Uninstalling applications from Mac OS X is probably the easiest method of removing apps from any operating system, and it’s far easier on a Mac than anything you’ll encounter in the Windows world. It’s so simple that some new Mac users are left wondering what else they’re supposed to do, I have received several family tech support questions where they are determined to find an “Uninstall Programs” control panel like in Windows – this is not the case on a Mac, it’s dead simple.
First up we’ll cover the traditional method of just deleting the application. Then we’ll show you the even easier way that is new to modern versions of Mac OS, including OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Lion, Mountain Lion, and beyond:
How to Uninstall Applications in Mac OS X the Classic Way
- Go to the Finder in OS X if you haven’t done so already
- Navigate to /Applications folder and select the app you want to uninstall
- Either drag the application icon to the Trash, or right-click and select “Move to Trash”
Uninstalling Apps from the Mac App Store through Launchpad
- Open LaunchPad
- Click and hold on the icon of the app you want to uninstall
- When the app icon starts to jiggle, click on the black (X) icon that appears
- Click on “Delete” to confirm the removal of the app
You can also use the the drag-to-Trash method in Mac OS X, but LaunchPad is quickest for apps installed through the App Store
Using LaunchPad in Mac OS X 10.11, 10.10, 10.9, 10.7, 10.8, and newer does not require you to empty the Trash afterwards, it’s all handled immediately. This should be familiar to anyone who has used an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, since the interface and tap-and-hold method is identical to what is in iOS. This is yet another reason that upgrading to Lion is compelling, it makes the Mac experience even simpler while still retaining the full power and potential behind Mac OS X. Deleting apps from LaunchPad wil
Removing App Library Files, Caches, & Preferences
Some applications will also leave behind some preference files and caches, generally these don’t harm anything to leave around, but if you want to delete them it’s just a matter of locating the apps support files and removing those as well. If you’d rather not dig around in these files yourself, you can turn to a utility like AppCleaner to delete the application along with all of it’s respective scattered preference files, but for those who would like to do this on their own, you can typically found these type of files in the following locations.
Application Support files (can be anything from saved states, preferences, caches, temporary files, etc):
/Library/Application Support/(App Name)
Preferences are stored at:
Caches are stored in:
Sometimes you will need to look for the developer name rather than the application name, since not all app files are identified by their name.
Again, these generally don’t do any harm to leave be, but they can take up some hard drive space, so users with smaller SSD’s might want to be pay more attention to the cache and support files that some applications generate. The biggest offender here is Steam, where if you play a lot of games it tends to gather a very large Application Support folder.
Note about applications that include separate uninstaller utilities
This is somewhat rare on a Mac, but some applications include their own uninstaller apps to remove all traces of an application. These are typically from Adobe or Microsoft because some of those applications will install more apps that aid the program, or place library files and associated application dependencies elsewhere in OS X. For example, Adobe Photoshop might install the Photoshop application in addition to Stock Photos, Help Viewer, Adobe Bridge, and others. In this case, you can either manually delete all the accompanying apps, or just run the uninstaller application that comes on the original installation method, whether it’s from the web or a DVD. If the app you wish to uninstall does include a dedicated uninstaller application, it’s generally a good idea to go that official route of removing the app so that the other associated items are removed from the Mac as well.
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57 Comments
If it is so dead simple, why is this description so long??
FYI: Looks like an error here:
Deleting apps from LaunchPad wil
You can also use “EasyFind” which will allow you to find any file by typing its name.
For ex if you want to fully uninstall Google Chrome you will write “Chrome” and all the files with chrome in it will be find.
showing how Easy and User Friendly a Mac is. Sure, just drag the application to the trash can! How easy! Unless the application won’t stay in the trash can, and won’t delete. Just one more article showing how simple it is to delete SOME applications, while ignoring the ones that don’t work with the easy method.
Not sure if this has been covered yet, but i always make another partition to do certain tasks on my primary partition. just install the same version of os x on THAT partition, and boot up! you can access your apps on the primary partion and trash them! os x asks for your password and “Bob’s your uncle”, into the trash!! just burn the trash, and no message about how you can’t delete an app that os x ‘needs’ to run.
also if you go to system prefs, and open ‘Security and Privacy, you get rid of that nasty message about how you can’t open a .dmg from anyone other than AppStore! Enjoy!
how do you uninstall Search Protect by Conduit SAFELY? When dragging to the trash it asks me for the administrator password so I’m not sure if thats a fail safe by Apple for not deleting anything extra or what…
Thanks
Dumbface Bill: Need to re-educate yourself on how windows works. While he may not have given a complete description on what the uninstall interface was, the control panel add/remove programs section, yes it will indeed list all programs that registered to windows that they were installed along with an uninstall location so that all you must do is click uninstall and it will remove the program and all associated files registered to it, as a side not sometimes those even not associated but that it utilized that “appear” to no longer be in use which can be a pain in the butt. Both windows and mac have their own issues however with programs that do not register completely or at all in some instances with the operating system in question and as such is not a fault of the operating system but the programs and their coders. Moving a file to the trash bin or add remove button in control panel are both trivially easy.
