Best FTP client for Mac
Reasons a Mac Application Won't Start If you've been running the app that won't start for a while successfully, and now it won't start, something changed. There's a chance a file became corrupt because of a system crash, or the app may need to be updated. At the START screen, swipe 'UP' or click that down arrow you see on the lower left to bring up the 'All Apps' screen and locate the app, press and hold down on it and a menu bar will appear at the bottom of the screen. There, you can 'Pin to Start'.
When you look at your desktop, or inside any folder for that matter, on your Mac you’ll see a number (one that will vary depending on how well-organized you are) of file and folder icons. What all of us have in common, however, is a huge range of system files that are hidden just out of view.
Easy way to show hidden files
Try Setapp to make all your files visible on a Mac. With the tools we offer, nothing gets lost in the shuffle.
Those of us who have lived online for long enough will remember the Delete System32 hoax, with which trolls encouraged naive PC users to delete their Windows 2000 system directory. It’s not a shock that, since those days, developers have taken more care to hide away files that are essential to their operating systems.
There are, however, times when you need to access those files. Most of them are hidden away in the ~/Library folder, but the truth is that the average Mac holds a treasure trove of files and folders that you either no longer need or may want to access for troubleshooting purposes.
Is it normal that 'System' takes up 90GB+ of storage? What does it contain? How to get your System folder under control?
Three Ways to See Hidden Files on Mac
There’s good news for anyone out there who’s looking to access hidden files on their Mac: you can do exactly that, in a number of different ways, by arming yourself with a little bit of knowledge. There are a couple of Finder augmentation and replacement apps, for example, that make the process as easy as clicking a single button.
Before kicking off, however, it’s important to highlight that you should play it safe when digging through hidden files on your laptop or desktop. Unless you know exactly what you’re looking for you can do some serious damage to your operating system, so you’ll want to proceed with caution. After all, these files are hidden for a reason!
See hidden files on Mac via Finder
As mentioned above, it doesn’t take much to make the hidden files on your Mac visible. In fact, you can check out all of the hidden files on your Mac by following just three easy steps:
- In Finder, open up your Macintosh HD folder
- Press Command+Shift+Dot
- Your hidden files will become visible. Repeat step 2 to hide them again!
This process will also work elsewhere, including your Documents or Applications folders. However, if you know what you’re looking for is in your ~/Library folder and would rather jump straight into that then you can take the following steps instead:
- In Finder, hold down Alt and click Go at the top of your screen
- Click on Library to open up the, normally hidden, folder
Be prepared for one very cluttered looking Desktop if you decide to uncover all the hidden files there. If you’re anything like the average Mac user, most of what you’ll find will be made up of system files and autosaved Microsoft Word documents!
Some users have reported success finding documents that they thought were lost forever after their Mac crashed without saving, which is always a useful tip to have in the back pocket.
Unhide files on Mac with Terminal commands
Terminal, a Mac command-line interface, is included in macOS by default and allows you to use command prompts to control your Mac instead of following a potentially complex series of instructions to do the same thing in Finder.
If you’re already familiar with using Terminal, then you might prefer to run the following script to reveal your hidden files:
- Open Terminal
- Enter the following: defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true [Press Return] killall Finder
- To hide files again, change the “true” in the step above to “false”
It doesn’t matter too much whether you use Terminal or Finder to make the hidden files on your Mac visible, though you might prefer the latter if you’ve never run scripts on Terminal before, as both routes accomplish the same thing.
One reason you might opt to use Terminal is that it allows you to hide any file or folder on your Mac, which is a great way to avoid that sense of residual curiosity felt by others should they come across a password protected .rar on your desktop! To hide files, just:
- Open Terminal
- Enter the following: chflags hidden [Press Space]
- Drag files or folders to be hidden from Finder into the Terminal window, which will display their paths in Terminal
- Press Return to hide
To make your files visible again, just repeat the above steps using “chflags nohidden” in place of “chflags hidden.” Of course, the fact that anyone else who knows this trick can also use it to unhide your files means that this isn’t an adequate substitute for other security measures.
