Help · Guides · Pangalin Uninstaller
How to uninstall an app completely.
Pangalin Uninstaller finds the files an app keeps outside its own icon (support files, caches, preferences, containers) and shows you every one before anything moves. Files go to the Trash, so you can change your mind until you empty it; the only exceptions are Uninstall with Homebrew and Delete from Trash…, which you choose yourself and which are permanent. It's free, with no licence.
Prefer to do it by hand? Here's where leftovers hide, and how to remove them with Finder.
1. Pick the app
- Open Pangalin Uninstaller and make sure Apps is selected at the top of the window.
- Find the app: type in Search installed apps, or use Sort by (for example Least recently used) and Show › Unused only to spot apps you've forgotten.
- Click Uninstall… on the app's row.
The list shows apps in your Applications folders. Apple's own apps aren't listed, because macOS protects them.
If the app is running
The button changes to Stop & Uninstall…. It asks the app to quit normally, so if you have unsaved work, the app asks you about it first. If the app still hasn't closed after a few seconds (menu-bar apps often don't), Pangalin Uninstaller asks before it force quits: anything unsaved in that app is lost. Click Cancel to quit it yourself instead. Then the usual review opens.
2. Review the list
A sheet lists everything that will move, grouped under headings such as Application, Application Support, Caches and Preferences, each with its size. The top line says how many items and how much space in total.
- Untick anything you want to keep.
- To see where an item is, click its magnifier to show it in Finder.
- A few items start unticked on purpose, with an orange note saying why. Examples: a licence folder (removing it can de-authorise the software), shared audio plug-ins, and files matched only by the app's name. Tick them only if you're sure.
- Folders other installed apps still use show a padlock and are always kept.
- Files the app's installer put elsewhere are listed unticked, with a note naming the installer package. Another app may share them, so tick them only if you're sure. The installer's receipt itself always stays.
- AI apps' models and data (LM Studio and Bionic, Jan, GPT4All, Msty, AnythingLLM, Draw Things, DiffusionBee, ComfyUI and Pinokio) are listed unticked, because downloaded models are often many gigabytes you may want to keep. A note says when another installed AI app uses the same folder, and Hugging Face's shared model cache is kept unless you tick it. If the models are on an external drive that isn't connected, connect it and open the review again to include them.
- Background items inside the app (login items and agents it carries in its own bundle) are listed in their own section. They go with the app.
- Privacy permissions this app had is ticked: Pangalin Uninstaller asks macOS to reset the permissions you gave the app, such as Camera, Microphone, Contacts, Photos, Files & Folders and Automation. macOS doesn't show which ones it had, and a reset can't be undone; the app simply asks again if you install it later. Untick it to leave them. If another copy of the app is still installed (for example an older version in another folder), the review says Another copy of … is still installed, so its permissions are kept. macOS stores permissions by the app's identifier, so a reset would take them from that copy too.
- Want login and background items too? Click Also look for login and background items. Anything it finds is added to the list unticked, and it never asks for your password.
3. Move it to the Trash
- Click Move … to Trash (for example Move 6 to Trash). The first time, macOS asks you to allow App Management; allow it.
- The status line at the bottom confirms what moved and how much space it was. If the app sat in its own folder in Applications that's now empty, the folder goes to the Trash too. (A folder an installer made that only macOS can move stays where it is.) Click Undo there if you change your mind. It's available until you quit, remove something else or close the status line with ✕ (more about Undo).
- When you're sure, empty the Trash to get the space back. Emptying the Trash is permanent.
Background items and the Trash
Login items and agents built into the app are stopped as soon as it's in the Trash. A system item built into the app needs administrator rights to stop, so it's left running until you empty the Trash and restart your Mac. While the app is in the Trash, macOS can start its built-in items again at your next login, so empty the Trash to stop them for good.
Rather keep the rest of your Trash? If the app still has background items macOS lists, the status line offers Delete from Trash…. It permanently deletes just that app from the Trash, after you confirm it by name, and macOS drops its Login Items entries at your next restart. Nothing else in the Trash is touched, but it can't be undone and it ends Undo for that removal. It needs Full Disk Access, because macOS lets apps look in the Trash only with it.
Permissions macOS keeps system-wide
Full Disk Access, Accessibility, Screen Recording, Input Monitoring and App Management are system-wide: macOS doesn't let other apps reset them. After the uninstall, a Last step line says so and offers Open Privacy & Security. Check each of those lists there, and remove the app if it's still shown (select it and click –).
Mac-wide items and hidden folders
The review also lists items outside your own Library: Mac-wide items such as system start-up items, audio plug-ins and privileged helpers, and hidden folders in your home folder that belong to the app (like ~/.vscode). Each shows where it is, and they move to the Trash with the app. Items in system folders are moved by the background helper, after your approval.
Some items are always kept: installer receipt records, and files shared with other apps or holding a licence. They appear in the list as kept, with a note saying why.
Uninstall several apps at once
- Tick the apps in the list (or use Select shown), then click Review … to uninstall… and Continue.
- Each app's review sheet opens in turn, so you still see every file. Cancelling a sheet stops the rest.
Running apps can't be batched; use Stop & Uninstall… for those.
Special cases
- App Store apps and apps from installer packages are owned by the system. Pangalin Uninstaller moves them to the Trash through its small background helper. The first time, it asks to add the helper (you may have done this during setup). Then macOS asks for your approval, with your password or Touch ID. One approval covers your removals and Undo for the next 5 minutes, for Pangalin Uninstaller only. If you decline, nothing is changed.
- Homebrew apps: the sheet shows Homebrew's own command, such as
brew uninstall --cask <name>, with an Uninstall with Homebrew button. That keeps Homebrew's records right. It runs as you, never as administrator, and Homebrew deletes the app itself instead of moving it to the Trash, so Undo can't bring it back (brew install --cask <name>reinstalls it). The leftovers you tick still go to the Trash. Some apps' own clean-up steps need your administrator password, which Pangalin Uninstaller never types; if Homebrew stops, use Move … to Trash instead. Files Homebrew lists as the app's data are shown unticked. - The developer ships its own uninstaller (common for Adobe, Microsoft, VPN and security apps): run that first, then use Pangalin Uninstaller to catch what's left.
Related guides
- Undo a removal
- Find leftovers from apps you already deleted
- Reset an app without uninstalling it
- Check an app is genuine
- Catch leftovers when you drag an app to the Trash
Still stuck? Email hello@pangalin.com with your macOS version and the app you were removing.
Checked against Pangalin Uninstaller 1.8, 10 October 2026.