Leftover files after uninstalling Mac apps: where they hide

To remove leftover files after uninstalling Mac apps, look in your Library folder: dragging an app to the Trash removes the app and nothing else. Its caches, logs, settings, saved windows, web data, background jobs and the files it manages for you stay behind, sometimes in the Library folder at the top of your disk too.

Go through those folders one kind at a time, because each kind carries a different risk.

Some leftovers are safe to remove whenever you like: caches, logs, crash reports, saved window state and web data. The app made them and nothing else needs them. Others need a look first: Application Support, Containers and Group Containers can hold your own notes, projects, chat histories and libraries.

Background items come first, because they keep trying to run. Check System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions, then remove the app's launch agents, launch daemons and helper tools. Package receipts and folders shared by a developer's other apps stay where they are.

If the app came with its own uninstaller, use it before any of this. Apple calls it the best way to remove an app along with its login items, extensions and other data. Everything below is for apps without one, and for apps you removed long ago.

Why Mac apps leave files behind

A Mac app is a single bundle in your Applications folder. Everything it creates while you use it goes somewhere else, so removing the bundle leaves all of that behind. For Xcode, what stays is usually much larger than the app itself; the post on uninstalling Xcode completely goes through it.

What does dragging an app to the Trash actually remove?

Only the app bundle. Apple's support article on uninstalling says plainly that deleting an app doesn't remove documents or other files you created with it. It doesn't cancel a subscription you bought in it either.

Apple recommends an app's own uninstaller when there is one, because that's the way to remove its login items, extensions and data stored in other locations too. Most apps don't come with one. Third-party uninstallers try to fill that gap by finding the files an app leaves in your Library.

Why doesn't macOS clean up after apps?

macOS doesn't keep a list of the files an app creates. Apps write to standard folders by convention, usually in a subfolder named after the app or its bundle identifier, and nothing ties those files back to the bundle once it's gone.

That has an upside. If you delete an app by mistake, or reinstall it later, your data and settings are still there.

There are exceptions. Apple's developer documentation says macOS uninstalls an app's system extensions automatically when you delete the app. Helpers that newer apps keep inside their own bundle also go with it.

How much space do leftovers take?

Usually little. Many apps leave only a few megabytes of settings and caches. The exceptions are apps that download or store a lot: chat apps with media, creative apps with libraries, games, and apps built on web technology with large caches.

• Everything one app leaves0.1–15 GB · Review first
• All apps' caches together2–30 GB · Safe
• Logs and crash reports0.1–5 GB · Safe
• Electron apps' staged updates0.2–3 GB · Safe

Typical ranges from the research behind the app's catalog, on Macs that have these items at all. Many apps leave far less than the low end.

So it's worth doing for the apps that left a lot, and for anything that still tries to run. Hunting down every last preferences file of a small utility frees almost nothing.

Before you start: use the uninstaller, then quit everything

The cleanest removal is the one the developer designed. Do these first, and you'll often find there's little left to do by hand.

Does the app have its own uninstaller?

Open the app's folder in Applications. If you see Uninstall or Uninstaller with the app's name, double-click it and follow the steps. Apps that install drivers, system extensions, audio plug-ins, VPN components or background services often come with one.

Some apps put it inside instead, as a menu item or a setting, sometimes called remove or reset. Docker Desktop's is under Troubleshoot, as the post on uninstalling Docker Desktop explains. Check the app's menus and its settings before you drag it anywhere. Some developers also publish a separate uninstaller on their website.

Quit the app and its helpers

Quit the app, and quit its menu bar icon if it has one. A running app can write new files while you're removing old ones, and macOS won't move an app that's in use.

If the app keeps running after you quit it, macOS 27 shows a notification the first time and marks it in the Dock. Control-click its Dock icon and choose Stop Running in Background. Apple describes this as new in macOS 27 Golden Gate.

Remove the app

Drag the app from Applications to the Trash, or select it and choose File › Move to Trash. Enter an administrator's name and password if asked. Apps that come with macOS, such as Mail, Music or Notes, can't be removed.

Don't empty the Trash yet. If something below turns out to matter, you can still choose File › Put Back.

Turn off what it left running

Background items are the leftovers worth chasing even when they're tiny. They try to start at every login, sometimes for years, for an app that isn't there.

