AppCleaner
Ranked 2 of 3 Mac cleaners by recommenders
A free Mac app that removes an application along with its leftover preferences and files, and keeps working on newer macOS versions.
A free Mac app that removes an application along with its leftover preferences and files, and keeps working on newer macOS versions.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Removes app and leftover preferences
“does a good job of removing preferences as well as the application”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Samsung Magician disk utility takes 18 steps and two reboots to uninstall” “it should remove all traces of the app from computer”
Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “Unofficial Microsoft Teams client for Linux” Reliable and stays out of the way
“AppCleaner still works fine for me in Sequoia.”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Samsung Magician disk utility takes 18 steps and two reboots to uninstall” “It's so good I just forget it's there.”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “As a Windows user, it's a surreal way to install a program” “I've had success with AppCleaner”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “An Infuriating Goodbye to Photoshop”
Other Mac cleaners people recommend
The two most recommended other Mac cleaners, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mole for Mac | 11 | 1 | 92% | 6 | — | Approved |
| AppCleanerThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Pearcleaner | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's so good I just forget it's there.”
“I've had success with AppCleaner”
“AppCleaner still works fine for me in Sequoia.”
“does a good job of removing preferences as well as the application”
“it should remove all traces of the app from computer”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.