer work. There may be no need for some apps. If you have apps to manage your pictures or music library, you may find that the new pictures app that comes with macOS or the new Music app does a better job, so you can get rid of the old apps you were using.
Ways to Completely Uninstall Mac Apps
With App Cleaner & Uninstaller
- Download and launch App Cleaner & Uninstaller.
- Select the app that you want to uninstall from your Mac.
- Click Uninstall to remove an unwanted app from your Mac completely.
- Confirm the removal.
- Empty Trash.
- Also, you can simply drag unwanted programs to the App Cleaner & Uninstaller window and confirm deleting them.
Uninstall applications manually
The second way to get rid of apps for good is to do it by hand. It takes a little more time because you have to learn how the macOS library system works. If you’re new to Mac, you should really learn about the Library folder first, and then use this guide. Make sure you don’t accidentally delete extra files, which could hurt how the macOS system works. Ok, let’s learn how to remove apps from a Mac by hand. Just do what’s written below:
- Open Finder and go to the Applications folder.
- Remove unneeded applications into the Trash.
- Now you have to remove the service files of the deleted app. They are stored in the Library. By default this folder is hidden. Press Cmd+Shift+G and navigate ~/Library.
- Check the subfolders for the apps’ remains and remove them. Here is list of the most common system file storages:
~/Library/Application Support
~/Library/Caches
~/Library/Logs
~/Library/Preferences
~/Library/Containers
~/Library/Cookies - Don’t forget to clear the Trash after uninstallation.
Remove apps from Launchpad
- Open Launchpad from the Dock panel.
- Press and hold the Option key.
- You will see “X” icons on the applications’ icons.
- Click the X icon of unneeded apps and confirm the action by clicking the Delete button.
Getting rid of old apps you don’t use can help keep your Mac running like it’s brand new. This is especially important if you are having trouble because of a bad app. Here are a few ways to get rid of apps from your Mac, as well as how to get rid of any leftover files.