Clean up leftover files from uninstalled apps on Mac

Dragging an app to the Trash removes the .app bundle but leaves behind caches, preferences, application support data, and sometimes a launch agent that quietly keeps running. Over years, those leftovers can add up to many gigabytes.

Where the leftovers live

Six locations cover almost everything:

1. ~/Library/Application Support/[App Name]/ — the biggest one. App databases, settings, caches the developer chose to put here.
2. ~/Library/Caches/[bundle.id]/ — caches.
3. ~/Library/Preferences/[bundle.id].plist — settings file.
4. ~/Library/Containers/[bundle.id]/ — for sandboxed apps (most modern ones), everything app-specific lives here.
5. ~/Library/LaunchAgents/[bundle.id].plist — background launch agent.
6. ~/Library/Logs/[App Name]/ — log files.

The bundle ID is the reverse-domain identifier, like com.figma.Desktop.

How to find leftovers for a specific app

Open Terminal and search by app name:

find ~/Library -iname "*figma*" 2>/dev/null

Replace figma with the app you uninstalled. That lists every file or folder in your Library matching the name.

How to find leftovers in bulk

To see your biggest Application Support folders:

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

That gives you a sorted list. Anything for an app you no longer have installed is fair game.

Safe deletion order

1. Confirm the app is actually uninstalled (Applications folder).
2. Quit any related processes (Activity Monitor).
3. Drag the leftover folders to the Trash.
4. Empty the Trash when you're sure the app is staying gone.

Don’t permanent-delete with rm -rf — if you change your mind about reinstalling, the Trash gives you a recovery window.

The “I have leftovers from apps I don’t remember installing” problem

If Application Support has folders from apps you’ve never heard of, they were probably installed as helpers by something else (Adobe, Microsoft, browser extensions). Search the folder name in Spotlight Search before deleting — sometimes they’re still needed.

The duplicate angle

Uninstalled apps often leave duplicate exports behind: the same project file saved in ~/Documents and in the app’s Application Support folder, the same media imported into multiple apps’ libraries, etc. After cleaning leftovers, run a duplicate scan to catch the orphaned copies.

Download Dupe. It SHA-256 hashes every file and groups byte-identical matches, so you can confirm a copy in your Documents folder is the same file before deleting the one in some old app’s data folder. $14.99 once, Trash-only, never touches system files or app bundles.