Use file managers to access hidden files
How to find the path of a file in Mac? Apps like DCommander and Forklift, both of which perform like native macOS apps and function as extensions of Finder, represent great choices if you’re at all uncomfortable using Terminal or digging around in your ~/Library folder.
Because these apps allow you to make hidden files and folders visible (or invisible) using shortcuts or clicking buttons within the apps, they make the whole process incredibly simple. In Forklift, for example, you can show hidden files by:
- Clicking View
- Selecting View Options towards the bottom of the dropdown menu
- Checking the box next to Show Hidden Files
There’s also a button in the toolbar to show and hide hidden files. DCommander has a similar function available, with a Show System Files command, but you need to add it manually to the app’s toolbar:
As you might guess from those subtle differences in terminology, we would suggest that Forklift is more suitable for someone looking for something that really looks and acts like Finder. DCommander, with a larger range of features and toolbar buttons enabled by default, is still intuitive but feels a little more dense.
Whichever you settle on remember that just because these apps make accessing hidden files easy it doesn’t mean that you can’t do some real damage if you start messing around with the wrong thing!
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Leave hidden files to automatic cleanup
For some Mac users, the question of how to see hidden files is nothing more than succumbing to curiosity. For others, it’s a necessity for troubleshooting a piece of software or device that’s not performing as it should.
Somewhere in between are those in the pursuit of a few spare gigabytes as their hard drive rapidly fills up. If you’re one of those people looking to clean up useless hidden data then an app like CleanMyMac X might be exactly what you need:
- Open up the app and select Smart Scan
- Hit Scan
- Select Review Details underneath Cleanup to see how much System Junk you can safely delete
- Hit Run to remove those unneeded files
An app like CleanMyMac X will free up space just as effectively, probably more so, than you’ll be able to by randomly deleting hidden files and hoping for the best. If you do end up going this route then don’t consider learning more about hidden content a waste of time — at least you know what to watch out for if someone tries to troll you into deleting vital system files!
Best of all, DCommander, Forklift, and CleanMyMac X apps mentioned above are all available for a free trial through Setapp, a collection of more than 150 macOS apps from top developers all over the world.
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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Find no apps tab after updating to the newest iTunes 12.7? Read this guide to find why iTunes apps not showing, and how to view them again.
iTunes Tips & Issues
iTunes Basic Learning
iTunes Music Tips
iTunes Libary Tips
iTunes Connection Issues
Other iTunes Data Issues
AnyTrans – Best iPhone Data Transfer
This iTunes alternative can help you add data like apps and ringtones to iPhone/iPad easily. Just give it a try by yourself after you learn why iTunes apps not showing up.
iTunes apps not showing problem is one of the most common iTunes problems. In the past, this problem can be fixed after you update iTunes to the newest version of iTunes, or update iOS firmware. However, after iTunes 12.7 is available now, many users have complained that there are just only no app items for syncing, but even no Apps tab on the left side of iTunes.

“Where are my apps in iTunes?” Here in this post, we will show you the answer to why are apps not shown in the left-hand panel in iTunes 12.7, and some fixes for can’t see iPhone apps in iTunes 12.6 and older.
Why iTunes 12.7 Apps Not Showing
Actually, you are not the only one shocked by the unexpected changes of iTunes 12.7. Many users also find the apps tab missing from iTunes. Previously, we may call the apps in iTunes not showing as a bug or a problem. But honestly, in iTunes 12.7, it is not at all. Why? That’s because Apple has removed its function to sync apps and ringtones, and now iTunes just focuses on transferring music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and audiobooks.
To make it much more clear what the latest iTunes 12.7 has changed, we list them below:
- There is no Apps tab in iTunes library (But also no tone tab. Have you noticed it?). So there are no more apps as well as tones syncing, updating, etc.
- There is no Apps tab in Device option either so you can not manage your apps on iPhone iPad, like app removing, anymore though iTunes.
- The most significant one is that there is no Store tab at the bar of Library, For your, Browse, and Radio. No more app downloading.
Putting it simply, Apple is starting moving out the app trace from iTunes. Apple official suggests users to use the new App Store on iPhone iPad to redownload them without your computer. But what if you really need to add apps to iPhone iPad from Mac or PC, or managing the apps on device, such as deleting? Keep reading to get the practical solutions below.
