Help

Uninstall Applications

In the Applications section, you can find all installed apps on your Mac and the lists of their service files. The Apps / Remains switch above the list moves you between installed apps and the files left behind by apps you deleted earlier.

Click on any app to see more information about it in the right column. There, you can also view its detailed security profile, including:

• App Verification: Verification that the app is recognized by Apple as safe and malware-free.
• App Access: A transparent view and control center for the sensitive data apps can access. Effortlessly manage your privacy by reviewing and disabling permissions for your Camera, Microphone, Location, and more.
• AI App Summary: A smart description of what the app does, helping you identify forgotten, unknown apps.

If you want to delete an app completely, follow these two easy steps:

1. Select an app you want to remove and click the Uninstall button.
2. Confirm the removal by clicking the Remove button.

If you want to clean up an app and remove only its support files in order to free up some space on your disk or reset an app to the first-launch state, then do the following:

1. Enable Expert Mode.
2. Select all associated files except for the executable.
3. Click the Remove button.
4. Review the selected files, then confirm the removal.

To reset an app to its first-launch state, right-click the app in the list and select Reset Application.

Manage startup apps

When you turn on your Mac, several applications and services may start automatically in the background. While some are necessary, too many startup items can significantly increase boot time and consume valuable CPU and RAM resources, slowing down your system.

The Startup Programs section provides a comprehensive overview of everything that launches at login, including hidden background processes that are usually difficult to find.

How to manage startup items:

1. Go to the Startup Programs tab in the left sidebar.
2. You will see a list of login items, launch agents, and system daemons.
3. Use the On/Off switch next to any item to disable it.

Control Network Access

The Network Access section shows which apps on your Mac use the internet, how much traffic each of them moves, and lets you block the ones you do not want online. Traffic analysis happens on your Mac – nothing about your activity is uploaded.

How to turn on network monitoring:

1. Open the Network Access tab and click Turn on Network Monitoring.

2. Click OK if macOS asks whether the app may use a new network extension.

3. In System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions, scroll to Extensions, switch to By Category, click ⓘ next to Network Extensions and make sure App Cleaner & Uninstaller is turned on.

4. Back in the app, click Allow on the “Would Like to Filter Network Content” prompt.

Once monitoring is on, the list groups apps by how much traffic they have moved. Select any app to see its incoming and outgoing traffic, when it was last online, its share of your Mac’s total traffic, and a plain-language summary of why it goes online.

How to block an app from the internet:

1. Go to the Network Access tab.
2. Find the app you want to cut off.
3. Switch the toggle next to it OFF, or select the app and use the Internet Access switch in the right panel.

To lift every block at once, open Settings → Advanced and click Reset Internet Blocks for Apps.

Manage Extensions

App Cleaner & Uninstaller allows you to manage and remove user and system extensions from your Mac:

• Installation Files – the .dmg and .pkg files you downloaded to install apps. Once an app is installed, you rarely need it again.
• Web Browser Extensions – add-ons that modify and extend your browsers.
• Screen Savers – programs that fill the screen when the computer is not in use.
• Settings Panes – dynamically loaded plugins that appear in macOS System Settings to customize the behavior of third-party apps.
• Internet Plugins – components that add specific features for internet browsing.
• Widgets – small programs that show information at a glance.

Launch agents, login items, and system daemons moved to the Startup Programs section, where you can disable or delete them.

To remove unneeded extensions, do the following:

1. Locate and select the extensions you want to remove.
2. Click the Remove button.
3. Confirm the removal.

You can also open each extension file in Finder right from the application. For this, just click Reveal in Finder.

Important note: be careful when you remove system extensions such as screen savers, settings panes, Internet plugins, and widgets. Removal of important items may disrupt system operations.

Settings Panes

Also, you can open a settings pane by clicking the Gear icon next to the pane’s name.

Permission

But note that when you do it for the first time, the system will ask your permission to allow App Cleaner & Uninstaller to control System Settings. Click OK to allow quick access to the settings panes from App Cleaner & Uninstaller.

If, for some reason, you clicked “Don’t Allow,” and now you want to change the permission, do the following:

1. Open System Settings.
2. Go to the Privacy & Security section.
3. Scroll down and click Automation.
4. Select App Cleaner & Uninstaller and enable Automation for it.

Delete Remaining Files

The remaining files are broken service files of already deleted apps. When you remove apps by simply putting them into the Trash, their service files stay on the disk. With App Cleaner & Uninstaller, you can find and remove them: open the Applications section and switch the list from Apps to Remains.

1. Open the Applications section and switch the list to Remains.
2. Select an element from the list to see all related files in the right column.
3. Select the remains you want to clear and click the Remove button.
4. Confirm the removal.

Note: Please make sure you don’t need these files when removing the remains. Deleting certain files without removing the app can cause malfunctions.

Update Apps

Keeping your software up to date is essential for your Mac’s security and performance.

App Cleaner & Uninstaller’s Updates feature makes this process easy and quick. Instead of opening every individual app to check for updates or searching the web for the latest versions, you can manage everything from a single window. Version 10 added more than 1,200 apps to the update database and now covers Safari extensions and Homebrew command-line tools as well, and installing updates became faster and more reliable.

How to update apps:

1. Go to the Updates tab in the left sidebar.
2. Review the list of outdated applications.
3. Select the checkboxes for the apps you wish to refresh.
4. Click the Update button and confirm the action.

The list is grouped into Updates from Mac App Store and Updates from developer sites, and items installed through Homebrew carry a Homebrew badge. Tick Select all applications for update to queue everything at once.
 

Change Settings

You can customize App Cleaner & Uninstaller in its Settings, which you open from the menu bar. The Settings window has seven tabs: General, Locations, Skip List, Remove, Helper, Disk Access, and Advanced.

