What is Saved Application State on Mac? Is it safe to delete?

Where it is

What it is

macOS can reopen an app's windows the way you left them. To do that, each app saves a small snapshot of its window layout and state in ~/Library/Saved Application State, in a folder named after the app's bundle identifier and ending in .savedState.

Sandboxed apps keep their saved state inside their own container instead, so you will not find every app here.

The folders stay behind when you delete an app, which is the main reason the folder collects clutter. Clearing an app's saved state is also a common fix when it crashes on launch or keeps opening a window you do not want.

How big it gets

Usually small, from a few MB to a few hundred MB in total.

How to clear it by hand

1. Quit the apps whose saved state you want to clear.
2. In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder and enter ~/Library/Saved Application State.
3. Move the .savedState folders you do not need to the Trash, such as those for apps you have uninstalled or one that is misbehaving.
4. If you would rather apps never restore windows, open System Settings, choose Desktop & Dock, and turn on Close windows when quitting an application.

du -sh ~/Library/Saved\ Application\ State/* | sort -hr | head -15

What happens afterwards

The next time you open an affected app, it starts with a new window instead of the ones you had open. Documents, settings and sign-ins are stored elsewhere and are not touched. The app writes a new saved state when you quit it.

How Diskzy handles it

Diskzy shows the folder on the disk map. When you remove an app with Uninstall, what the app left behind goes to the Trash with it.

Related guides

• Caches~/Library/Caches
• Application Support~/Library/Application Support
• Containers~/Library/Containers