How to remove applications on a Mac

Solution 1:

To get rid of the application, you can just drag it to the trash.

There might be a few leftover files in ~/Library/Application Support/ and ~/Library/Preferences/; there are a few ways of getting there.

1. You can check by going to the Finder, the "Go" menu, holding down the Option key, and choosing "Library". Just drag those to the trash, too.
2. Or, you can copy one of the above paths, go to Finder, the "Go" menu, then "Go to Folder" and paste the location.

Find and drag those leftovers to the trash, too.

Solution 2:

I use AppCleaner to uninstall apps and their associated configuration files as well.

However you should always look to see if the application you installed comes with an uninstaller, some of the bigger apps do, and use that first.

Solution 3:

Please Note: this question is basically a dup of this earlier question

I use a one liner borrowed from a user somewhere else on this site, or related sister site, or from macosxhints (I no longer remember the reference or I'd post a link), that I turned into a script (called "uninstaller") and adjusted slightly by changing the rm command to using a safer command line program installed using macports, rmtrash. The user provided bom receipt file should be in /private/var/db/receipts if the application to be removed was installed using an installer and the dev included one. The script will place all files installed into the user's Trash.

 #!/bin/bash
 #uninstaller /private/var/db/receipts/com.url.name.of.app.bom
 #uninstall os x application installed with installer -pkg
 #using (user) provided bom receipt
 #place all installed files and directories in user's Trash

 lsbom="/usr/bin/lsbom"
 cd="/usr/bin/cd"
 sudo="/usr/bin/sudo"
 xargs="/usr/bin/xargs"
 rmtrash="/opt/local/bin/rmtrash"

 lsbom -fls "$1" | (cd /; sudo xargs rmtrash -u $USER)
 exit

Installing MacPorts and rmtrash is simple enough, however, once xcode (for Mavericks 10.9 xcode_5.1.1.dmg) is installed:

 curl -Ok https://distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/MacPorts-2.2.1.tar.bz2
 tar xf MacPorts-2.2.1.tar.bz2
 cd MacPorts-2.2.1
 ./configure
 make
 sudo make install #not war!
 cd ..
 rm -rf Macports-*
 sudo /opt/local/bin/port -v selfupdate
 export PATH=$HOME/macports/bin:$HOME/macports/sbin:$PATH
 export MANPATH=$HOME/macports/share/man:$MANPATH
 sudo port -vsc install rmtrash
 diskutil quiet repairPermissions /