General Tab

In the General tab, you can change the following settings:

• Detect apps moved to Trash and offer full removal – get notified when you delete an app, so you can clear its leftover files at the same time.
• Show system applications – display built-in macOS apps in the list. These cannot be removed, but you can reset them by clearing their service files.
• Help improve the app by sharing anonymous usage data – lets the app collect anonymous usage data to improve performance. You can disable it at any time.

Locations

By default, App Cleaner & Uninstaller searches for apps in the /Applications, ~/Applications, and /System/Applications folders. In the Locations tab, you can add other folders to be scanned for apps and extensions. Use the “+” and “–” buttons to add or exclude a folder.

Skip List

In this tab, you can exclude apps from being scanned by App Cleaner & Uninstaller.

This option will be helpful when you want to avoid accidental uninstallation of some apps and prefer not to see them in the Applications section of the uninstaller. Use the “+” and “–” buttons to add or remove apps from the Skip List.

Remove

In the Remove tab, you can set up the following settings:

• Removal method – choose Move to Trash (the default, so you can restore items) or Delete items permanently.
• Remind me to clean up unused apps – get reminders to check apps you have not opened in a while.
• Show detailed summary after successful removal or update – get a full report of everything that was cleared or updated.

Helper

The Helper tab allows you to add the App Cleaner & Uninstaller menu bar agent. Redesigned in version 10, this background tool gives you quick access to core features and keeps an eye on your system in real time.

From the menu bar icon, you can quickly view and manage:

• Applications – how much disk space your installed apps take up in total.
• App updates – how many updates are waiting to be installed.
• Startup apps – how many items launch with your Mac.
• Network access – how many apps are allowed online and how many you have blocked.

Disk Access

In the Disk Access tab, you can verify whether you have granted the application the permissions it needs.

For security reasons, macOS requires manual authorization for apps to access private data. Because App Cleaner & Uninstaller scans your whole drive to locate service files, manage extensions, and restore items from the Trash, it requires Full Disk Access.

Advanced

The Advanced tab allows you to customize intelligent detection features and the overall look of the application:

• Outdated apps criteria – set the “last opened” period after which an app is flagged as outdated.
• Appearance mode – choose the Light or Dark theme, or Auto to match your macOS appearance.
• Apple Intelligence – enable “App Summary powered by Apple Intelligence” to get brief, AI-generated explanations of what your apps do.
• Reset Internet Blocks for Apps – lift every internet block you set in the Network Access section, in one click.
• Reset Application Settings – restore all preferences to their factory defaults.

 

Use Shortcuts

App Cleaner & Uninstaller provides built-in shortcuts you can use to run some commands. Here is a short list of them:

⌘R – rescan apps and service files
⌘O – open Finder to choose a specific app for uninstallation
⌘⌥O – open Finder to choose a specific app and remove its service files
⌘⇧O – show the selected app in Finder
⌘I – show information about the selected app
⌘, – open Settings (you can also navigate between Settings tabs via ⌘1–⌘7)
⌘1 – switch to the Applications section
⌘2 – switch to the Updates section
⌘3 – switch to the Startup Programs section
⌘4 – switch to the Network Access section
⌘5 – switch to the Extensions section
⌘A – for the selected app, select all its files for removal (in Expert Mode)
⌘⇧A – for the selected app, select only its service files for removal (in Expert Mode)
⌘D – deselect marks from all previously selected items (in Expert Mode)

Troubleshooting

Error with Deleting Apps

Sometimes, it happens that while uninstalling some apps, you face an error with deleting their service files and folders. In this case, App Cleaner & Uninstaller shows an exclamation mark in the Removal window.

Here are the reasons why the files can’t be deleted:

• There are running processes in the background related to the app. So check the running processes using Activity Monitor, close processes related to the app you want to uninstall, and try once again to remove the files.
• The apps have kernel extensions that protect themselves from being removed. It is possible to remove kext files only in the recovery mode of your Mac. After removing the kext files, you will be able to uninstall apps completely.
• The files are protected from removal by System Integrity Protection (SIP) by Apple. Some apps can create files that Apple thinks are default system files, and, as a result, it does not allow removing them. To solve this issue, you have to disable the Apple System Integrity Protection.

Get the License

App Cleaner & Uninstaller provides a free trial with unlimited features. Once the trial ends, you have to get a license to use the app without any limitations.

1. Click Unlock Full Version at the top.
2. Click Go to Purchase.
3. Select the license option and make the purchase.
4. As soon as the transaction is complete, you will get the license code by email.
5. Then use this key to activate App Cleaner & Uninstaller’s full version.

Uninstallation Guide

If, for any reason, you want to delete App Cleaner & Uninstaller or reinstall it, follow these steps:

1. Open App Cleaner & Uninstaller.
2. Go to its Settings from the menu bar.
3. Switch to the Advanced tab.
4. Scroll down and click on Remove.

The app will be completely deleted from your Mac.

If you have an earlier version of App Cleaner & Uninstaller or you want to do a manual sweep, follow these steps to uninstall the app:

1. Go to the Applications folder and remove App Cleaner & Uninstaller from there.
2. Now you need to find and delete the app’s support files. To find them, open Finder and press Cmd+Shift+G.
3. In the pop-up that appears, type ~/Library and press Return.

4. In Library, find and remove the following subfolders related to the app:

   • ~/Library/Application Support/com.nektony.App-Cleaner-Pro
   • ~/Library/Application Scripts/com.nektony.App-Cleaner-Pro
   • ~/Library/Caches/com.nektony.App-Cleaner-Pro
   • ~/Library/Preferences/com.nektony.App-Cleaner-Pro.plist
5. Empty the Trash and restart your Mac.