AppKit | AppKit | AppKit | SwiftUI | AppKit | AppKit | AppKit | SwiftUI | AppKit | SwiftUI | SwiftUI | AppKit |

#### Selection of apps to be removed
The apps I chose to uninstall were picked to represent a broad spectrum of popular Mac apps across different categories and using various tech stacks. I used AppDetective to figure out the framework each application used and Apparency to see if an app was sandboxed. Specifically, I picked and installed the following apps directly from their websites:

| App | Acorn | Bitwarden | BusyCal | Google Chrome | IINA | Microsoft Teams | Notion | PDF Expert | Raycast | Rectangle Pro |
|-------------|:--------------------------------------:|:--------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------------------:|:------------------------:|:------------------------------------------------------------:|:---------------------------------:|:------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------:|:------------------------------------------:|
| Developer | Flying Meat Inc. | Bitwarden Inc. | Beehive Innovations | Google LLC | Collider LI | Microsoft Corporation | Notion Labs, Inc. | Readlle Technologies Ltd. | Raycast Technologies Inc. | Ryan Hanson |
| Version | 8.3.2 | 2025.11.2 | 2025.4.2 | 142.0.744.176 | 1.4.1 | 25306.805.4102.7211 | 4.24.0 | 3.10.23 | 1.103.10 | 3.64 |
| Framework | AppKit | Electron | SwiftUI | AppKit | SwiftUI | SwiftUI | Electron | SwiftUI | SwiftUI | AppKit |
| App Sandbox | - | - | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | - | - | - | - |

### Data Collection
After uninstalling all the chosen apps using each respective uninstaller application, I ran a leftover file search with Find Any File. To keep things fair and comparable, I used the exact same search parameters across all apps: the precise application name as listed in the first

column of the table below. For comparison, I also conducted a file search before any uninstallation by the tested tools (first column) and another search after uninstalling apps the classic Apple way – by dragging them from the Applications folder to the Trash (and then emptying it). The numbers in the cells tell you how many leftover files for a specific app were found after the uninstallation process.

| App | Files Detected Before Removal | Uninstall via Finder | App Cleaner & Uninstaller | AppCleaner | AppZapper | BuhoCleaner | CCleaner | CleanMyMac | Hazel | MacKeeper | OnyX | Pearcleaner | Remove-It | Sensei | System Toolkit Pro | TrashMe |
|--------------------------------------------------------------|:-----------------------------:|:--------------------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------:|:---------------------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------:|:------------------------------------:|:------------------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------:|
| Acorn | 46 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 17 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 4 |
| Bitwarden | 21 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| BusyCal | 53 | 38

| 4 | 16 | 38 | 25 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 21 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 6 |
| Google Chrome | 24 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| IINA | 26 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| Microsoft Teams | 57 | 33 | 9 | 13 | 32 | 14 | 11 | 16 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 18 |
| Notion | 19 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1

| 4 | 8 | 2 |
| PDF Expert | 45 | 43 | 4 | 8 | 40 | 13 | 34 | 12 | 34 | 12 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 35 | 39 | 31 |
| Raycast | 45 | 28 | 4 | 9 | 24 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 4 |
| Rectangle Pro | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 341 | 201 | 33 | 58 | 175 | 93 | 75 | 70 | 85 | 83 | 35 | 23 | 19 | 80 | 125 | 71 |

### Result
So, what did we find? Remove-It really shined, proving to be the most efficient uninstaller tool in this test, clearing out about 94.4% of all the files Find Any File could locate. Pearcleaner wasn't far behind, hitting 93.3%. On the flip side, the least effective method was the classic Apple way of uninstalling, just dragging apps to the Trash. Among the third-party tools, AppZapper (48.7%) and System Toolkit Pro

(63.3%) were the least efficient.

