How to Uninstall ForkLift on Mac

Before removing ForkLift, check the favorites and remote connections you want to retain. Binary Nights documents an optional iCloud favorites sync, but a sync setting is not a verified backup of every connection or local file. Keep copies of work stored on remote servers or separate disks in their own locations. The recorded test used the official package.

Remove the app and review its data

Quit ForkLift, ForkLift Mini if present, and active transfers. If this is a direct-download copy, move ForkLift.app from Applications to Trash after quitting it. For a cask installation, run the cask uninstall below while the bundle is still available. Check System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions for a remaining ForkLift entry, but do not edit macOS background-task databases. Inspect ~/Library/Application Support/ForkLift for favorites or local settings and ~/Library/Preferences/com.binarynights.ForkLift-4.plist before removing either. The vendor’s manual explains the favorites and sync controls. Do not guess at a system helper path; the cask handles its own helper before removing the bundle.

ForkLift manual · ForkLift support

Check the result

These commands read the current state without removing anything:

pgrep -il ForkLift
ls -ld ~/Library/'Application Support'/ForkLift ~/Library/Preferences/com.binarynights.ForkLift-4.plist

No pgrep result means no matching process is running; a listed process should be identified and quit before removing data. ls prints an existing path, reports “No such file or directory” for a missing one, and may report a permission error that needs separate investigation. Do not treat a surviving remote file, project or deliberately retained preference as an uninstall failure.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The ForkLift cask has explicit helper and launch-job uninstall actions. Its zap list includes Application Support/ForkLift, preferences, logs, caches, cookies and HTTP storage. If you need the favorites, run brew uninstall --cask forklift without zap and inspect the data later. A manual --zap processes all listed paths regardless of Mole selections. Mole omits zap when any target is unchecked, shared, outside the reviewed boundary or unverifiable, then removes selected remnants through its own flow.

brew uninstall --cask forklift

Removing the application does not cancel a purchase or delete a remote account.

What Mole lists

Exact bundle-ID cache and preferences rows are normally selected. The display-name Application Support/ForkLift folder is listed for review and not selected by default. An embedded helper is shown for confirmation only. A background-item entry pointing into Trash is not permission to delete a macOS database.

What this test covered

ForkLift 4.7.5 from the official package was removed on September 20, 2026, with review items selected. Its embedded helper was only confirmed, not separately removed. A background-task entry still pointed into Trash afterward; the test deliberately did not edit that system state. No remote account, iCloud favorites restoration, or Homebrew uninstall was tested.