What do you do when you don’t want a program running on your Mac? Do you simply drag the unwanted app to the Bin? I know most of you must be nodding in Yes and thinking what’s wrong in that, right?
If you are doing this with documents, music files, movies, or videos there’s nothing wrong. Dragging such files to Bin works fine. But if you are doing the same with apps, remember you are filling your Mac with tons of app leftovers (junk files).
Are you okay with it? Or you want to learn how to uninstall apps you no longer want to use, without leaving leftovers?
Well, if you want to keep your Mac optimized and junk-free, the latter will be your choice. To learn how that can be done, read the post till the end.
Why is moving apps to Bin is not enough?
- An app can be saved in a custom folder.
- Some apps might have associated files stored at different locations.
- Some apps are saved onto unusual locations, this makes removing them a bit difficult.
Due to these reasons, when you manually uninstall apps, leftovers remain. Hence, here we are with what can be done to completely uninstall apps from your Mac.
Before we get into details, if you are running out of time, we have a quick solution for you.
Also Read: How To Stop Programs From Running In The Background On Mac
Short on Time? Try this Fastest Way to Uninstall Apps from Mac
Download Advanced Uninstall Manager the professional and excellent way to uninstall apps without leaving leftovers. This uninstallation utility for Mac scans the Mac for apps installed on it. Once you have the scan results, you can select the apps that you wish to uninstall along with their corresponding files. This helps completely remove the selected program without leaving any traces. Moreover, using it you can manage login items thereby boosting boot time and making Mac machines run faster.
Click Here to Download Advanced Uninstall Manager
How to Uninstall Apps From Mac
If you’ve found an unwanted application running on your Mac, or a specific application is giving issues and you just want to uninstall it, remember alongside the app, its preferences, support files and hidden files (if any) also need to be removed.
For this, you will have to search your Mac for the app and will have to navigate every nook and cranny for app-related files and delete them. This can be done by using any of the following options:
- Using Trash
- Using LaunchPad
- Using a native uninstaller
If you would ask me, what I prefer for my Mac, my answer is Advanced Uninstall Manager – an app designed specifically for uninstalling the app. With a simple-to-use interface, this app can be used by anyone to sweep away unnecessary programs and manage login items.
Now that we know what I prefer, let us move ahead and delete some apps, using both manual and automatic ways.
Best Ways to Uninstall Apps from Mac
1. Removing Apps from Mac Via Trash
Whether you are using macOS Big Sur or an earlier version of macOS, the steps to manually uninstall apps remain the same. Here are the steps to remove the app from Trash.
1. Click Finder
2. Select Applications from the left sidebar
3. Search the app you want to uninstall.
4. Press Command + Delete.
5. Right-click the Trash icon present in the dock > Empty Trash. Alternatively, you can also press Command + Shift + Delete.
Doing so will remove the app moved to Trash from Mac. But this doesn’t mean app leftovers are also gone. To completely delete the program and its associated files manually, you will have to find all the related files. This means doing an in-depth search for the files linked with the app you have uninstalled.
We understand this is not easy, hence, here we will list some of the common locations where common files of each app are stored. To get rid of these leftovers, simply navigate to each of these folders and look for the app you want to uninstall. When you find files with the app name, move them to Trash.
So, these are the locations that you need to check manually for associated files:
- /Applications/ find Binary and dock icons
- ~/Library/Application Support, here Application support files saved
- /Library/Caches/and
~/Library/Caches store Support Caches - ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ saves Plugins
- ~/Library/ for Library
- ~/Library/Preferences/ for App preferences
- ~/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/ App crash reports
- ~/Library/Saved Application State/ here you will find App saved states
Alongside this, there are some hidden files that a user cannot access. If somehow, you can access them then macOS will stop you from deleting some app files. This means, uninstalling apps manually is not easy.
However, if you are insistent upon doing it manually, ensure you don’t delete a necessary file Also, always look for the app name in the files you are removing. In case you cannot find one, don’t remove the file you are not sure as doing so might cause problems with Mac functionality.
2. Uninstalling Apps from Mac Using Launchpad
1. From the Dock, click Launchpad.
2. Look for the app you want to uninstall.
3. Click and hold the app, until it starts to jiggle.
4. Click the X icon on the app that you want to delete.
5. Thereafter click Delete to confirm the action.
This will remove the selected app from your Mac. After following these steps, make sure you remove the leftovers else your Mac will be cluttered.
Tip – How to delete apps from Mac that won’t delete?
To uninstall an app that denies removal, press Command + Option + Esc > select the app you want to remove, and force quit it.
Now try to uninstall it either using the manual steps or use the Advanced Uninstall Manager, the easy method to completely delete apps from Mac.
3. Uninstall Apps with Advanced Uninstall Manager (Recommended)
For me deleting an app is not as easy as installing it. Therefore, I always consider it as a task for some other day and end up wasting a lot of storage space unnecessarily. Due to this, lately, my Mac started showing the Disk almost full error message. Hence, I decided to take the help of a reliable Mac uninstallation tool like Advanced Uninstall Manager to remove applications alongside associated leftover and belonging files.
Deleting apps using Advanced Uninstall Manager is a pretty straightforward process. Simply, follow the steps stated below:
STEP 1 = Download and install Advanced Uninstall Manager on your MacBook. It can be easily run on the latest macOS 12 Monterey version.
STEP 2 = Launch this Best Mac Uninstaller and you’ll be presented with a clean and intuitive dashboard.
STEP 3 = To get a list of applications installed on a Mac, click Start Scan and wait for the scanning process to get completed.
STEP 4 = Once done, you will get a list of installed applications on your Mac. Additionally, you can identify and eliminate useless preferences panes, Internet/Spotlight plugins, and downloads that need to be removed to clean Mac and reclaim storage space.
STEP 5 = Select the app you wish to remove and hit the Delete button. Confirm the action by clicking the Yes button!
STEP 6 = This will delete the selected app along with its related files from your Mac.
Advanced Uninstall Manager displays the file size of each app and all its belonging files, this makes identifying and uninstalling the heaviest programs an easy task. Another major benefit of using this best Mac uninstaller is its ability to manage login boost Mac speed and startup time.
Is it possible to delete system apps using Advanced Uninstall Manager?
No, Advanced Uninstall Manager does not let you delete system apps like Safari. However, using it you can manage login items.
4. Deleting app using the native uninstaller
Certain apps, especially third-party apps that you download from the internet come with a built-in uninstaller, using which you can delete the app and its files.
The uninstaller can be found in Finder > Applications. If the app you wish to uninstall has a separate folder within the Applications folder, the possibility of it having a separate uninstaller is there. The folder will read as – Uninstall <App Name>.
Open the folder, find the launcher, and follow on-screen instructions this will help remove the selected app.
That’s it, using these simple steps and Advanced Uninstall Manager, you can easily clear app leftovers, manage login items and boost Mac speed. Also, it helps make space for other important data. We hope you enjoyed reading the post and will give Advanced Uninstall Manager a try to uninstall apps along with their corresponding files.
Do share your feedback in the comments section.
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