How Uninstall App From Mac
Whether you’re trying to clear up hard drive space or you just want to get rid of an unused app, uninstalling software is a fairly routine task.
- Here's how: Open a Finder window by selecting File New Finder Window in the Apple menu bar or by clicking the Finder icon on the. Click Applications in the left panel of the Finder window to view the installed applications on your computer. Click on the Application that you want to uninstall.
- The easiest way to uninstall an app from Mac is selecting the application's icon and move it to Trash. 1 Click Finder app on the Mac dock. 2 Click the Application folder in the left side panel. 3 Go through all the programs until you find the icon of the program that you want to uninstall.
- How to delete a Mac app using Launchpad You can also delete an app using Launchpad, which shows all your apps in an iOS like interface. To open Launchpad, click on F4 (the button that shows a grid.
Luckily for Mac users, the uninstallation process is a lot simpler on macOS than it is on other platforms. In fact, it’s literally drag-and-drop simple. There’s no “Uninstall Programs” menu in Control Panel like there is in Windows.
The easiest way to uninstall an app or program from your Mac is by using the trash can located on the Dock. Drag the application from wherever it is located on your Mac and drop it on the trash can. When you empty the trash, the application is deleted. Removing Apps With the Finder. How to delete a Mac app using Launchpad To open Launchpad, click on F4 (the button that shows a grid of six squares). Locate the app you wish to remove. Press the Opton/Alt key. Now click on Delete to confirm you want to remove the program. On your Mac, drag the app from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock), then choose Finder Empty Trash. To learn how to uninstall using an. Uninstalling an application is as simple as opening a Finder window, clicking “Applications” in the sidebar, Control-clicking or right-clicking the application’s icon, and selecting “Move to Trash.”. You can also drag-and-drop an application’s icon to the trash can icon on your dock. Or, open the Launchpad interface and drag-and-drop an application’s icon to the trash can from there.
Having said that, there are a couple of ways you can actually go about uninstalling apps. Here’s what you need to know.
Uninstall Mac Apps Via Finder
The traditional method for uninstalling apps is to use Finder. If you’re running a particularly old version of macOS (or OS X), this is the method you’ll use.
- Open a Finder window.
- Click on the Applications folder.
- Select the app you want to uninstall.
- Right-click the application.
- In the menu that pops up, click on Move to Trash.
Alternatively, you can simply drag the application directly to the Trash icon. (It’ll be in the bottom-right corner of the Mac taskbar. You may need to hover over the bottom of the display to get it to show.)
Once the app is sent to Trash, there is one more step you’ll need to take to completely rid your computer of it.
This is also the last time to reinstall an app you’ve recently deleted if you changed your mind. Just drag an app from Trash back to the Applications folder. Or right-click on the app in the Trash folder and click Put Back.
But to permanently delete apps from your computer, simply right-click the Trash icon in the bottom-right corner of the menu bar. Then, click on Empty Trash. Depending on how much data is in your Trash can, this could take a moment.
Uninstall Mac Apps from Launchpad
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The last method is incredibly simple, but OS X Lion and newer versions of the Mac operating system have an easier method.
First, you’ll need to open Launchpad. There are two ways to go about this.
- Click the Launchpad icon in the taskbar. It’s shaped like a gray rocket, or six squares.
- Alternatively, you can use a Multi-Touch gesture. Simply pinch your thumb and three fingers together to display Launchpad.
From here, the process is similar to iOS.
- Click and hold the icon of the app you’d like to uninstall.
- Wait until the app icon begins to jiggle.
- When it does, click the circular black X icon that appears next to it.
- You’ll be a prompt asking you to confirm. Click on Delete.
It’s worth noting that the Launchpad method won’t work on every app. Typically, it’ll only show up on apps that you’ve downloaded from the Mac App Store.
Similarly, unlike iOS, you won’t be able to delete native macOS applications like Safari, Mail or Photos.
Using an Uninstaller for Mac Apps
While these methods will cover the vast majority of apps you interact with on a daily basis, there is another method for certain applications.
Although uncommon, some apps will have their own dedicated uninstallers. This is especially true for app suites like Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Cloud.
Basically, these app suites come with an uninstaller app because they tend to install other software or support apps. If you install Photoshop on your Mac, for example, Adobe might install a suite of other apps like Adobe Bridge or Adobe Content Viewer along with it.
To do away with an app suite, you can either hunt down each individual app and delete them separately. Or, you can use the uninstaller app that came with the suite.
Generally, it’s recommended that you use the uninstaller. The official uninstall process will typically clean up app data and other miscellaneous files that might otherwise be left behind.
How to Clean Up Leftover Files
Though this isn’t true across the board, some apps will “leave behind” random bits of data or other files. For the most part, there’s really no harm in this. But these leftover files can take up a bit of space on your drive.
If you’re particularly space-conscious, you might want to go through the process of cleaning them up.
The quickest way to do so is to use a third-party utility app that will automatically locate and delete that leftover data, preference files and caches. An app like AppCleaner is a great choice.
Use AppCleaner to Clean Up Files
AppCleaner is free and incredibly simple to use. Once you download and install it, follow these steps before you uninstall the actual app.
- Open AppCleaner.
- Drag an application to the AppCleaner window.
- It’ll scan and find all associated files.