Login Items & Extensions

Choose Apple menu › System Settings, click General, then Login Items & Extensions. Two lists matter here:

• Open at Login: apps and items that open when you log in. Apple's guide says an item with a warning icon won't open because it was moved or deleted. Select it and click the minus button to remove it.
• App Background Activity: apps allowed to do work when they aren't open, such as checking for updates or syncing. Turn off anything that belongs to an app you've removed.

Apple's deployment guide notes that you can click the information button next to an item to see what it actually launches. That's often the quickest way to learn which file to look for next.

The list is the same on macOS 26 Tahoe. Before macOS Ventura, login items were in System Preferences › Users & Groups › Login Items, and background items had no list of their own.

Launch agents in your Library

A launch agent is a small property list that tells macOS to start a program for you when you log in, or on a schedule. Apple's documentation says macOS loads them from your own ~/Library/LaunchAgents and from /Library/LaunchAgents at the top of the disk.

Each file is named after a label, usually the developer's bundle identifier with a word such as helper, agent or update added. To remove one:

1. In Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder, enter ~/Library/LaunchAgents, and press Return.
2. Select the file that belongs to the removed app. Quick Look it with the Space bar: the program it starts is listed in it, and usually sits inside the app you removed.
3. Move it to the Trash.
4. Log out and back in, or restart, so macOS stops the job.

Launch daemons and privileged helpers

Apps that need administrator rights install pieces in the Library folder at the top of your disk. Before macOS 13, Apple's documentation says, apps installed property lists for these services into /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons, and many still do.

A launch daemon runs as root for the whole Mac, and can start before anyone logs in. Many come with a helper program in /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools, which the daemon starts. VPNs, remote-access tools, backup apps and device utilities are the usual owners.

1. Choose Go › Go to Folder and enter /Library/LaunchDaemons. Look for files named after the app's developer and the app.
2. Quick Look each one to see the program it starts. If that's in /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools, note its name.
3. Move the property list and its helper to the Trash. macOS asks for an administrator's password.
4. Restart, so the daemon stops for good.

If two files have a developer's name but you still use another app of theirs, leave them. One launch daemon can serve several of a developer's apps.

Folder	What starts from there	Runs as	Removing it
~/Library/LaunchAgents	Your own background jobs	You, after you log in	Trash it, then log out and in
/Library/LaunchAgents	Background jobs for every user	Each user, after they log in	Administrator password, then restart
/Library/LaunchDaemons	System-wide services	Root, from startup	Administrator password, then restart
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools	Programs a launch daemon starts	Root	Remove with its daemon, then restart
Inside the app bundle	Helpers registered by newer apps	Varies	Goes with the app

System extensions, drivers and plug-ins

System extensions, such as network filters and drivers, are removed by macOS when you delete their app, according to Apple's developer documentation. Older kernel extensions in /Library/Extensions aren't, and audio plug-ins in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins stay too.

Use the developer's uninstaller for those. Removing a driver or plug-in by hand can break hardware or another app that shares it, and some audio plug-ins are used by several apps at once.

Leftovers in your Library folder that are safe to remove

Everything in this section is recreated by an app if it ever comes back, or isn't needed at all. Once the app is gone, it's dead weight.

To open your Library folder, hold down Option in Finder, choose Go, then Library. Look for folders and files named after the app, its developer, or its bundle identifier.

Caches

~/Library/Caches holds data apps can rebuild: downloaded images, compiled code, web content, staged updates. Apple's guidelines say apps should never rely on a cache existing, and should keep theirs in a folder named after their bundle identifier.

A removed app's cache is safe to move to the Trash. The catalog rates App caches as Safe. Look out for update leftovers too: Electron apps stage updates in folders ending in .ShipIt, and apps using Sparkle keep downloads in a Sparkle folder inside their cache.

Logs and crash reports

~/Library/Logs holds the app's own log files, often in a folder with its name. ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports holds crash reports named after its program. Nothing on your Mac needs either once the app is gone.

Both are Safe. The guide to Mac log files covers what's worth keeping when you're troubleshooting an app you still use.

HTTPStorages and WebKit

Apps that connect to the internet keep web data for themselves. ~/Library/HTTPStorages has a folder per app, named by bundle identifier, with cookies and similar data from the app's network connections. ~/Library/WebKit holds website data for apps that show web pages inside their windows.

