Review an app before it goes
App cleaner scans only when you pick or drop an app, and nothing moves until you confirm. You can also start in the command bar: type uninstall or remove and the app’s name, such as uninstall example, and choose a row to open the review.
- Turn on App cleaner in Features. It is off by default.
- Open App cleaner. It lists the apps in /Applications and ~/Applications with their version and size; Apple’s apps and Frog are not listed. Search by name or bundle ID, sort by name or size, then click an app or press Return. You can also drop an app from Finder onto the page.
- Review what Frog found. Notices above the list say when the app is running (Frog quits it first), when it comes with its own uninstaller (Open Uninstaller opens it), when it has a system extension, and when some items need Full Disk Access.
- Tick or untick items; each row shows its size and a Reveal in Finder button. Then choose Move to Trash…, check the list in the confirmation, and choose Move to Trash.
How sure Frog is that a file belongs to the app
Frog groups the files it finds by how sure it is that they belong to the app. Only sure and likely matches start ticked, and the line under each item gives the reason, such as “Named after the bundle ID com.example.app.” Frog never ticks possible matches, items used by other apps, or group containers; tick them yourself when you know they can go.
- App: the app itself.
- Sure matches: named after the app’s bundle ID, one of its parts, or one of its app groups, or a background service that starts a program inside the app.
- Likely matches: named exactly after the app, when that name is distinctive enough.
- Possible matches: names that only resemble the app. They appear only with Show possible matches on in Cleaner settings.
- Used by other apps: another installed app claims the same name or ID.
Moving to the Trash
Nothing moves until you choose Move to Trash in the confirmation; Return alone does not confirm it. Your own files move with the Mac’s normal Move to Trash. Apps, containers, and items that belong to the system move through Finder, the app first: macOS asks once whether Frog may control Finder, and for system items Finder asks for your administrator password. Frog never sees it. If the app does not move, for example because the password prompt was cancelled, its other files stay where they are, and the review keeps them ticked to try again.
Background services whose files move are stopped first. If an app does not quit, Frog asks before it force quits it. The space is freed only when you empty the Trash yourself.
Put items back
Recently moved, the clock button at the top of the page, lists what Frog moved to the Trash in the last 30 days. Put Back returns your own items to their original places. Put Back in Finder opens the Trash for items Frog cannot put back itself, such as items that belong to the system. Remove from this list forgets the record only.
Items can be put back only while they are in the Trash. Recently moved marks items that are no longer there, and Put Back leaves alone an item that has since taken the same name in the Trash. After you empty the Trash, the items are gone.
What App cleaner reads and never touches
App cleaner sends nothing over the network. It reads file and folder names, launchd property lists, and the apps’ Info.plist files and code signatures, never the contents of other files. Full Disk Access is optional: without it, protected items stay unread, and those Frog would move itself show Needs Full Disk Access. Finder still moves containers without it. Once you allow it, Frog measures what it could not. The Put Back list stays on this Mac in ~/Library/Application Support/Frog/Cleaner/ and is not exported. Whatever found an item, Frog never offers or moves these:
- Apple’s own files, including anything with com.apple. in its name, Shortcuts data, and the system folders.
- iCloud Drive and synced folders.
- Mail, Messages, Safari, and Photos libraries, and keychains.
- A whole Library folder, items already in the Trash, and Frog’s own app, data, and settings.
- Items macOS protects, paths that pass through a link, and anything outside the Applications and Library folders it cleans.