As to the article, I recently was asked to work on a mac and as a linux/windows user myself I am not completely familiar with mac’s layout and setup so this article was informative and helpful thank you author, Will, I believe for your post it was informative and helpful on the topics it was supposed to be on.
You’re all a bunch of major geeks. Just simply answer the questions asked, then get on out into that great-big crazy-fun world out there and have a life!
^ This guy’s noob. Doesn’t know what he is talking about. Windows DOESN’T delete software support files and registry just by going to “uninstall interface”. It is far more easier on a mac indeed. You could literally drag the application to trash and it will do a normal uninstall. Can’t do that on Windows. Get your facts straight.
“far easier on a Mac than anything you’ll encounter in the Windows world”
So apparently you’ve been smoking crack. On Windows just go to the Uninstall interface, double click on the program to uninstall, click yes to confirm. Done. It doesn’t require a clean-up operation like you’re showing here. Seriously it’s like you Mac fanbois have never used a Windows PC.
[…] is taking up space. Take a few moments to check out your Launchpad and Applications folder, and uninstall what you don’t use anymore. Apps from the Mac App Store can be uninstalled simply by deleting […]
i have had some issues with reinstalling dreamweaver, i’ve checked all, now it worked fine for me, thank you…. Sanaan Barzinji
now explain how to uninstall something installed with a .pkg file…
What about when trying to delete certain Mac applications [in Lion], like Chess; Image Capture? A message appears, “Chess can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by Mac OS X.”
My OS deletes apps better than yours.
On lion you can only uninstall apps downloaded from the appstore the way described, for me anyway, but moving them to trash still works.
I’m trying to uninstall Flux.app because it doesn’t seem to work. But, I cannot uninstall in Launchpad because the black X does not show up. Matter of fact, when I click and hold on any app in Launchpad, the only app where the X appears are
iMovie and IPhoto. If I try to move Flux.app to trash I cannot because I get a message saying the app is “open.” How do I close the app so that I can trash it? Very frustrating.
[…] Nonetheless, it’s still a good procedure to periodically run, especially after installing or uninstalling a bunch of […]
@Chris – How are you supposed to know in advance that you don’t need an app? for example I want feature X, so I search for apps that provide that feature, I find apps A, B, and C. I try app A, it doesn’t work for me. I try app B, it doesn’t work for me. I try app C, I finally found one that works. So I drag apps A and B to the trash, which deletes the .app’s, but it does not delete the stuff they put into Library and the only way to get to the Library is to open the command line.
There is no way I could know before I tried them, that apps A and B would not work, so your suggestion to “only install what you need” does not help.
Uninstallation is something Windows and Linux* do right, and as evidenced by this article, Apple buries its head and pretends the problem doesn’t exist.
(*as long as you use a package manager)
Look if applications that you are worried about installing and trying to remove them, here’s an idea, JUST INSTALL WHAT YOU NEED!! stop arguing over who is right or wrong. it’s that simple. And to answer all of your questions and comments it really doesn’t matter whether you use an app to remove the residue files or manually it does the same thing.
[…] usual with Launchpad, you can set hot keys to activate and deactivate the app, or even arrange and uninstall apps directly from the […] […] it from the Mac App Store, but what if you want to remove Xcode? Doing so is not the same as uninstalling general Mac apps or even ditching the default apps because Xcode has a much larger footprint, so to uninstall Xcode […] […] have shown you how to uninstall Mac apps before, but some applications can leave residual elements around in the form of preferences, plist […] […] other default apps installed with Mac OS X, and procedurally iTunes is not much different. Unlike uninstalling applications from third parties, if you attempt to drag the iTunes app into the Trash can, you’ll see a […] […] know the Finder prevents you from doing so. Try to move one of these apps to the trash to uninstall it and you’ll get a message saying: ‘”Safari.app” can’t be modified or […]
hmmmm….if a third party can clean up the junk left by an app then why not Apple integrates it in their already smart enough OS.
now don’t start saying that “third parties also need to make money.”….etc. etc.
so….one logical answer to the above issue is….Apple does not want those careless people to call them and claim for the USER APP DATA (app related saved files/configurations etc.) cleaned by their smart APP CLEANER!!
if this is the case then there should be an APP that should emphasize on WHAT user app data is being cleaned up instead of just saying a little about it before you commit to clean it up…
[…] in the corner of icons that you want to delete. This removes the app from Launchpad, and does not uninstall them, but this is limited to apps installed from the Mac App Store. If you want to remove an app not […]
After reading everyones comments, I tried AppCleaner and it worked great. Thanks for all your input and suggestions.
[…] will continue to need to enter the administrator password if you attempt to uninstall an app by dragging it into the Trash though. stLight.options(