To be honest, macOS Sonoma’s live wallpapers are quite stunning. These amazing screensavers feature slow-motion movies of locations across the world, including underwater. It’s difficult not to become addicted and download a bunch simply to check how they appear. However, once downloaded, these films take up a significant amount of storage space. If you’re wondering how to uninstall previously downloaded live wallpapers from your Mac running macOS Sonoma, here’s everything you need to know
Where can you find live wallpapers for Mac?
- To customize your Mac’s wallpaper, including macOS Sonoma’s live wallpapers, navigate to the Apple menu → System Settings → Wallpapers.
- macOS Sonoma’s live wallpapers are located underneath Dynamic Wallpapers and are organized into categories like as Landscape, Cityscape, Underwater, and Earth.
Unlike prior macOS versions, which included all wallpapers, you must download the desired live wallpaper before using it as a desktop display.
Where do macOS Sonoma wallpapers get stored?
Once you’ve downloaded the macOS Sonoma wallpapers, Mac saves them to your Startup Disk.
- To be particular, you can launch Finder.
- To access the folder, go to the menu bar and pick Go → Go to Folder or use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Cmd + G.
- Then, input this path: /Library/Application
Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/
You will notice many directories with different formats and resolutions, however all of your downloaded videos are most likely saved in a single folder, depending on your screen resolution.
How to delete macOS Sonoma wallpapers permanently
These directories are not system-protected, so you may simply remove them.
- As suggested earlier, open Finder. From the menu bar, choose Go → Folder. Enter the following destination: /Library/Application
Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/. - If you wish to remove all of the macOS Sonoma live wallpapers, just delete the folders.
- Before uninstalling any downloaded wallpapers from your device, you should close device Settings first.
- If you only want to delete previously downloaded live wallpapers that you don’t intend to use, simply enter the folder, pick the file, and hit Cmd + Delete on your keyboard.
- You may alternatively drag each folder to the Trash in your Mac’s Dock.
How to Reset the Wallpaper Services on Mac
After uninstalling wallpapers from your Mac, reset Wallpaper services to ensure the changes take effect. This will update the System Settings interface. To accomplish this:
- Close the System Settings.
- Launch the Finder.
- In the menu bar, select Go → Utilities → Activity Monitor.
- Choose Wallpaper from the Activity Monitor. A pop-up will appear. Choose Quit to confirm your decision.
- This terminates the Wallpaper service. If you destroyed the wallpaper you were using before uninstalling the live wallpaper, your macOS will restart the Wallpaper service and restore it to its default settings.
- Then choose Wallpaper (System Settings). This pauses and restarts the service responsible for System Settings’ Wallpaper UI.
When you return to the Wallpapers area of your System Settings, it will appropriately display which wallpapers are still downloaded and which have been deleted.
Why should you think about resetting wallpaper services on Mac?
After you’ve uninstalled the live wallpapers, you may notice a slowdown in the update process under System Settings. Even if you have deleted the downloaded wallpapers from your Mac, they may still display in the Wallpapers section of your System Settings.
To ensure that your Mac reflects the changes made after uninstalling wallpapers, reset the Wallpaper services. This step is critical because it refreshes the user interface for the Wallpaper area in your System Settings.
Wrap up
While macOS Sonoma live wallpapers are attractive and eye-catching, downloading them may deplete your storage space. Ideally, keep only the ones you intend to pick and discard the others. Do not worry, you can always download them again.
Did it work for you? Let us know in the comments!
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