Where should I put my custom applications?

Solution 1:

It depends on what applications you want to keep to yourself and which ones you want to make accessible to all users:

• Applications stored in /Applications are installed for all users.

• The ~ stands for your home folder. Applications stored in ~username/Applications are only for access by the user username.

Solution 2:

I tried separating "personal" apps to ~/Applications/ and eventually gave it up after awhile because I found it to be annoying.

It turned out to be a lot hassle in little ways, and finally I just moved them all. I kept finding apps which only looked in /Applications/ so I had to keep tweaking settings.

More and more apps include checks to see if they are in /Applications/ and offer to move themselves, which meant even more annoyances.

If you install apps, such as Microsoft Office, which come with installers, you probably won't even have the choice.

But your experience won't necessarily be mine.

I'd put them into ~/Applications/ and then if you decide that you want to change it later, drag them all to /Applications/. It's easier to do that than try to separate them later because some apps do install themselves to /Applications/ and won't handle being moved somewhere else.