1. Remove-It (94.4%)
2. Pearcleaner (93.3%)
3. App Cleaner & Uninstaller (90.3%)
4. OnyX (89.7%)
5. AppCleaner (83.0%)
6. CleanMyMac (79.5%)
7. TrashMe (79.2%)
8. CCleaner (78.0%)
9. Sensei (76.5%)
10. MacKeeper (75.7%)
11. Hazel (75.1%)
12. BuhoCleaner (72.7%)
13. System Toolkit Pro (63.3%)
14. AppZapper (48.7%)
15. Uninstall via Finder (41.1%)

### Discussion
Now, I have to be clear: this test isn't meant to be the be-all and end-all. It's just a small snapshot, a single test in a very specific environment. This isn't some academic paper, and I'm certainly not claiming it is. The results could look totally different with other apps installed, on different macOS versions, or even with newer versions of the apps themselves. How much and what features of specific apps were used could also play a role. But despite all that, this testing method gave us a pretty good idea of how the most popular uninstaller apps for macOS stack up against each other in a controlled environment. And it definitely showed that there are some remarkable differences in how well they clean up leftover files.

### Conclusion
Ultimately, it's pretty clear that the quality of these apps doesn't necessarily depend on their price tag. Among the top five uninstaller tools I tested, three are completely free. And the overall winner, Remove-It, is available for a comparable low €7.99 (about $9.30). Honestly, that was a bit of a surprise to me, but it just goes to show once again that free software can be just as good, if not better, than paid tools. Of course, many of the paid tools do offer a wider range of features than their free counterparts, which probably explains the price differences. In the end, everyone should really try out these tools in their own setup and decide what works best for them.

Disclaimer: I am neither the developer nor affiliated with any of the apps mentioned.

https://redd.it/1pfnmh1
@macappsbackup

Seeking for a feedback

Hi

New milestone achieved 🏄 I've added voice recognition to my project, very fancy animation, and model improvements.

So I'm thinking right now, should I've added a "persona" here, so you can use this tool not only for summary but also for writing a text?

I'm a bit stuck on which direction to move, but I've already achived everything that I wanted to make a summarization tool. I don't know where to move, but I also know that making an AI writing assistant could be huge chunk of work

https://reddit.com/link/1pfoxhp/video/55o8jy9y1l5g1/player

https://redd.it/1pfoxhp
@macappsbackup

Developer oriented Disk Cleaner App written in Rust + Tauri
https://github.com/ozankasikci/rust-disk-cleaner

https://redd.it/1pfobo5
@macappsbackup

What were the best new apps of 2025? Someone else's, brand new, released first in 2025

I'm looking to see what I've been missing out on. I realized this week that there are all these cool new software things that I could've been using and yet I'm over here banging rocks together with Ogg and Ugg. Let's hype stranger's new apps (don't shill or self-promote) and try to avoid just talking about updates. Let's accept third-party add-ons, though. For example, the OpenVINO plugins were finally supported buy Audacity for macOS. Audacity ® | OpenVINO AI Plugins are now available for macOS. I think another big app release was the Affinity all-in-one designer bundle (leaving aside what we might think about it foretelling it becoming abandonware because it was purchased by Canva). Apple's apps of the year for all of its OSes are here.

https://redd.it/1pfqwzx
@macappsbackup

I built a Kanban board for macOS per-app audio routing

https://i.redd.it/6q8tzrfuol5g1.gif


You know that moment when you're deep in focus with Spotify in your headphones, and then SLACK goes "BONK" at full volume because macOS just... doesn't let you route apps to different outputs?

I've tried the existing tools. They give you volume sliders. They give you dropdown menus. But when you have 15 apps open and 3 audio devices, it becomes a mess.

So I built AudiDeck — it's literally a Kanban board for your audio.

\- Drag Spotify to Headphones

\- Drag Slack to Speakers

\- Drag Zoom to Monitor

That's it. No menus. No sliders. Just drag and drop.

