How To Uninstall Programs On Mac

Tips
1

I’m running out of storage on my Mac and just dragging apps to the Trash doesn’t seem to remove everything. Some programs still show leftover files and keep using space. Can someone explain the proper way to completely uninstall applications on macOS, including any hidden or support files, without messing up my system?

2

Dragging apps to Trash only removes the main app bundle. Lots of junk stays in ~/Library and /Library.

Here is the clean way to uninstall on Mac.

  1. Use the app’s own uninstaller
    • Some apps ship with an uninstaller tool.
    • Check in Applications, or in a folder with the app’s name.
    • Adobe, Microsoft, VPN clients, antivirus and driver tools often need this.
    If there is an uninstaller, always use it first.

  2. Use Launchpad for App Store apps
    • Open Launchpad.
    • Hold Option until icons jiggle.
    • Click the X on the app.
    This removes the app and its App Store related data, but user data can still stay.

  3. Manual removal of leftovers
    Do this for apps you already dragged to Trash.

    A) Quit the app and related processes
    • Open Activity Monitor.
    • Search the app name.
    • Quit any process that belongs to it.

    B) Check these folders for leftovers:

    In Finder press:
    • Command + Shift + G
    • Paste each path, one by one.

    For your user:

    ~/Library/Application Support/
    ~/Library/Preferences/
    ~/Library/Containers/
    ~/Library/Caches/
    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
    ~/Library/Logs/
    ~/Library/Group Containers/
    ~/Library/Saved Application State/

    For system wide stuff:

    /Library/Application Support/
    /Library/LaunchAgents/
    /Library/LaunchDaemons/
    /Library/Extensions/
    /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/

    Look for folders or files with the app name or developer name.
    Example for Spotify:
    com.spotify.client.plist
    or folders named Spotify.

    Move those to Trash.
    Do not touch files when you are not sure.
    If you break something, restore from Trash.

  4. Check Login Items
    • System Settings → General → Login Items.
    • Remove any helper items for apps you removed.
    This stops old helpers from starting and wasting RAM or CPU.

  5. Remove leftover disk images and installers
    • Delete old .dmg, .pkg, .zip installers from Downloads or Desktop.
    These often use gigabytes over time.

  6. Use a third party uninstaller, if you want less manual work
    Examples people on forums use a lot:
    • AppCleaner, free, simple.
    • AppDelete or CleanMyMac type tools, paid.

    With AppCleaner:
    • Open AppCleaner.
    • Drag the app from Applications into AppCleaner.
    • It lists related files in Library.
    • Check and delete.
    This catches most leftover files, but not all system stuff for complex suites like Adobe.

  7. Clear caches for extra space
    • ~/Library/Caches/
    • /Library/Caches/
    You can remove app specific cache folders.
    Safari, Xcode, Steam, and Photoshop caches can reach multiple GB.
    Do not delete the entire Caches folder, only contents inside.

  8. Check storage usage
    • Apple menu → About This Mac → Storage → “i” or “Details”.
    • Or System Settings → General → Storage.
    Look at “Applications”, “Documents”, “System Data”.
    Use “Review Files” to remove large, unsupported, or unused content.

  9. Old iOS backups and Xcode data
    These are common space hogs.

    iOS backups:
    • Finder → click your iPhone → Manage Backups → delete old ones.

    Xcode:
    • Xcode → Settings → Locations → Derived Data → click arrow and delete.
    That folder alone can use many GB.

  10. Basic checklist for each app you want fully gone

  1. Quit the app.
  2. Run built in uninstaller if there is one.
  3. If not, drag app to Trash.
  4. Remove leftovers in the Library folders listed above.
  5. Remove login items and launch agents linked to it.
  6. Empty Trash.
  7. Reboot if it used drivers or system extensions.

I had one Adobe install use 20+ GB with old versions and support files.
After manual clean up and backup pruning, got back around 40 GB.

Do a Time Machine backup before large cleanup if you are worried about deleting a wrong file.

