This article was co-authored by Chiara Corsaro.Chiara Corsaro is the General Manager and Apple Certified Mac & iOS Technician for macVolks, Inc., an Apple Authorized Service Provider located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Was founded in 1990, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, and is part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN). Many Mac users will have dozens or even hundreds of apps installed on their computer. Occasionally, it’s desirable to uninstall unwanted or troublesome apps, or simply those which are taking up too much disk space and cluttering up your hard drive. Uninstalling applications in all versions of Mac OS X can be accomplished with relative ease. Mac OS X is, without a doubt, a great operating system. However, it seems to be a bit complicated for new users to understand in the beginning. Regular tasks such as uninstalling an application are also prone to complications. In this article, we will show you various methods for removing apps on a Mac. You can also delete the built-in apps. Note: I used the Rocket app as an example in my pictures, but only because I was removing an earlier version. I love Rocket and would never delete it (it emojifies your Mac!). How to close an app that you thought was already closed or can't figure out how to close on your Mac. Click on the Finder icon in your app dock. Just installed Mojave on my MacBook Air mid-2012. I've tried to uninstall the Stocks and Home apps using AppCleaner. It looks like the apps had some files associated with them removed (e.g. The com.apple.stocks.account file from Stocks), but the apps are still there and still seem to load. How To Delete Apps On Mac Easily. Good news is that most apps are located in your Mac’s Applications folder and are super easy to delete: Open the Applications folder by navigating to your menu bar and then selecting Go Applications or using a shortcut ⌘ + Shift + A. Select the app or utility you want to delete.

Use Launchpad to delete an app

Launchpad offers a convenient way to delete apps that were downloaded from the App Store.

  1. To open Launchpad, click it in the Dock or open it from your Applications folder. You can also pinch closed with your thumb and three fingers on your trackpad.
  2. If you don't see the app in Launchpad, type its name in the search field at the top of the screen. Or swipe right or left with two fingers on your trackpad to show the next or previous page.
  3. Press and hold the Option (⌥) key, or click and hold any app until the apps jiggle.
  4. Click next to the app that you want to delete, then click Delete to confirm. The app is deleted immediately. Apps that don't show either didn't come from the App Store or are required by your Mac. To delete an app that didn't come from the App Store, use the Finder instead.


Deleting an app doesn't cancel any subscription you may have purchased with that app. Learn how to cancel subscriptions for apps that were downloaded from the App Store.

Use the Finder to delete an app

  1. Locate the app in the Finder. Most apps are in your Applications folder, which you can open by clicking Applications in the sidebar of any Finder window. Or use Spotlight to find the app, then press and hold the Command (⌘) key while double-clicking the app in Spotlight.
  2. Drag the app to the Trash, or select the app and choose File > Move to Trash.
  3. If you're asked for a user name and password, enter the name and password of an administrator account on your Mac. This is probably the name and password you use to log in to your Mac.
  4. To delete the app, choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Learn more

To use an app again after deleting it, either reinstall it or restore it from a backup.

  • To reinstall apps that were installed as part of macOS, reinstall macOS. This applies to apps such as Safari, iTunes, Books, Messages, Mail, Calendar, Photos, and FaceTime.
  • You can also redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books that were installed from the App Store, iTunes Store, or Apple Books.

Learn how to delete apps on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Learn what to do if the Dock contains an icon with a question mark.

What are startup items?

Startup items, or login items, are services and applications that launch every time you start your Mac. These are applications that sneak into startup items without notice, never asking if you need or want them there. This way you may end up with a dozen apps launching as soon as you turn on your Mac, weighing heavily on its processor and memory capacities and slowing it down. Such items can increase your Mac’s startup time and decrease its performance.

Plus, sometimes when you remove an application or a service, it leaves a login item with a broken link. These broken login items are completely useless, cause unwanted messages, and waste your Mac's resources (because they look for non-existent applications). Whether you're running macOS Catalina or El Capitan, or earlier — it's all the same, so just read on.

