You’ve probably done it a thousand times. You grab an app icon from your Applications folder, drag it over to that little trash can in the dock, and listen for the satisfying "crunch" of paper being crumpled. Gone, right? Well, not exactly. Honestly, macOS is a bit of a packrat. While the main app might be "deleted," it almost always leaves behind a trail of "cruft"—cache files, logs, plist settings, and support folders that just sit there, eating up your SSD space like digital ghosts.
If you want to remove software from Mac systems properly, you have to look deeper than the surface. It’s not just about keeping things tidy. A cluttered system can lead to weird permissions errors, slowing down your boot times or causing "zombie" processes that drain your battery while you aren't even looking.
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Why dragging to the trash is a lie
Most people think macOS works like an iPhone. On an iPhone, you tap and hold, hit the "X," and the sandbox wipes the app clean. macOS is different. It’s built on a Unix foundation. When you install a complex program—think Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Office, or even a simple game from Steam—that software scatters files across your ~/Library folder like confetti at a parade.
The main executable stays in /Applications. That’s what you see. But the "brain" of the app? That’s often tucked away in ~/Library/Application Support. Its preferences are in ~/Library/Preferences. Its temp files are in ~/Library/Caches. When you drag the icon to the Trash, you’re only throwing away the body. The ghost stays in the machine.
Sometimes these leftovers are tiny. A few kilobytes here and there. But over three or four years of owning a MacBook? It adds up to gigabytes. I’ve seen users reclaim 40GB of space just by hunting down the remnants of apps they "deleted" months ago.
The tricky stuff: Kernel extensions and Daemons
It gets worse with specialized software. VPNs, antivirus tools, and hardware drivers often install "Kernel Extensions" (Kexts) or "Launch Daemons." These are bits of code that start up the second you flip your laptop open. If you delete the main app but leave the Daemon behind, your Mac will constantly try to run a file that no longer exists. This is a recipe for kernel panics and the dreaded spinning beachball of death.
The manual hunt: Finding the hidden files
If you’re a purist and don't want to use third-party "cleaner" apps (which can sometimes be sketchy anyway), you have to do the manual labor. It's a bit of a scavenger hunt.
First, open Finder. Hit Command + Shift + G to bring up the "Go to Folder" box. This is your best friend. You need to check these specific paths:
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~/Library/Application Support– Look for folders named after the developer or the app.~/Library/Caches– This is where the bulk resides.~/Library/Logs– Text files that track what the app did.~/Library/Preferences– These are the.plistfiles that remember your settings.~/Library/LaunchAgents– This is why some apps keep trying to start at login even after they're "gone."
Be careful. If you delete the wrong thing in Application Support, you might break a different app from the same developer. If you’re deleting Photoshop, don't accidentally nuke your Lightroom presets.
When to use the Native Uninstaller
Believe it or not, some developers actually want to help you. Big suites like Adobe, Valve (Steam), and Microsoft often include a dedicated uninstaller. If you see an "Uninstall [App Name]" file in the application's folder, use it. These scripts are programmed to find those hidden Launch Daemons and Kernel Extensions that a manual drag-and-drop will miss.
For apps downloaded via the Mac App Store, the process is slightly different. Open Launchpad, hold the Option key until the icons jiggle, and click the "X." Because App Store apps are "sandboxed," macOS is much better at cleaning up after them than it is with apps you downloaded from a DMG or PKG file on the web.
The problem with "Cleanup" software
You’ve seen the ads. "CleanMyMac," "MacKeeper," "AppCleaner."
Some are great. Some are basically malware. Honestly, MacKeeper has a pretty checkered reputation in the tech community for being aggressive and unnecessary. On the flip side, a tool like AppCleaner (the free one by Freemacsoft) is a cult favorite. It’s tiny. You drag an app into its window, and it automatically scans all those ~/Library paths for you. It shows you exactly what it found before you hit delete. It’s transparent.
How to remove software from Mac using Terminal
If you’re feeling like a power user, the Command Line is the most surgical way to handle this. But a word of warning: the rm command has no "Undo." Once it's gone, it is gone.
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Open Terminal and type:mdfind -name "AppName"
This uses Spotlight’s index to find every single file on your drive associated with that string. You’ll see a list of paths. You can then use the sudo rm -rf command followed by the path to incinerate those files. Again, don't do this unless you are 100% sure what you're looking at. One wrong space in that command and you could wipe your entire Documents folder.
Dealing with stubborn "System Extensions"
With the introduction of macOS Ventura and Sonoma, Apple changed how background tasks work. If you go to System Settings > General > Login Items, you’ll see a list of "Allow in the Background."
Even if you’ve deleted an app, you might still see the developer's name here. That’s a sign that a background task is still registered. You can toggle them off, but to truly remove them, you often have to go back to the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder (the one at the root of your drive, not the user one) and delete the associated .plist.
Common misconceptions about Mac storage
A lot of people think their Mac is slow because the hard drive is "full." That’s only half true. macOS needs about 10-15% of your total SSD space to stay free for "swap memory." When you run out of RAM, the Mac uses your SSD as temporary RAM. If your SSD is packed with leftover junk from old apps, the system can't swap efficiently. That’s when the lag starts.
Also, "Other" or "System Data" in your storage settings is usually just these leftover app files. If you've ever wondered why "System Data" is taking up 100GB, it’s because you’ve been dragging icons to the trash instead of doing a deep clean.
Actionable steps for a clean Mac
Don't just delete and forget. Follow this workflow for a healthy system.
Check your Login Items first. Stop the bleeding. If an app you don't use is starting up every time you turn on your computer, it's a parasite. Disable it.
Use a dedicated uninstaller for anything that didn't come from the App Store. If the app is just a single .app file, use a utility like AppCleaner to find the hidden folders.
Empty your Trash. It sounds obvious, but files in the Trash still occupy space on your drive and can still be indexed by the system in some cases.
Restart your Mac after a big cleanup. macOS runs maintenance scripts during the boot process that can help clear out lingering cache entries once the primary files are gone.
Finally, if you’re trying to remove something massive like a DAW (Logic Pro, Ableton) or a video suite, remember the "Sound Library" or "Motion Templates" folders. These are often stored in /Library/Application Support and can be 50GB+ on their own. They almost never get deleted when you throw the app away. You have to go find them yourself.
Keeping a Mac fast isn't about running "optimization" scripts or fancy "booster" apps. It’s about being intentional. When you're done with a piece of software, don't just kick it out the front door—make sure it takes its luggage with it.