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De-bloating/uninstalling Default Apps

I discovered a huge multi-gigabyte cache file related to Photos.app. So I stopped using Photos.app. That will help save on free SSD space. Might have been at
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Photos/Data/Library/Caches
but I cannot recall for certain. Huge, huge amount of data saved there.
 
Another thing I've done is to prevent Spotlight from searching some or all drives, as the mds_stores process seems to run all the dang time otherwise. 'Course the downside is you lose much of the functionality of spotlight.
 
capamac said:
Another thing I've done is to prevent Spotlight from searching some or all drives, as the mds_stores process seems to run all the dang time otherwise. 'Course the downside is you lose much of the functionality of spotlight.
Click to expand...
I’ve had that problem too. It seems like it will just run forever and fill the drive with useless data. I’ve resorted to third party search apps for some drives
 
I’ll repeat what I’ve said in a previous similar tread that it’s not about the size.
macOS bloatware is dangerous. Apple’s apps have special permissions and can have vulnerabilities that can be exploited. And they have been, most frequently iMessage. (I’m excluding Safari/Webkit from the bloatware category).

"Install Customisation - MacOs"
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/install-customisation-macos.2461875/
 
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bogdanw said:
I’ll repeat what I’ve said in a previous similar tread that it’s not about the size.
macOS bloatware is dangerous. Apple’s apps have special permissions and can have vulnerabilities that can be exploited. And they have been, most frequently iMessage. (I’m excluding Safari/Webkit from the bloatware category).

"Install Customisation - MacOs"
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/install-customisation-macos.2461875/
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Interesting perspective, I hadn't considered that. In fact, security is another reason to let the user choose before installing them (and to be able to install them later if needed).

For those who want a more streamlined view of their apps, I tried this: I created a folder with aliases of the applications folder, deleted what I never needed, deleted what was already in the dock, and added the three utilities I actually use (in applications/utilities ex terminal,..). I customized the folder icon and put it in the dock (list view, as a folder).

It's not very dynamic, but now finding an app is very quick.
 
capamac said:
I discovered a huge multi-gigabyte cache file related to Photos.app. So I stopped using Photos.app. That will help save on free SSD space. Might have been at
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Photos/Data/Library/Caches
but I cannot recall for certain. Huge, huge amount of data saved there.
Click to expand...
mine is 3.7mb 🤷

i requested (years ago, in the feedback assistant app) to make chess, etc app store apps, not part of the OS. but apple does what it chooses to do. on my 1tb drive), 600 meg isn't urgent, but it's still 600 megs...
 
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You can use an app like Little Snitch to prevent an app from accessing the internet. It would all but negate any security risk of said app barring a complete take over of one’s Mac. If that isn’t a concern, I would leave the stock apps alone and focus on something else.
 
Apple_Robert said:
You can use an app like Little Snitch to prevent an app from accessing the internet. It would all but negate any security risk of said app barring a complete take over of one’s Mac. If that isn’t a concern, I would leave the stock apps alone and focus on something else.
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These are Apple apps, so you can't really know what to block and what not to block.
 
could it be the poster would like to disable the daemons that run in the background lowering the system loads, that would effectively remove a memory footprint but not a drive footprint
 
WarmWinterHat said:
You can delete stock apps on the iPhone and iPad; why the hell not on macOS?!

I don't get it, at all.
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Actually, in regards to the iOS / iPad apps, all you're really doing is hiding the app - much of the app's basic info remains on the device. You only lose access to the icon and minimal files until you 'reinstall' it again.

You're hardly expecting Nanny Apple to give users the ability to use device that works best for them, do you?
 
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Bazza1 said:
Actually, in regards to the iOS / iPad apps, all you're really doing is hiding the app - much of the app's basic info remains on the device. You only lose access to the icon and and minimal files until you 'reinstall' it again.

You're hardly expecting Nanny Apple to give users the ability to use device that works best for them, do you?
Click to expand...

True, but we can't even hide them on macOS.
 
ClaraStahlbaum said:
How do I delete and uninstall default apps on MacOS 26?
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All these people saying you can't delete the apps are wrong. True, the finder will not allow you to delete them. You have to use the terminal. If you have to ask, "How do I do that?" and then follow some random person's instructions with no understanding of what you are doing, then you should just live with the apps.

The next question is "Why?" You can recover some small amount of space by removing them, but not much. Your Mac is NOT faster, not even a little faster. But you do gain a few megabytes stoarge untill the next MacOS update puts those apps back.
 
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It is kind of baffling that it's not possible to delete the default apps after so long. Even though they don't take up much space, it would be nice to reduce the clutter. Less results in search, makes my Applications folder in the dock a little more compact to navigate when there's not useless icons in there.

Some of these apps have been built in since Tiger days or earlier and I've never used them for anything in that time period. Then they just keep adding more like Freeform which I have no use for, or Podcasts that I never touch on Mac. I'm sure some people use these, but I'm not one of them. I doubt the whole OS would collapse if I got rid of the Grapher app...
 
vindasal said:
It is kind of baffling that it's not possible to delete the default apps after so long. Even though they don't take up much space, it would be nice to reduce the clutter. Less results in search, makes my Applications folder in the dock a little more compact to navigate when there's not useless icons in there.

Some of these apps have been built in since Tiger days or earlier and I've never used them for anything in that time period. Then they just keep adding more like Freeform which I have no use for, or Podcasts that I never touch on Mac. I'm sure some people use these, but I'm not one of them. I doubt the whole OS would collapse if I got rid of the Grapher app...
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True, but isn't any and all griping about Applications folder easily rectifiable with a custom launcher?

Then you never have to see them for the most part, and do not suffer undue trauma.
 
as much as i'd like to nurture my OCD and removed unused apps... i can empty the cache and clear out 4 times as much space, so i never worry about it, and never see the apps i don't use. simple!
 
Non-Euclidean said:
True, but isn't any and all griping about Applications folder easily rectifiable with a custom launcher?

Then you never have to see them for the most part, and do not suffer undue trauma.
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I have to admit I don't really know what the current options are for custom launchers, what would this end up looking like? I've had the Applications folder in the dock in List view since around when Panther came out (late 2003/early 04), I only really want something like that ideally. I remember when Leopard came out, the list view option for dock folders was removed and it caused an uproar and was swiftly re-added a few months later. Nowadays, I may be in a minority using it.
 
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