How to Uninstall and Reinstall iTunes on Mac

New update: since iTunes has gone since the macOS Catalina update, this tip is archived and we are no longer updating it.

So you’ve got to reinstall iTunes because you are either using a lower iTunes version, or iTunes keeps showing errors and it won’t allow you to sync data from your iPhone or iPad? Or maybe you just want to free up some disk space by completely removing the app from your Mac?

In this article, we are going to show how to uninstall iTunes on Mac. After that, you can choose to download the latest version and reinstall the app.

You Can’t Delete iTunes That Way!

For most Mac applications, you can easily uninstall them by dragging the apps to Trash and empty Trash, or delete them in Launchpad while the icons jiggle.

But, this won’t work with iTunes. Why?

Because the app is made by Apple. Without iTunes, you can’t transfer data between an iDevice and a Mac. If you try to drag the iTunes app to Trash or use similar methods to get rid of it, you’ll see a warning window like this:

“iTunes can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by OS X.”

How to Properly Uninstall iTunes on Mac via Terminal

Step 1: Open the Terminal app. You can do so by going to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal, or searching “terminal” on Spotlight and clicking the one that shows up.

Step 2: Type cd /Applications/ and hit Enter. This will bring you to the Applications directory.

Step 3: Now type Sudo rm -rf iTunes.app/ and hit Enter again. This line helps delete the iTunes app.

Step 4: Next, it will prompt you to input the admin password. Once you enter the right password, it will confirm and remove iTunes.

Step 5: Done. If you want, check back on Launchpad or the Applications folder, the iTunes icon should be gone.

How to Reinstall iTunes on Your Mac

Now that you’ve successfully removed iTunes from your Mac. If you need to reinstall it, follow the two steps below:

• Go to Apple’s iTunes official page and hit the Download Now button. Another way is to visit the Mac App Store, under the Updates tab, check for new updates, and click the Update button to continue.
• Follow the instructions to install iTunes on your Mac again. The process should be quite easy.

Conclusion

iTunes is an essential software in Apple’s ecosystem. You need this app to sync iDevice data with your Mac. Due to security concerns, Apple always urges us to use the latest version of iTunes.

Chances are that there are newer iTunes versions available and if you haven’t yet updated your Mac, it won’t let you sync data. Instead, it warns you to reinstall iTunes.

I hope you found the above tutorial helpful in uninstalling iTunes on your Mac.