- Be sure to “check” the files and folders that you want AppCleaner to delete.
- Click the Remove button.
- You’ll usually need to login with an administrator account to authenticate.
Once you do, AppCleaner will move the app and its associated files to the Trash.
AppCleaner also has a “SmartDelete” option that’s located in its Preferences menu. This will save you from having to checkmark each file or folder before AppCleaner removes them.
As with the other methods explained above, you’ll need to empty the Trash before the apps (and their files) are actually deleted from your hard drive.
Manually Clean Up Leftover Files
If you don’t want to use a third-party option, you’ll need to dig around and find those files yourself. It’s not the hardest thing to do, but it requires a bit of know-how.
You will find these leftover bits of data in your Library folder. Here’s how to get to it.
- Open a Finder window.
- Click on the Go menu in the top menu bar.
- Hold down the Option key.
- You’ll see a new folder pop up titled Library.
- Click on Library.
From here, it’s just a matter of searching out the individual leftover files. They might include application support files, preference files, and caches.
In the Library folder:
- Application support files will be located in the Application Support
- Preference files will be located in the Preferences
- Caches will be located in the Caches
Click on any of the above folders. Then, locate a subfolder named after the app you’ve uninstalled. Occasionally, the folder will be named after the app developer, rather than the app.
You can either delete the individual files within that subfolder, or just delete the subfolder itself.
Overview
MacOS Catalina: How To Delete A 'phan…
When comes to how to uninstall apps from Mac, for most users, they would say 'Yeah, it is pretty simple, just drag it to the trash'. Yes, you do uninstall the app. But today's question is 'how do you uninstall apps from Mac completely?' You can remove normal files like documents and movies by dragging them to the trash. But doing the same to the apps will leave lots of leftovers and junk files on your Mac. Here we're going to show you how to uninstall apps from Mac completely.
How to Uninstall Apps from Mac Completely and Manually?
To completely remove apps from Mac manually, you need to find all of the associated files that come along with the apps. So this means not just dragging the app icon to the Trash bin, but to search and find the depths of the system app files on your Mac and get them all out of your disk.
Let's see how to locate the locations for the most common files that are associated with apps. To remove the app leftovers, go to every folders and find files with the app name you can send them to the Trash.
So, when uninstalling any app, you have to go over each of these folders one by one and remove the followings:
1. Library can be found in ~/Library/
2. Plug-ins are located in ~/Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/
3. App preferences are located in ~/Library/Preferences/
4. Binary and dock icons can be found in /Applications/
5. Application support files are located in ~/Library/Application
6. App saved states are located in ~/Library/Saved Application State/
7. Crashes are found in ~/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter//how-to-repair-photo-app-on-mac.html.
8. Support Caches can be found in /Library/Caches/ and ~/Library/Caches
There are many more hidden files which you can't be accessed to. The system will prevent you from deleting some app files. Then these files will be left behind forever after you uninstall the app.
As you can see, it's not that easy to remove apps from Mac manually if you are not quite familiar with Mac OSX system. When you delete apps from Mac manually, be sure only to remove an app file or folder when you're sure of what it is. Removing the wrong files, let's say some system key files could cause problems with your system or even crash your system.
Remember, please be careful when deleting system files — you never know how it will affect your Mac. We have to address this again as we don't want you get your Mac system messed up under our instructions.
By the way, sometimes you will encounter the issue that you can't uninstall some apps from Mac. Some apps are pre-installed Mac OS components and protected by the system. So they will refuse to delete because they are already open. But in fact, they are not at all.
Anyway, you can try the manual removal after force quitting the app (press Command-Option-Esc and if the app is on the list shut it down) or rebooting your Mac.
If you're still unable to delete it on Mac or if you’re worried you may not do it correctly and want to uninstall in a safer way, there’s the easy way of uninstalling apps from your Mac completely. It actually does a better (and safer) job and saves you a lot of time and effort.
How to Uninstall Apps from Mac Completely Just in an Easiest Way?
Published by IObit, world’s top system utility and security software provider since 2004, MacBooster comes with the feature to uninstall the app and remove all of the leftovers from Mac completely. Here is how you can do it with MacBooster easily:
1: Download MacBooster 7 and open it
2: Go to the Uninstaller module
3: Choose Completely Remove above and click the Uninstall
This module provides you with an easy and powerful uninstalling function. It will remove all of the leftovers associated with the app with just one click. At the same time, it also has the function that reset the app. See more details below:
Complete Remove - For the unwanted applications, you can simply click the Complete Remove button to uninstall them completely including all of the associated files.
Application Reset - If an application contains its own data and configuration files, you can click the Application Reset button to delete all the data and configuration files to reset the application to its initial state. After the reset is completed, the application will start working from its initial state when you launch it next time.
We hope that this article will help you to remove the unwanted app from your Mac completely. Thus you could save more space for your disk. If you are a computer geek, then you can uninstall the app completely by yourself. Otherwise, we suggest you use an uninstaller to get it done. MacBooster can always be a help and ready to go. What’s more, it comes with other useful functions, like system junk files removal (remove over 20 types of junk files), Virus & Malware Scan, Startup optimization, Duplicate finder, Photo sweeper, etc. You can always use it to get your Mac tide and safe. So there you have it. Just try it now and uninstall the unwanted apps from your Mac completely right away!
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