Sending an app to the trash bin doesn’t always get rid of all its associated files. These can include user preferences and cache files, and they are usually left behind, partly to preserve your settings if you were to ever reinstall said application.
Remove-It, previously known as iTrash, is one of many uninstallers that can help you keep your Mac clean by searching for and getting rid of all related files when an application is deleted. It can also look for files left behind from apps that have already been removed.
Simple drag & drop uninstaller
To uninstall one or more apps, you just have to drop them in the main application window. Remove-It will start looking for all related files and list them before they are deleted for good. Here, you can select which of them should be kept, as well as browse to their location in Finder.
There’s also an Expert mode, which runs a more comprehensive search in order to find other potentially related files. However, as the in-app warning clearly states, this functions should be used with caution, as it can lead to unrelated files being removed as well.
Application lister and lost file finder
To make uninstalling easier, the app provides you with a full list of all installed software, which also shows you their versions and location. It can also show you LaunchDaemons and LaunchAgents, which may have been left behind by removed software or are just slowing down your Mac’s boot time.
If you’ve already uninstalled apps before using Remove-It, their leftover files will be harder to locate. The utility can attempt to find these items, but you should always double-check them to ensure they really are unnecessary. No such files were found while testing the app, so it’s difficult to say how effective this feature is.
Ghost mode and blocklist
To avoid bringing up the main UI, you can enable ghost mode, which opens Remove-It automatically whenever you send an app to the trash bin. It can certainly save you a bit of time, not to mention space in your Dock.
If you want to make sure that certain folders are kept safe, you can add them to the blocklist, which prevents items from that location from being removed. There’s also an ignorelist, which skips folders from the search altogether.
What’s New:
Version 1.4.0:
Improved search algorithm for macOS 14
Compatibility: macOS 10.14 or later