So, let's go over how to take control of login items, and how to get rid of unwanted, broken or hidden startup items.

How to disable startup programs?

Do you want to stop programs from running at startup? There’s an easy way to remove programs from startup and get your Mac to load faster on launch. The fastest way to turn off startup items on Mac is an app like CleanMyMac X.

Uninstalling the mail app mac. Reboot your Mac and hold the COMMAND + R keys while rebooting. You will enter to Recovery environment. To uninstall try with AppCleaner, it's free in the AppStore.Apple Mail is a system app so, in AppCleaner, try double click on the checkbox and then proceed to Delete the app.For Reinstall.Apparently you'll need to do a reinstallation of OSX.According to, a reinstallation wont affect your files, can't tell for myself, I've never done that.Simply make a backup before anything and may the force be with you.

  1. Download CleanMyMac for free.
  2. Launch the app.
  3. Open Optimization tab.
  4. Click on Login items.
  5. From the list of apps, disable the ones you don’t need on startup.
  6. Done!

How to change startup programs manually?

Disabling Mac startup programs is possible manually. Therefore, if you have some time and would like to do it yourself, follow the steps below.

Your login items are listed in settings. One of the easiest ways to control startup items is inside System Preferences > Users & Groups.

  1. Open System Preferences.
  2. Go to Users & Groups.
  3. Choose your nickname on the left.
  4. Choose Login items tab.
  5. Check startup programs you want to remove.
  6. Press the “–” sign below.
  7. You’re done.
  8. If you need to add an item back, press “+” and choose the app you’d like add.
  9. Then restart your Mac to see the changes.

How to fix broken startup items?

Broken Mac startup files are left there because some part of apps are left on your Mac long after you’ve moved the app to the Trash. To get rid of these parts and to fix your startup, you’re going to need CleanMyMac again. First, you need to check if they’re among startup items and disable them if so. You can do it following the instructions above. Then you need to remove app leftovers. CleanMyMac works fine on macOS High Sierra and earlier OS.

  1. Launch CleanMyMac.
  2. Choose Uninstaller tab.
  3. Scroll through the list of apps.
  4. If you spot any app that you’ve deleted, check them.
  5. Delete the app leftovers you’ve chosen.

You can also find and remove broken login items with the help of System Junk module:

  1. Choose System Junk tab.
  2. Click Scan.
  3. Review details and click Clean.

Finally, you need to clean your macOS startup items through launch services:

  1. Open Maintenance tab.
  2. Choose Rebuild Launch Services.
  3. Hit Run.
  4. Done.

Once you do it, all broken app data on your Mac will be fixed.
Mac allow apps from unidentified developers.

Remove daemons and agents from startup process

If speaking of files, first go to the system folder /Library/StartUpItems. Here you’ll find all the startup files that are being launched with the system. You can delete the login item you think is necessary if you’re totally sure what you are doing.

Also, the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder contains a bunch of preference files that define how the application that is being launched along with the system should work. You might want to delete some of these files as well if you know you don’t need them and removing them is safe.

The /Library/LaunchAgents contains preference files responsible for the apps that launch during the login process (not the startup).

Remove Apps Mac Os

The above-mentioned folders contain app-related files. However, you can also check system folders to review whether you need some of the system applications to be running on startup:

  1. /System/Library/LaunchDaemons - note that besides preference files this folder contains other important system items that are recommended to keep untouched.
  2. /System/Library/LaunchAgents - most probably, you won’t also find anything worth removing in this folder, however, keeping this location in mind might help you find files related to a problematic app that causes troubles on Mac startup. If you have a problematic application that messes about on login, you can try to trace it back from this folder.

Remove App Macos Catalina

But, if you’re looking for simple ways to remove login items, we suggest using a professional Mac utility. Download CleanMyMac X for free and make unwanted and broken login items a thing of the past.

Removing Apps From Mac Os

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