For a removed app, both are leftovers with no use. They're usually small. For an app you still use, removing them can sign you out of its account.

Saved Application State

~/Library/Saved Application State has a folder per app, ending in .savedState, with what macOS needs to reopen the app's windows where you left them. For a removed app it's useless and tiny, so remove it as part of the uninstall.

For apps you keep, leave it. It isn't a cache, and clearing it only makes the app forget its windows.

Preferences

~/Library/Preferences holds each app's settings in a file named after its bundle identifier, ending in .plist. A ByHost folder inside holds settings for this Mac only, with the same name and a long identifier added.

When you're removing an app for good, its preferences can go too: they're the app's settings, nothing else uses them, and you asked to remove the app. If you might reinstall it, keep them, because they're what brings your settings back. Never clear preferences of apps you still use to save space; they're tiny.

Folder in ~/Library	What a removed app left there	Safe to remove?
Caches	Data the app could rebuild, staged updates	Yes
Logs and Logs/DiagnosticReports	Its logs and crash reports	Yes
HTTPStorages and WebKit	Cookies and website data	Yes
Saved Application State	Its windows, for reopening	Yes
Preferences	Its settings	Yes, unless you'll reinstall
LaunchAgents	Its background jobs	Yes, then log out and in

Leftovers that may hold your own data

Three folders hold the files an app manages for you, and that can include your own work. They're where the real space usually is, and where a careless cleanup loses things.

Application Support

~/Library/Application Support holds what Apple calls app-specific data the app creates and manages on your behalf, which can include files that contain your data. Libraries, databases, downloaded content, projects, chat histories and game saves all live here.

The catalog rates Application Support folders as Review first. The Application Support post goes through how folders there are named and which subfolders inside them are only caches.

Containers

Sandboxed apps, including most from the App Store, keep everything in their own folder in ~/Library/Containers: their own Library, with Application Support, Caches and Preferences inside, and sometimes documents you saved in the app. Deleting the app doesn't always remove its container.

A removed app's container may be the only copy of what you made in it. Open its Data folder and look before deciding.

Group Containers

~/Library/Group Containers holds folders that a developer's apps share, such as an app and its widgets, or the apps of an office suite. They're usually named with the developer's team ID, a period and a group name. macOS creates one the first time an app needs it, and doesn't remove it when the apps are deleted.

Some apps keep their main database here. Note-taking and task apps such as Bear and Things, for example, keep your notes and tasks in their group containers. The containers and group containers post explains how to look inside one safely.

Application Scripts and other small folders

~/Library/Application Scripts has a folder per sandboxed app, named after its code-signing identifier, for scripts that you or the app put there. Older apps may also leave items in Cookies, Internet Plug-Ins, PreferencePanes or Services. These are usually small; check a script folder for anything you wrote before removing it.

Folder	Can hold your data?	Before removing a removed app's folder
~/Library/Application Support	Often	Look inside; export or copy anything you want
~/Library/Containers	Often	Check its Data folder, including Documents
~/Library/Group Containers	Sometimes	Check no other app of the developer still uses it
~/Library/Application Scripts	Rarely	Check for scripts you wrote
/Library/Application Support	Rarely	Check other users don't need it
/Users/Shared	Sometimes	Check it isn't shared content you use

Leftovers outside your Library folder

Apps installed with an installer package, or for every user of the Mac, also leave files where you can't change them without an administrator's password.

The Library folder at the top of the disk

/Library has the same kinds of folders as yours, shared by every user: Application Support, Caches, Preferences and Logs, plus the LaunchAgents, LaunchDaemons and PrivilegedHelperTools folders above. Look there for folders named after the app or its developer.

Move only what clearly belongs to the app you removed, and leave anything named after macOS or Apple. Never move the Library folder itself, or Application Support, Caches or Logs as a whole.

What is a package receipt?

When an app is installed with an installer package, a .pkg file, macOS's Installer keeps a receipt: a record of the package and the files it installed. Receipts are stored in a folder macOS manages, they're tiny, and some tools read them to tell what an installer put on your Mac.

Leave them. A receipt takes almost no space, and it's macOS's own record. Removing one doesn't remove a single file the package installed.

