How to Completely UnInstall & Open an App Using Mac Terminal

How to / September 1, 2023

When using a Mac computer, you can use the Terminal to open an app, as well as uninstall & deleting the app.

This article will show you how to;

Table Of Contents

How to Uninstall and Delete an App using Mac Terminal?

To open the Mac Terminal app, go to Spotlight Search (magnifying glass icon on the top-right) and type <Terminal>.

Use the following command to uninstall and delete an app.

sudo uninstall VLC.app

Replace <VLC.app> with the application that you want to uninstall.

Always use a .app extension at the end of the app name
To know the exact name of the app before typing it into Terminal, you can go to Finder > Applications

Here are the other different ways you can delete an app from a Mac computer

S/no	Method	Comments
1	Use CleanMyMac or MacKeeper to uninstall and delete an app from your Mac completely.	Cleanest Method
2	Drop the App into the Trash	Simplest Method

Here are the three (3) steps to do so.

Open the Terminal app, type the following command and hit <Enter>;

cd /Applications

You will be in the main Applications folder, where all your apps are installed.

Before you open an app, you may want to know the exact name.

List down all the apps on your Mac using the following command and hit <Enter>;

ls

Now you know the exact name of the app, to open it, use the following command;

open VLC.app

Your app will now be launched. You can check for it on your dock.

Note that apps are all case-sensitive. So, for example, a capital “V” is not the same as a small letter “v”.