Still in development but collecting emails for early access at audideck.app

Would love feedback from fellow audio-frustrated Mac users. What features would you want?

https://redd.it/1pfrn9a
@macappsbackup

Program Request(s): App Launcher

I have a large number of apps, that I have on login. However, throughout my day, some get closed by accident, the odd one doesn’t launch, and some
of them are background apps. I would love to have this list of apps that I want open, and whether they are open, and if they are not, I can click, and launch.

The closest thing I’ve found is startup manager. However, it mainly controls what starts up but it can be finicky. For example, I’ve managed to get it so 99% of my apps startup in the background I don’t get blasted with open apps when I login.

1) Is there an app that isn’t a startup app that can accomplish this?

Second Request:

Some apps doesn’t close to background when you click x. They just close. 95% of apps are good with this but the odd one isn’t. Is there a program that makes it doesn’t close, but stays in the background.

I really appreciate the feedback!

https://redd.it/1pfs2l2
@macappsbackup

What is the best Mac Audio Player (Not Streaming Service)?

I want to ditch Deezer after I canceled Spotify 2 months ago. Deezer is not that bad and way better than Spotify but I’m not listening to new music that often anymore so I thought about just going oldschool and buying music again.
There are whole FLAC albums on sale for 6€. On the other hand every streaming service costs me 1400€ in 10 years. That’s a lot of bought albums…

So what is the best player for that kind of usage?

https://redd.it/1pfv4fy
@macappsbackup

macos/web hortcuts to make highlighting text easier

Are there any shortcuts to make highlighting text easier?

If not, could you add a feature like in Microsoft Word where you can select and highlight a sentence by clicking while holding down the command key? Or something more practical.

For example, highlighting the entire sentence with a single click (not just the word). 

https://redd.it/1pfw2pn
@macappsbackup

NotchPrompter - free and open-source teleprompter for macOS
https://redd.it/1pfxucu
@macappsbackup

Taskbar for macOS – just a Windows-style taskbar I made for myself and ended up using every day
https://redd.it/1pfzeoc
@macappsbackup

Ripple, a Dynamic Island app for Windows, Mac, and Linux is out
https://github.com/TopMyster/Ripple/releases/tag/v1

https://redd.it/1pfzki6
@macappsbackup

Bye-bye Adobe

Today marks the day I removed all Adobe apps from my Mac. It's like a virus—notoriously hard to clean. I've been thinking about this for a long time, but like most people, I was 1) too lazy or busy to learn new software and 2) not all alternative software was ready. Let me explain.

Why I ditched Adobe:

For starters, they aren't a great company from a creative standpoint. They have bought and eliminated many competitors.

Their software is old and bloated. I have a very expensive, high-end workstation, and even on that machine, After Effects struggles.

Their practices are hostile and manipulative. They force you to pay for a year and hit users with unexpected cancellation fees.

Despite these issues, their software remains an industry standard. I started learning it about 10 years ago and became quite proficient, especially with Photoshop, Lightroom, and After Effects.

These are the three main apps I needed to find replacements for. My main rule was no more subnoscriptions, at least not for basic functionality (AI fee is okay).

Starting with Photoshop, a solution came to me. About a month ago, Affinity launched their revamped app, and it's decent. It requires a lot of learning, but I picked up the main operations pretty quickly. I wish them luck. For most tasks, like creating YouTube thumbnails, Affinity is sufficient for me. Of course, I will miss the generative fill feature the most, but we'll see how it goes.

The second one, which is harder, is Lightroom. I used to edit tons of photos every month, but not anymore. I still wanted something that was a one-time purchase and fairly functional. It also needed to be available on my phone, essentially like Lightroom. After extensive searching, I finally decided to buy Photomator. I know, it might not be your first choice, but it's functional, the design is acceptable, all my photos are already in the Photos app, and it has a one-time purchase option along with an iPhone app. I know Apple hasn't updated it in a year, which is a red flag, but I still have hope. Maybe it will buy me 1-2 years until Affinity rolls out a Lightroom alternative. We will see.