Seeing what an installer put on your Mac

If you still have the installer package, double-click it to open it in Installer, then choose File › Show Files before you click Continue. Scripting OS X describes it as a list of every file in the package's payload, with a search field.

Choose Apple menu › System Settings › General › About › System Report, then select Installations under Software, to see when packages were installed and where they came from. Neither tells you what the app created after it was installed, which is most of what it leaves.

Apps installed with Homebrew

Homebrew's casks can describe an app's leftovers in a section called zap: preferences and caches in your Library folder, and shared resources such as updaters. Homebrew removes those only when you ask it to zap during an uninstall. It's a command-line tool, so there's no button for it.

Homebrew's own documentation warns that zap can remove shared resources other apps use, and leaves that to you to judge. Its list of the usual places to look is a fair summary of this whole post.

How to tell which app a leftover belongs to

Names are the evidence. Some are strong enough to act on; some only suggest a connection. Knowing the difference is what keeps a cleanup from removing another app's files.

The bundle identifier

Most leftovers are named after the app's bundle identifier, written like a web address backwards: com.developer.appname. Helpers add a word to it, such as helper, agent or LoginItem. A file named exactly after the app's identifier, or the identifier with more parts added, is almost always the app's.

To find an installed app's identifier before you remove it, select it in Applications, Control-click and choose Show Package Contents, then Quick Look the Info.plist file in Contents. The value under CFBundleIdentifier is the one to search for.

Team IDs and app groups

Group containers usually start with a ten-character team ID, the developer's code-signing identity, followed by a group name. Every app of that developer can share the same team ID, so it's the group name that hints at which apps use it.

A group container named after a whole suite, such as an office suite's shared group, belongs to every app in it. Remove it only once all of them are gone.

What the background job starts

For launch agents and daemons, the file's name is a hint, but the program it starts is proof. Quick Look the property list: if the program is inside the app you removed, or in PrivilegedHelperTools under the app's name, the job is that app's.

A folder named after the developer

Folders such as Google, Microsoft or Adobe hold several apps' data, and often an updater they share. A folder named after the developer is the app's only when it's also the app's name and you have no other app from that developer.

If you still use any of their apps, open the folder and remove only the subfolder named after the app you removed. Adobe's apps are a common case: even Adobe's own uninstall order leaves folders like these behind.

Names that only look similar

A folder with a name like the app's, but not its identifier, may belong to something else. Another developer's app, a command-line tool or macOS itself can use similar words. When the evidence is only a similar name, leave it, or look inside first.

Evidence	How strong	What to do
Named exactly after the app's bundle identifier	Strong	Belongs to the app
One of the app's group containers, and no other app uses it	Strong	Belongs to the app
A launch job whose program is inside the app	Strong	Belongs to the app
Named after the app, such as Slack	Medium	Check the contents first
Named after the developer, with other apps of theirs installed	Shared	Leave it, or remove only the app's subfolder
A similar name only	Weak	Leave it
Starts with com.apple, or a macOS name	Not the app's	Never remove it

Remove leftover files after uninstalling Mac apps, step by step

Here's the whole process on one example. Say you're removing a video conferencing app you installed from the developer's website, which added a menu bar helper and an audio driver.

Look for an uninstaller first

Its folder in Applications has no uninstaller, but the developer's support site offers one for the audio driver. Run it first, so the driver is removed the way it was installed.

Quit, then remove the app

Quit the app and its menu bar helper. Drag the app to the Trash. Leave the Trash full for now.

Background items

In Login Items & Extensions, remove the app's helper from Open at Login and turn it off under App Background Activity. In ~/Library/LaunchAgents, a property list named after the developer's identifier starts a program inside the app you removed, so it goes too.

In /Library/LaunchDaemons, another starts a helper in /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools. Both go, with an administrator's password, then a restart.

Safe leftovers

In your Library folder, the app's folders in Caches, Logs, HTTPStorages, WebKit and Saved Application State go to the Trash, along with its crash reports and its preferences file, since you won't reinstall.

Folders that may hold data

Its Application Support folder holds recordings of meetings. Copy the ones you want to keep into your Documents folder, check they play, then move the folder to the Trash.

Finish

Open Login Items & Extensions again to check nothing of the app is left there. After a day of normal use, empty the Trash.

