However, note that on macOS Monterey, the apps can be restored after enabling SIP. Usually, after deleting the apps, we recommend enabling back the System Integrity Protection in order to not remove other important apps by mistake. QuickTime: sudo rm -rf QuickTime\ Player.app/.Please be careful: when you remove items via Terminal, the system does not ask for confirmation. To remove apps with Terminal, use the command Now you can start deleting applications using Terminal. Then type another command to show the application directory and press the Return (Enter) key.Ĭd /Volumes/ /System/Applications – use this command if you have macOS 10.15Ĭd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/ApplicationsĬd /Volumes/ /Applications – use this command if you have macOS 10.14
→ enter the password → and then mount the folder. *If you signed into the user account, first use this command to re-login: Mount the “ /“ folder to have Read & Write permission. However, if you have already signed into the user account, you can use a special command right in the Terminal to re-login. You can remove default apps only if you have administrator rights.
How to uninstall default apps on Mac with Terminalĭespite the warning, it is possible to remove unnecessary standard programs via Terminal. However, if you are a computer geek and understand which default programs are safe to remove, you can do it via Terminal. This rule is extremely important for inexperienced users. Apple doesn’t allow you to delete its necessary apps.
Although you can download Safari or iTunes from the official Apple website, other important programs are not available to be restored. It is prohibited to delete standard applications in a regular way due to the fact that the removal of built-in applications may damage the viability of the system. If you have tried to uninstall Safari, Photos, Mail, iTunes, or other standard macOS applications, you might have seen this error message about the impossibility of deleting these apps because it’s a requirement of macOS. Why are default Apple apps protected from being removed
If you uninstall default system applications, they can be restored when you update or upgrade your macOS.If you don’t use them, they don’t accumulate caches or other service files and as a result, they don’t take much space on your drive. Generally, you don’t need to uninstall default apps from your Mac.Important notes about uninstalling default applications on Mac