The last one, the hardest, is After Effects. I love and hate After Effects. As a motion designer, After Effects is essentially my bread and butter. But it's time to move on. I still have it at work, so I'm covered for now. If I need to use it at home, I considered creating a second user account on my Mac, using a pirated version, and then deleting it. The issue is that with each app, you need Creative Cloud (even for the pirated version), which installs a bunch of additional software on my Mac. I want to avoid that.

In the meantime, I will be learning Blender and Cavalry. Unreal also has motion design features. This will slow me down significantly, but I think it's beneficial in the long run.

Wish me luck on this journey.

https://redd.it/1pg6xm3
@macappsbackup

Neofinder: Why such a short sale window?

So, as I was quite often checking for a sale for Neofinder, seeing as it has now its 30th birthday and they had no Black Friday sale, I was shocked to see such a short sale window. I mean only a little more as a day for a sale? Nearly did not get it for the discount as only 8 minutes were left.




https://redd.it/1pg7jib
@macappsbackup

I am loving MusicHarbor

MusicHarbor is a universal app (it has a version for iPhone, iPad, Mac) that allows you to track releases from artists you follow.

Before finding MusicHarbor I was relying on Apple Music but found the notifications of new albums to be... inconsistent at best.

You can import all your artists from Apple Music, Last.fm, Spotify, and your own local library.

Once you have the artist imported it's easy to see new releases for each artist, including if they are featured on another artist's release.

It's a little pricey for the one-time purchase option, but there are also subnoscriptions if that's something that fits your budget better.

Other users have made posts about it in the past, but it's been a while and the developer is still updating it frequently. I have also found the developer to be responsive when I have reached out with suggestions or questions.

The only downside is the initial price to get in, but I am very glad I spent the money because I use it every week and nothing else comes close to being as good.

https://redd.it/1pg8b4z
@macappsbackup

Any way to TYPE in enclosed characters on a Mac?

On my Android phone, I have a fantastic keyboard app called Irregular Expressions, which enables me to just type in 🄰🄻🄻 🅺🅸🅽🅳🆂 𝚘𝚏 𝕕𝕚𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕥 unicode-based 𝓯𝓸𝓷𝓽 ⓢⓣⓨⓛⓔⓢ 🅣🅗🅐🅣 ωσяк ǝɹǝɥʍʎuɐ.

As far as I know, there's no way to do this on a Mac — instead you have to use Character Viewer, and click enclosed characters and the like one. character. at. a. time.

Does anyone know if there's an app that lets you just type in, for example, enclosed alphanumerics? I realize it would probably only work within the app itself, and I'd have to copy-paste the results out of the app. But I'd love to be able to do this without having to switch to my phone.

https://redd.it/1pgbokw
@macappsbackup

My Go To Apps

‏ My schedule is usually packed, and I’m constantly balancing work and personal projects. Productivity apps became a huge part of how I stay organized. These are some of my favorites

Ice – I used it until I upgraded to macOS 26 last week. It’s incredibly powerful

https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice

‏LibreOffice – My go to for working with Office files.

https://www.libreoffice.org/

‏DynamicLake – I mainly use it for handling calls and converting files, but also for music

https://www.dynamiclake.com

‏Paste – The best clipboard manager in my opinion. I also tried Maccy, but Paste works better for me

https://pasteapp.io/

‏Whisper – I don’t need it often, but when I do, it’s been extremely helpful

https://apps.apple.com/il/app/whisper-trannoscription/id1668083311

‏Lookaway – I tried the trial version and I’m considering buying it

https://lookaway.com

‏CleanShot X – My tool for taking screenshots

https://cleanshot.com

https://redd.it/1pgdsdv
@macappsbackup

I’ll miss the "UNREAD" filter of FB Messenger

https://redd.it/1pgg2ot
@macappsbackup