To fully uninstall a third-party app on Mac, you should not only delete the application but also remove its associated files so as to free up all the disk space previously occupied by the app.
First of all, you should close the app you want to delete if it is in use given that you can't delete an app that is running and it will prompt the error message "The item can't be moved to the Trash because it's open." Besides, you can not delete a built-in app that comes with macOS.
You can straightforwardly close the open app with its built-in "x" button, or force quit apps on Mac from the Apple menu if the app is frozen or unresponsive. Then, you can move on to uninstall the application, there are multiple ways you can choose from:
- Use the app's uninstaller usually located in Settings.
- Head to Finder > Applications, then right-click the app and choose Move to Trash.
- Open the Launchpad and drag-drop the app into Trash.
- Run Terminal commands to uninstall unwanted apps.
- Download iBoysoft MagicMenu to delete apps with ease.
Deleting apps doesn't completely remove all the files created by the app on your Mac, and the unneeded files associated with the app still occupy the limited disk space. You can delete the leftovers with the steps below:
- Open Finder and click Go > Go to Folder.
- Type ~/Library/ in the box and click Go.
- Remove the associated files for the deleted app from each folder in the Library folder, including Saved Application State, Cookies, Application Scripts, Containers, Application Support, Caches, Logs, and Preferences.
You should be careful when you delete files within the Library folder, mistakenly deleting incorrect files may cause other apps on your Mac to malfunction. In addition, you can also try iBoysoft DiskGeeker to clean junk files on the Mac drive with ease.
Rivers Wong
Ciki Liu