Apps Not Showing in iTunes 12.7
iTunes Alternative for iTunes 12.7 Apps Not Showing
As we mentioned above, iTunes 12.7, or later, has no such function of managing apps. Under such situation, we need to seek help from other iOS data manager alternatives to do so. Here in this part, we recommend a professional one – AnyTrans.
- It lets you back up apps to your app library, and then you can sync the apps even in the old version to your device.
- It allows you to transfer apps from computer to iPhone, or iPhone to iPhone and deleting the unwanted ones without effort.
- Besides that, it also supports transferring other data such as ringtones, music, videos, etc.
- What’s more, it won’t erase any existing data on your device. You don’t need to worry about data missing with AnyTrans.
Here we will show you how to back up apps from iPhone/iPad to app library, download AnyTrans now and follow the steps below to add apps to your device.
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Step 1. Open AnyTrans > Plug in your iPhone or iPad > Choose Device Manager > Switch to Category Management > Click Apps.
Click Apps Category
Step 2. Choose the apps you need > Click Download to App Library button to start backing up apps locally > Then, you need to enter your password to sign in to iCloud.
Step 4. Choose App Downloader in the left-side menu > Click App Library > Manage your downloaded apps: Update apps, Install apps to your device, Delete apps.
Download Selected Apps
AnyTrans can also help you sync ringtones from iTunes to iPhone. Besides that, it also enables you to transfer songs to your iPhone as ringtones, just click Device Manager > Audio > Ringtones > Click “+” button to make it.
Bonus Tip: How to Enable Apps in iTunes
Before iTunes 12.7 is released, “iPhone apps not showing in iTunes” issue is normally caused by factors like iOS firmware, iTunes software itself, jailbreaking, etc. If you can’t see apps in iTunes, you can try these methods to get rid of it:
Tip 1. Transfer Purchased Apps from iPhone to iTunes.
If you confused about “How to view apps in iTunes on computer“, this method will help you. You need to transfer all the applications on your device to your computer in order to synchronize and be available both on iTunes and the device. Please follow the steps below.
- First, open iTunes on the computer, and then connect your iPhone to the computer with a USB cable.
- Then, in iTunes, click “File” and select “Device”.
- Next, find the “Device” and right-click on it. Select “Transfer Purchase” from the displayed options.
This will transfer and download all purchased apps to iTunes, and you can see them after opening iTunes on the computer.
Tip 2. Signing-Out and Signing Back into the Apple Account on Device.

If the version of iTunes 12.7 is not installed on your computer, but after linking to the device, you still cannot see your application in the iTunes library, sometimes logging out of your account and then logging in again may help. Please refer to the following steps:
Step 1: Tap the “App Store” on your device.
Step 2: Tap the “Featured” section at the bottom of the screen.
Step 3: Scroll down to find your Apple ID > Click your ID name to open other options.
Step 4: Click on Sign Out > Then sign in to your account again to see if the problem is resolved.
Sign Out and Sign in Apple Account
Tip 3. Restore Device in Recovery Mode.
There is an option that you can use iTunes to restore your iPhone in recovery mode. You should always ensure that you have the latest version of iTunes on your computer. Use the following steps to complete that process:
- First, turn off your iPhone by pressing the Power button.
- Connecting your USB to your computer only.
- Then hold down the Home button at the same time connect your iPhone to the USB cable that was already connected to your computer.
- Once you’ve seen the recovery logo, as shown above, release the Home button. Your iPhone will be in recovery.
- Please check in iTunes whether your iPhone shows that it has entered the recovery mode, and then click “Restore”.
- Restore the device to the previously saved backup file.
App Not Showing Up In Applications Macbook Pro
Use iTunes to restore iPhone in recovery mode will erase all data on your device, please make sure that you have backup your iPhone before you do that.
The Bottom Line
Apple removes the ability to sync and manage apps and ringtones in iTunes 12.7, so you find apps not showing up. If you still want to transfer apps or ringtones from computer to iPhone iPad, then try AnyTrans right away.
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