What is the Chrome Apps folder on a Mac, and is it safe to delete?
Chrome puts a Chrome Apps folder inside the Applications folder in your home folder. What each app in it is, and how to remove one properly from Chrome.
What is the Chrome Apps folder?
When you install a website as an app from Chrome (the install icon in the address bar, or Cast, Save and Share, Install), Chrome makes a small launcher app so it opens in its own window and shows up in Launchpad. Those launchers go in ~/Applications/Chrome Apps.localized, inside a second Applications folder in your home folder.
| Item | Size here | What it is |
|---|---|---|
~/Applications/Chrome Apps.localized | 1.7 MB | One installed web app |
Each .app inside | about 1.6 MB | A launcher with the site's icon, bundle identifier com.google.Chrome.app. plus an id |
| The site's data | inside Chrome's profile | Cookies and storage for that site, shared with the browser |
The .localized ending is how macOS shows a translated folder name; Finder displays it as Chrome Apps.
Is it safe to delete?
Yes, but remove the app from Chrome so Chrome does not recreate the launcher. Open the web app, click the three dots at the top of its window, then Uninstall. Or open chrome://apps in Chrome, right click the app, and choose Remove from Chrome. The launcher in Chrome Apps goes with it.
Deleting the launcher in Finder alone works until Chrome next checks its installed apps, and then it may come back.
Do web apps take much space?
The launchers are tiny. The site's data lives in Chrome's profile with everything else, which is where Chrome's real size is; see Chrome taking up space. Removing Chrome entirely, launchers included, is in uninstalling Chrome.
Find what is left in one look
Free Mac's Storage map shows ~/Applications with everything else in your home folder, and moves what you pick to the Trash. See also progressive web apps storage.
Related: uninstall Rust and uninstall Bun.
Common questions
Where is the Chrome Apps folder on a Mac?
In ~/Applications/Chrome Apps.localized, the Applications folder inside your home folder, not the main one.
How do I remove a Chrome app from my Mac?
Open it, click the three dots in its window, then Uninstall. Or right click it at chrome://apps and choose Remove from Chrome.
Why did a deleted Chrome app come back?
It was still installed in Chrome, which recreated the launcher. Remove it from Chrome instead of Finder.