Delete iTunes in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

If you’ve been using the iTunes betas and want to downgrade back to a stable iTunes build, or you just want to remove iTunes for another reason, here are two ways to delete the app under Mac OS X 10.7: the easy way using the GUI, and a quick way for advanced users using the command line.

Remove iTunes Using the Finder

• Quit iTunes
• Navigate to /Applications and locate iTunes app
• Select iTunes and hit Command+i to “Get Info” on the application
• Click on the Arrow next to “Sharing & Permissions” to reveal the access panel
• Click on the lock icon and authenticate with your administrator password
• Under “Privilege” set both instances of “everyone” to “Read & Write”
• Close out the Get Info window and drag iTunes to the Trash, and then empty the trash

Remember that without another version of iTunes available for Mac OS X to use, you will likely encounter errors in various places, plus it will make it impossible to sync and backup iOS hardware like an iPhone or iPad. Basically, if you don’t have a good reason to be removing iTunes, such as to downgrade or ditch the colorized version, than you should keep it around.

Delete iTunes via the Terminal

This is a quicker method for users who are comfortable with the command line:

• Launch the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities/
• Type the following commands to kill iTunes:

killall iTunes

• Now kill the Helper process:

killall "iTunes Helper"

• Now to delete the actual application, use this command:

sudo rm -rf /Applications/iTunes.app/

• Authenticate the sudo command, note there is no warning for the actual deletion of the app

As usual, be careful with the rm command because if you mistype the file path, you will delete other things without warning. This is why we recommend the command line for more advanced users only.

Note: this does not delete your apps, backups, books, media, or the iTunes library, which is located at ~/Music/iTunes/ (unless you moved it elsewhere)