Can not delete applications! MacBook Air M1 Ventura

Question

Can not delete applications! MacBook Air M1 Ventura

Tonight I upgraded to an M1 MacBook Air (Ventura) from my older Intel MacBook Pro (Monterey), and I can NOT delete apps (non-iLife/non-mandatory Apple) on the new Mac like I could on my older Mac. (Is this Ventura, M1, or both? Or neither? I have been a Mac user for 20 years, but now I am just lost...)

What I've tried:

-pressing and holding icons - via Launchpad and the Applications folder. The icons jiggle, but there is no "x."

-dragging them to the trash, but that does nothing.

-going into terminal and submitting some simple code, nothing.

-"viewing contents" (inside the application files) and looking for uninstallation files, but there are none.

Thoughts?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.1

Posted on Jan 10, 2023 8:12 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

mbpro15terrors Author

Level 1

14 points

Feb 27, 2023 7:33 PM in response to Barney-15E

Okay, I'll bite. Here's a question: why? Because "Stocks" (for one) is not an integral part of my OS, it doesn't contribute to ensure my computer runs more smoothly, nor does it keep out offenders, it doesn't improve graphics or my processor's speed, it is unrelated to every and anything I do or have interest in, and yet, this irrelevant program MUST STAY on MY computer because Apple wants it there, and that is the only reason? Sorry for being curious and a little annoyed (with Apple), but I have to wonder for those that don't, "why?" and also, "what's up their sleeve?"

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Answer 2

rqchelxz

Level 1

12 points

Jan 11, 2023 9:02 PM in response to mbpro15terrors

click the apple up the top, go to “about this Mac”, click storage and press manage, on the left side of the pop up menu press “Applications”. Click on the application you want to delete and press delete at the bottom right of the menu. That should work.

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Answer 3

BobHarris

Level 9

55,055 points

Jan 12, 2023 12:03 PM in response to mbpro15terrors

mbpro15terrors wrote:

Again, I am not new to Mac, I want to remove things that I wouldn't use AND the system doesn't use, either. No harm done. (I will never use Home, Tips, Health, Podcasts, Voice Memos, Stocks, News, or TV, and I have never had a problem deleting them.) According to Apple, these are the things I should• be able to delete:

Activity

• Apple Books

• Apple TV

• Calculator

• Calendar

• Clock

• Compass

• Contacts

• FaceTime

• Files

• Find My

• Health

• Home

• iTunes Store

• Mail

• Maps

• Measure

• Music

• News

• Notes

• Podcasts

• Reminders

• Shortcuts

• Stocks

• Tips

• Translate

• TV

• Voice Memos

• Wallet

• Watch app

• Weather

There is not one on that list that I can delete on this device.

They are all stored on a Read Only volume. No write access, and deleting is a write activity to the Folder they are in, and the metadata that tracks the file.

You can express your opinion to Apple at:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

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Answer 4

Jan 11, 2023 8:44 PM in response to Barney-15E

Again, I am not new to Mac, I want to remove things that I wouldn't use AND the system doesn't use, either. No harm done. (I will never use Home, Tips, Health, Podcasts, Voice Memos, Stocks, News, or TV, and I have never had a problem deleting them.) According to Apple, these are the things I should be able to delete:

Activity
Apple Books
Apple TV
Calculator
Calendar
Clock
Compass
Contacts
FaceTime
Files
Find My
Health
Home
iTunes Store
Mail
Maps
Measure
Music
News
Notes
Podcasts
Reminders
Shortcuts
Stocks
Tips
Translate
TV
Voice Memos
Wallet
Watch app
Weather

There is not one on that list that I can delete on this device.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,482 points

Jan 11, 2023 8:48 PM in response to mbpro15terrors

As I already stated, you can’t remove anything that is part of the OS. It doesn’t matter if you could do it before. It doesn’t matter if you will never use them. You might be able to remove News, but I don’t think so.

There is nothing you can do to make it possible to remove them.

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Answer 6

BobHarris

Level 9

55,055 points

Feb 28, 2023 9:19 AM in response to mbpro15terrors

In different words from Barney-15E, you "License" the operating system. And like most people we all click through the "License" agreement when we do a macOS install, without reading it.

Technically it is possible to mess with the read-only volume, but it is very geeky and requries experimentation, and googling, and lots of very low level terminal stuff. I've seen some descriptions of what needs to be done, but since I do not care to really learn how to do it myself, I just skimmed it and move on.

If you choose to take the experimentation route, then make sure you have lots of up-to-date backups, because Murphy's Law is unforgiving.

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