The Apps window

The Apps window is where you manage the apps on your Mac. It shows every app in one place, tells you how safe each one is to move, and gives each app its own buttons to Open, Move, Offload or Uninstall it. Apps that you have moved or offloaded have their own tabs, so you can always bring them back.

Opening it

• In the Intelligence view, click the Manage Apps card on the Home screen to open the full window. The Apps tab at the top of the main window shows the same app grid without the other tabs.
• In the Advanced view, click Apps in the menu bar popover.
• From anywhere, press the Apps shortcut (⌃ Space unless you've changed it). See The All Apps grid and its shortcut.

Storage Studio calls your external drive your fast drive in this window, and some labels still say NVMe. Both mean the external drive you set up for Storage Studio.

The four tabs

Each tab shows a count, so you can see at a glance how many apps are in each state.

%% caption: The Apps window at a glance
mindmap
  root((Apps window))
    All Apps
      Search
      Open with Return
      Right-click actions
    Internal
      Safety badge
      Move
      Offload
      Uninstall
    Moved
      Move back
      Reinstalled by vendor label
    Offloaded
      Restore
      Remove

The Internal tab's filters

The Internal tab is built for finding apps worth moving, so it starts filtered:

• Older than shows only apps you haven't opened for at least that many days. It starts at 30 days. The stepper goes from Any age to 365 days, and the All, 30d, 60d, 90d, 180d and 365d buttons jump straight to a value. Apps with no record of being opened are always shown.
• Hide running is on by default. Apps that are open can't be moved, so hiding them keeps the list short.
• The count on the right says how many apps the filters are hiding, and why.

If the list is empty, you'll see No apps match the current filter. Lower the Older than value or turn off Hide running.

Sorting and filtering

The sort menu sorts by Name, Last used, Size or Safety. It can also filter by app category and, on the All Apps grid, by location (All locations, Internal, Moved or Offloaded). Sorting by Safety puts all the apps you can move freely together, then the ones with a caveat, then the ones that need an override, then the blocked ones. App safety levels explains the badges.

The header

• Scanning… and Classifying … of … show progress while Storage Studio reads your apps and works out how safe each one is to move. Rows show Classifying… until their badge is ready.
• The ? button opens a guide to every badge and label in the window.
• Refresh scans your apps again. Do this after you quit an app that was blocked because it was running.

Messages you might see

• A red line at the bottom of the window explains anything that couldn't be done, such as a move that failed. Nothing fails silently.
• An orange banner, An app you moved is missing from your fast drive., appears when a moved app's files are gone from a connected drive. Its Review… button opens the steps in Missing moved apps: hide, recover or remove.
• When several moves are running, a banner shows which app is moving and how many are done.

Which action to choose

• Move keeps the app working exactly as before, from your external drive. See Moving an app to your external drive.
• Offload frees the most space, but the app can't open until you restore it. See Offloading and restoring an app.
• Uninstall removes the app and its leftover files. See Uninstalling an app completely.

See also: Why some apps can't be moved · Moved apps when the drive is disconnected · App safety level