Hello . I am trying to free up space on my Hard Disk. The Applications folder in Macintosh HD shows it currently occupies about 20GB of storage however when I sum up the sizes of applications listed under the folder , it does not sum up to 20GB (it’s way less) . Please how do I rectify this disparity and claim the storage space difference . I have a MacBook Pro 2019
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 14.4
You don't really...
As others have mentioned, I expect you are looking at the "Apps" line in the storage indicator in "About this Mac"? it refers to everything on your Mac that is an Application bundle, regardless of where it's located. That includes:
In other words - if it is an application bundle ending in ".app", then it's going to be counted as an Application in the storage statistics.
You don't really...
As others have mentioned, I expect you are looking at the "Apps" line in the storage indicator in "About this Mac"? it refers to everything on your Mac that is an Application bundle, regardless of where it's located. That includes:
In other words - if it is an application bundle ending in ".app", then it's going to be counted as an Application in the storage statistics.
Be sure you are not mistakenly looking in the private Applications folder inside your Userid home folder. it will be WAY lower than 20 GB.
20 Gb is typical (actually on the small side) for the actual /Applications folder.
if you are looking to find more space, you will NOT find any appreciable space in the /Applications folder. You need to look for the biggest Boat Anchor-sized files, and this article suggest some Utilities to locate them. Pay no mind to terminology differences -- this is the SAME problem no matter what macOS is calling at the moment:
What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how… - Apple Community
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The "Application" size in the Storage Management area is not just about the "/Applications" folder or the "~/Applications" folder, but anything on the drive that can be considered an application. It could be items you downloaded & left in the Downloads folder or other folders, and it can also include macOS built-in applications that may not reside in the "/Applications" folder.
The only things you can control are the actual applications you have downloaded & installed, and the document files you have placed onto your system that are located within your home user folder. If you backup your iPhone or iPad to your computer, then it can quickly eat up storage.
Applications Folder taking too much space on Macintosh HD
