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
Finish or safely cancel transfers first, then quit ForkLift and ForkLift Mini. Before deleting local data, check whether ForkLift 3 or another copy is still installed: the vendor allows 3 and 4 to coexist and warns that deleting their shared support files can lose both copies’ favorites. If keeping another version, remove only this app bundle and leave shared support/helper data.
For a direct-download copy with no other version relying on it, inspect the service and exact helper named by the current cask:
sudo launchctl print system/com.binarynights.ForkLiftHelper
ls -l /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.binarynights.ForkLiftHelper
Confirm the printed job’s executable is that ForkLift helper, then stop it before deleting the file:
sudo launchctl bootout system/com.binarynights.ForkLiftHelper
Read back the same launchctl print check; only after confirming the job is no longer loaded, move that exact helper to the Trash in Finder with administrator confirmation. An error alone does not establish successful removal. ForkLift Mini is separately declared as com.binarynights.ForkLiftMini; turn off its remaining entry in System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions, and use Binary Nights support if it still runs or service ownership cannot be confirmed. Do not edit background-task databases. A Homebrew copy should keep the bundle in place for the ordinary cask uninstall below, which handles the declared services and helper. Then move the direct-download ForkLift.app to the Trash.
Copy wanted favorites and local settings from the support folder to a separate private backup and verify it; syncing favorites to iCloud alone does not verify that copy. In Finder press Shift + Command + G to open each path or its parent, then move existing unwanted leaves to the Trash only when another installed version does not need them:
~/Library/Application Support/ForkLift~/Library/Preferences/com.binarynights.ForkLift-4.plist~/Library/Preferences/com.binarynights.ForkLiftMini.plist~/Library/Caches/com.binarynights.ForkLift-4~/Library/Cookies/com.binarynights.ForkLift-4.binarycookies~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.binarynights.ForkLift-4~/Library/Logs/ForkLift~/Library/Logs/ForkLiftMini~/Library/Saved Application State/com.binarynights.ForkLift-4.savedState
Skip missing items and preserve parent folders, remote files and other applications’ data.
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. Even without --zap, ordinary cask uninstall stops the declared services and deletes /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.binarynights.ForkLiftHelper. If another installed version needs that helper, do not use ordinary brew uninstall as a way to preserve it; keep the shared helper and ask Binary Nights for the appropriate removal route first. 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. With Remove data and settings with apps off, Application Support/ForkLift is an unticked review row. With it on, only an eligible unshared row can be preselected; a folder needed by another installed version remains for individual review. 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.