Creating a "Uninstaller" for a program on Mac OS.

Question

I have a requirement to create a cross platform application that launches a web link to a feedback form when its uninstalled.

This is obviously normal sort of behaviour on windows..., but on a Mac is is proving to be more complicated as applications are not technically installed and uninstalled in a windows sense, aka you just copy the .app file into Applications and delete it when you're finished.

How can I achieve this website launching requirement? (Should I even be trying, is this process too alien to Mac users?)

I tired packing the application with an uninstall shell script that deletes the app and lunches the site, but obviously the script can't delete itself.

Answer 1

I don't think this is the best idea, since the process would be a bit unusual to OS X users. As you noted, most applications are installed simply by dragging a .app file to /Applications (or some other location). Some apps do have an installer, but even apps with an installer only occasionally have an uninstaller; and furthermore, as a Mac user, I'd be immediately suspicious of an app that installed itself and some sort of unknown shell script.

Answer 2

Mac OS applications should not need to be uninstalled in any way other than the user dragging them into the trash.

Also, I would rethink very carefully your plan to make a cross-platform applications. Cross-platform applications that treat Mac OS as an afterthought and try to push foreign paradigms onto Mac OS are really irritating. If you want a Mac client, keep your backend code, but rewrite the front-end from scratch. Don't use something like Qt, no matter how tempting the portability is.

So, long story short, you're right. The process is alien to Mac users (except for things like plugins). So my suggestion is just to go with the normal Mac OS behavior (drag to trash). Best of luck!

Answer 3

I would recommend against it. You could create an uninstaller but nothing is going to stop a user from just deleting it from the application folder or using something like AppZapper. Most people don't even look for an uninstaller application, they just trash the app, so even if you wrote one there would be no guarantee it'll be used.

I'd certainly avoid an uninstaller shell script, no way in the world I'd personally run it.

Answer 4

An uninstaller on a Mac makes no sense and would be awkward to implement, if you could even implement it at all in a way where people would use it.

Consider trying to get user feedback using alternate methods, such as:

• Add a menu item that opens the feedback form
• Require registration when the software is downloaded, then send an email to the user at some point in the future to ask for feedback
• Ask for feedback occasionally on application quit (could be annoying, though)