Leftovers of apps you removed long ago

Their files are in the same places. The difference is that you can't look at the app to learn its identifier, so you work from the names.

How do you find them?

Open each folder in your Library and switch to list view with View › as List. Sort by Date Modified. A folder named after an app you no longer have, untouched for a long time, is a likely leftover.

Start with the folders that hold space: Application Support, Containers, Group Containers and Caches. Choose File › Get Info on a folder to see its size, or turn on Calculate all sizes in View › Show View Options while in list view.

Signs in System Settings

A login item with a warning icon in Open at Login belongs to an app that was moved or deleted, Apple's guide says. An entry under App Background Activity for an app you don't recognize is worth the information button, to see what it launches.

When you can't tell

If a folder's name means nothing to you and nothing inside explains it, leave it. A leftover you keep costs a little space; a folder you remove by mistake can cost an app its data. Searching Spotlight for the name sometimes finds the app it came from.

Mistakes to avoid

Removing leftovers is mostly safe. These are the ways it goes wrong.

Searching by name and removing every match

A Finder search for an app's name finds its leftovers, but also your documents that mention it, other apps' files, and sometimes macOS's. Go folder by folder instead, and move only what the evidence ties to the app.

Removing com.apple items or Apple's own folders

Items starting with com.apple belong to macOS and Apple's apps, even when they look unused. So do plain-named folders such as AddressBook or MobileSync. Leave them.

Removing a developer's shared folder while you use their other apps

A shared updater or group container can serve several apps. Removing it can break the apps you kept, or make them download their data again.

Removing a cloud app's sync folder

If the app was a cloud storage app, its folder in your home folder or in ~/Library/CloudStorage may hold files stored only in the cloud, or the only local copy. Sign out or remove the account in the app first, and check your files are in the cloud, before touching any of it.

Moving whole Library folders

Never move Application Support, Caches, Containers, Group Containers, Logs or LaunchAgents as a whole, or the Library folder itself. They hold every app's data, not just the one you removed.

Emptying the Trash straight away

Leave everything in the Trash for a day or two and use your Mac normally. If an app you kept complains, File › Put Back fixes it. After the Trash is emptied, only a backup can.

Pasting a Terminal command

Guides that offer one command to "remove all leftovers" can't know which files are yours. Commands that delete files don't use the Trash and can't be undone. Everything here works in Finder and System Settings. The uninstall guide has the short version of these steps.

How the app does it

Wombit is a native Mac app that shows what's using your storage and explains every item in plain language. It scans the whole disk or any folder, reading only names, sizes and dates, and file names and paths never leave your Mac.

Its Applications section lists every app with its size, the size of what it has left around the Mac and when you last opened it, with Uninstall…. Below the apps are the leftovers of apps that are already gone.

For each file, it shows why it belongs to that app: the app's identifier in the name, one of its app groups, its entry in macOS's container records, its package receipt, Homebrew's data for it, or a background job that starts it.

Files it can only match by a similar name are never checked for you, and a file two apps could own goes to neither.

An uninstall pre-selects the app and the leftovers that are useless without it: caches, logs, saved state, preferences, web data, its background jobs and helper tools, and crash reports. Application Support, Containers and Group Containers start unchecked, marked as places that may hold your data.

The review asks the app to quit, stops its background jobs, and moves everything to the Trash, where Undo and Put Back work.

• ~/Library/Application Support/*

  Application Support folders

  Data that apps create and manage for you, such as libraries, databases, downloads and settings, in a folder for each app.

  Review first · Explained only: the app shows you how

• ~/Library/Containers/*

  App containers

  The private folder a sandboxed app, such as most apps from the App Store, uses as its own home for data, settings and caches.

  Review first · Explained only: the app shows you how

• ~/Library/Group Containers/*

  Group containers

  Shared folders where apps from the same developer, and their extensions and widgets, keep data they all use.

  Review first · Explained only: the app shows you how

With the menu bar item on, the app also notices when you drag an app to the Trash yourself, and offers to review what it left behind. Nothing moves until you confirm.

Finding apps and their leftovers is free. Uninstalling them is PRO: one payment of $4.99 with lifetime access. Every Pro tool's review is free to open, so you see what would go and why before you buy.