How to Delete an Application on a Mac

Nov 19, 2020

Deleting or removing an application in macOS is very different from uninstalling a program in Windows. It can be confusing, too, because deleting an application varies slightly on a Mac depending on how you installed it.

Here are the different methods for deleting an application on a Mac, based on how you installed it.

Mac computer

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Click the Launchpad icon in the dock.
Then find the app you want to delete.
Click and hold the app you want to delete.
Then click the x and confirm.

You can also follow these step-by-step instructions for how to delete an app downloaded from the Mac App Store.

If the app can't be delete in Launchpad, it may have an uninstaller.

Open Finder.
Then click on the Applications folder.
If your application has a folder, that folder may have an uninstaller. If it does, click the uninstaller to begin the process.

Again, here are step-by-step instructions for uninstalling an app on OS X using an uninstaller.

If neither of the above methods work, you can use AppCleaner. This is a step up from dragging the application into the trash because it attempts to find all files associated with the app.

You can find step-by-step instructions for deleting an app using AppCleaner here.

Many apps can simply be dragged right into your trash bin to remove them on a Mac.

Find the app in your Finder > Applications.
Drag the application into your trash bin. (Or, right-click the application and choose Move to trash.)