Remove Leftover Files From Apps You Already Deleted

To remove leftover files from apps you already deleted, open your user Library (Finder › Go › Go to Folder, then ~/Library) and look in Application Support, Caches, Preferences, Containers and Group Containers for folders and files named after apps that are no longer installed. Match each one to a bundle ID such as com.vendor.app, confirm no installed app still uses it, and move it to the Trash. Leave anything from Apple, and anything shared with an app from the same vendor that you still use.

This is the "after the fact" job. If the app is still on your Mac, the guide on how to uninstall apps on Mac completely is easier, because you can read the bundle ID straight from the app before removing it. Here the app is gone, so you work backwards from the files.

Why leftovers pile up

Most people delete apps by dragging them to the Trash. That removes the app bundle but not the settings, caches and data the app wrote to your Library. Over years of trying apps, migrating from Mac to Mac with Migration Assistant, and moving between versions of the same tool, those orphaned files add up. Most are tiny preference files. A few can be large: offline data, downloaded media, old databases, or caches an app never got the chance to trim.

None of this is harmful. An orphaned folder just sits there. You are cleaning it up for space and tidiness, so there is no need to chase every last kilobyte.

Step 1: Make a list of what is still installed

You cannot spot an orphan without knowing what is not one. Print the bundle IDs of everything in your Applications folders:

for app in /Applications/*.app ~/Applications/*.app; do
  mdls -raw -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier "$app" 2>/dev/null; echo "  $app"
done | sort

Keep this list open. Any Library item whose name matches a bundle ID on it belongs to an installed app, so leave it. Note that apps inside subfolders of Applications (some suites install that way) are not caught by this loop; glance at those folders too.

Step 2: Sort the Library folders by size

Start where the space is. These commands list each folder by size, smallest first, so the biggest candidates end up at the bottom:

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -20
du -sh ~/Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -20
du -sh ~/Library/Containers/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -20
du -sh ~/Library/Group\ Containers/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -20

Terminal may need Full Disk Access (System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access) to measure some containers, and macOS may ask for permission before reading data that belongs to other apps. That is expected.

Step 3: Match each folder to an app

Leftovers come in a few naming styles, and recognising them is most of the work:

• Bundle ID: com.vendor.appname. The easiest to match against your list.
• Product or company name: Application Support/Spotify, Application Support/Zoom. Common for apps that are not sandboxed.
• Team ID prefix: items in Group Containers often look like ABCDE12345.com.vendor.shared or group.com.vendor.app. The first part is the developer's team ID, which identifies the vendor, not a single app.
• Helper names: com.vendor.app.helper or com.vendor.app.ShareExtension belong to the main app with the same prefix.

One Finder detail catches people out. In ~/Library/Containers, Finder shows the app's display name (for example "Pages") instead of the folder's real name. Terminal shows the actual bundle ID:

ls ~/Library/Containers

Use Terminal's names when comparing against your installed list.

Preferences of deleted apps

In ~/Library/Preferences, every app gets a file like com.vendor.app.plist. Orphaned ones are harmless and small, but if you want them gone, remove them through the preferences system so the cached copy goes too:

defaults delete com.vendor.app

If the file is still there afterwards, move it to the Trash in Finder. ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost holds per-Mac preference files with the same bundle ID plus a hardware identifier in the name; those can go as well once the app is gone.

Saved state, web data and caches

~/Library/Saved Application State/com.vendor.app.savedState, ~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.vendor.app and ~/Library/WebKit/com.vendor.app are all safe to remove for an app that is not installed. They only matter to the app that wrote them.

Step 4: Watch out for shared vendor folders

This is the step that prevents mistakes. A folder in Group Containers is usually shared by several apps from the same developer. Microsoft's Office apps share UBF8T346G9.Office; a vendor that makes a main app and a companion utility may share one group container between them. If you deleted one app from a vendor but still use another, that shared folder still belongs to an installed app.

The rule: before removing a group container or an Application Support folder named after a company, check your installed list for any other app with the same vendor prefix. If there is one, leave the folder.

Step 5: Check for orphaned background helpers

A deleted app can leave a .plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents that tries to start a helper that no longer exists. List what is loaded:

launchctl list | grep -v com.apple

An agent pointing to a program that is gone does nothing useful. Unload it and move the .plist to the Trash; the guide to removing launch agents on Mac has the exact steps, including the system-wide folders that need an administrator password.

Step 6: Move to Trash, wait, then empty

Move what you found to the Trash in Finder rather than deleting it with rm -rf. Then use your Mac normally for a few days. If an installed app suddenly forgets its settings or asks you to sign in again, you removed something it used, and Finder's Put Back (right-click the item in the Trash) returns it to where it was.

What to leave alone

• Anything starting with com.apple, and Apple folders without that prefix in Application Support, such as AddressBook, CallHistoryDB or CloudDocs.
• ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync, which holds iPhone and iPad backups.
• Folders for apps you still use but forgot about. Check the installed list first.
• Anything you do not recognise and cannot match. Leaving an unknown folder costs nothing.

If you want a closer look at that one folder, is it safe to delete Application Support goes through what typically lives there.

How CleanLoupe does it

The Applications module in CleanLoupe has a view for exactly this: leftovers of apps that are no longer installed. It looks for items named by bundle ID that no longer match an app in /Applications or ~/Applications, and lists those orphaned items from Application Support, Caches, Preferences, Containers, Group Containers, Saved Application State, HTTPStorages, WebKit and LaunchAgents.

It follows the same cautions as the manual method:

• Apple components and common developer tools are skipped, so system folders and tool caches are not offered as leftovers.
• Group Containers are labelled Review.
• Leftovers from a vendor whose other apps are still installed are labelled Careful, because they may be shared.
• Removed items go to the Trash and are recorded in History, where Put Back restores them until you empty the Trash.

Its limits: it matches by bundle ID, so a folder that an app named in some unrelated way may not be recognised, and you can still check those by hand with the steps above. Reading other apps' containers needs Full Disk Access, which is optional. It also does not remove drivers or system extensions that an app installed outside your Library; the app's vendor usually provides a removal tool for those.

If you removed apps recently on macOS 26 Tahoe and are unsure which route deleted what, uninstalling apps on macOS Tahoe covers the methods that replaced Launchpad.

FAQ

How do I find files left behind by uninstalled apps on Mac?

Open ~/Library with Finder's Go to Folder and look in Application Support, Caches, Preferences, Containers and Group Containers for names that match apps you no longer have. Comparing against a list of installed bundle IDs makes it quick to tell orphans from active folders.

Is it safe to delete preferences of deleted apps?

Yes. A preference file only matters to the app that wrote it. If you ever reinstall the app, it starts with default settings.

Why does the Containers folder show app names instead of folder names?

Finder displays a friendly name for each sandboxed app's container. The real folder name is the bundle ID, which you can see with ls ~/Library/Containers in Terminal.

Can deleting leftover files break other apps?

Only if the folder is shared. Group Containers and company-named folders in Application Support can be used by several apps from one vendor, so check that none of them are still installed first.

Do orphaned files slow down a Mac?

Generally no. Orphaned files sit unused. The exception is a launch agent that keeps trying to start a missing helper, which is worth removing for tidiness.

To get the list of orphaned leftovers without building it by hand, download CleanLoupe, free with no account.