What is Group Containers on Mac? Is it safe to delete?
Do not delete ~/Library/Group Containers. It holds data that several apps or extensions from one developer share, and that often includes real user data such as mail, chat history and licences. Remove a group container only when every app that used it is gone.
Where it is
~/Library/Group ContainersWhat it is
A normal container belongs to one app. A group container is a shared space for a family of apps and extensions from the same developer, for example an app, its widget and its share extension. The folder names usually start with the developer's team ID or with the word group.
Some of the largest things on a Mac live here. Microsoft Outlook keeps its mail profile in an Office group container, and several chat apps keep their message databases and received media in theirs.
It grows with the data those apps store, and the folders stay behind after the apps are deleted.
How big it gets
Often a few GB, and tens of GB if a mail or chat app stores years of messages and attachments there.
How to shrink it the right way
- Run the command below to list the largest group containers. It only reads sizes.
- Work out which app each large folder belongs to from its name. If you still use the app, reduce its data from inside the app, for example by deleting old chats or mail.
- If you no longer have any app from that developer, move the folder to the Trash.
- Leave folders that contain com.apple or group.com.apple alone. They belong to macOS.
du -sh ~/Library/Group\ Containers/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -20What happens afterwards
If no app uses the folder any more, nothing changes. If an app still uses it, that app loses its shared data: you may be signed out, lose local mail or chat history, or have to activate a licence again.
How Diskzy handles it
Diskzy shows every group container and its size on the disk map. Uninstall removes an app's containers with guards so that files shared with another app are not touched.
Related guides
- Containers~/Library/Containers
- Application Support~/Library/Application Support
- Messages attachments~/Library/Messages/Attachments
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