3

If dragging to Trash is step 1, what @andarilhonoturno wrote is basically step 2–4. Let me tack on what usually gets missed and where I slightly disagree.

  1. Don’t obsess over every leftover
    A lot of tiny plist files in ~/Library/Preferences are just a few KB. Hunting those down manually for every app wastes more time than disk space. Focus on apps that are:
  • Huge (games, creative suites, dev tools)
  • Using daemons / kernel extensions (VPN, antivirus, Adobe, some cloud tools)
  1. Use System Settings more than people realize
    On recent macOS versions:
  • System Settings → General → Storage → “Applications”
    • Sort by size
    • Remove stuff from there when it offers a “Delete” option.
      It does a cleaner remove for some apps than just dragging from Applications. Not perfect, but less hassle than digging all over Library for everything.
  1. Cloud apps are sneaky
    Stuff like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive can leave a ton of local cache and sync data. Even if you “uninstall”:
  • Check the synced folder itself (in your home folder)
  • Check ~/Library/CloudStorage
  • Inside your cloud folder, look at .dropbox, .sync, etc. Some of that can be multiple GB.
    If you’re done with the service, move or delete the whole sync folder.
  1. Big “hidden hogs” people overlook
    Instead of trying to perfectly uninstall every tiny app, it’s usually more effective to nuke these:
  • Old virtual machines
    • Parallels, VMware, VirtualBox
    • VM files are in ~/Documents, ~/Parallels, or wherever you chose. A single VM can be 50+ GB.
  • Game launchers
    • Steam / Epic / Battle.net: deleting the app is nothing if the game files are still in their “Library” folders.
    • For Steam: Steam → Settings → Storage → uninstall games from there, not just the app.
  • Media libraries
    • Photos, Music, iMovie libraries in your home folder. These are often far bigger than a few stray support files from random apps.
  1. Use a smart uninstaller, but don’t blindly trust it
    Here I slightly disagree with the idea that tools like AppCleaner “almost get everything.” They usually do, but sometimes they show items from shared frameworks or other apps by the same developer. If you check everything without thinking, you can break something else.
    Rule of thumb:
  • OK to delete obvious app-name stuff (e.g. Spotify, com.spotify.client)
  • Be suspicious of generic names, shared frameworks, or files that multiple apps might rely on.
  1. Pay attention to login items and background services before you nuke the app
    Instead of only cleaning launch agents after the fact:
  • Open System Settings → General → Login Items
  • Disable things you do not recognize or no longer use
  • Then uninstall the app
    This way, even if some files remain, they are not constantly running and eating RAM/CPU.
  1. Time Machine & local snapshots
    If you use Time Machine, macOS can keep local snapshots that make it look like space is not being freed properly:
  • In Terminal, run:
    • tmutil listlocalsnapshots /
    • sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots <ID> (if you’re comfortable with Terminal)
      Or just temporarily turn Time Machine off, wait, then back on. That sometimes frees a surprising amount of “System Data”.
  1. “System Data” balloon problem
    If Storage shows “System Data” being absurdly large, some of that is old app cruft and logs, but a lot is:
  • Old iOS backups
  • Xcode / dev stuff
  • Mail attachments
    Instead of micro-managing every uninstalled app, hit these big buckets. That usually frees more space than doing forensic cleanup of every program you ever clicked.
  1. Minimal practical workflow that actually works
    If you want to really clean up without losing your weekend:

For each big app you want gone:

  1. Check if it has its own uninstaller and run that.
  2. If not, use a third-party uninstaller to remove the app plus obvious related files.
  3. Manually inspect only:
    • ~/Library/Application Support
    • ~/Library/Caches
    • /Library/Application Support (for system-wide stuff like VPNs, antivirus)
  4. Use System Settings → Storage to remove other large junk and check which apps are really the space hogs.

Chasing 20 tiny leftovers is mostly psychological. Target the stuff that’s multiple GB, remove background services and login items, and let small config files live unless you are seriously OCD about “completely” uninstalling.