Is it safe to delete Group Containers on Mac?

No, not the folder itself, and not the containers of apps you use. ~/Library/Group Containers holds real data that apps share between them: your local Notes, Voice Memos recordings, Office and Outlook data, WhatsApp chats. Subfolders left behind by apps you've uninstalled are usually safe to delete, after a quick check.

Quick verdict:

• The Group Containers folder itself: never delete it.
• Apple's containers (group.com.apple.*, com.apple.*): leave them alone.
• Containers of apps you use: don't delete them. Free space from inside the app.
• Leftovers of uninstalled apps: usually safe, once you've checked there's nothing you want inside.

What is Group Containers?

Since macOS apps started to be sandboxed, each one gets its own private folder in ~/Library/Containers. When several apps need to share data, they use a group container instead. Typical cases:

• Apps from the same suite. Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook share UBF8T346G9.Office.
• An app and its extensions. Widgets, share extensions and notification helpers read the same data as the main app.
• Apple's own apps and services. Notes keeps its database in group.com.apple.notes, and since macOS Sonoma Voice Memos keeps its recordings in group.com.apple.VoiceMemos.shared/Recordings.

Each subfolder is named after the developer's Team ID or group. followed by the app group name. Some you're likely to see:

The folder is hidden. To open it, in Finder choose Go → Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G) and type ~/Library/Group Containers.

Group containers grow for the same reason as other app data: chat apps keep every photo and video you receive, Office keeps caches and Outlook mail, and macOS never cleans up after apps you've dragged to the Trash.

How much space does it use?

With Finder. Select the Group Containers folder in ~/Library and choose File → Get Info. For a size per container, open it in list view, choose View → Show View Options and tick Calculate all sizes.

With Terminal.

du -sh ~/Library/Group\ Containers/* 2>/dev/null | sort -rh | head -20

You'll get "Operation not permitted" for some Apple containers, such as group.com.apple.notes. That's expected: Howard Oakley explains that macOS Sequoia extends System Integrity Protection to Group Containers, so only apps in that group can open them.

With SquirrelDisk. SquirrelDisk is a free disk space analyzer. Click A folder, press Shift-Command-G and type ~/Library/Group Containers. The chart shows which containers are biggest, and you can click into one to see if it's media, a database or a cache. SquirrelDisk runs as your normal user, so protected containers it can't read are skipped and may look smaller than they are.

How to delete it safely

For apps you still use: clean up from the app

• WhatsApp: delete large media and chats you don't need from inside WhatsApp. Deleting the folder would remove the chats and media stored on your Mac and sign you out.
• Telegram: clear its cache from Telegram's data and storage settings. Your chats stay in the cloud.
• Microsoft Teams: Microsoft's guide to clearing the Teams cache tells you which folders to remove when Teams misbehaves.
• Outlook: delete old mail or archive it from Outlook, not from Finder.

For apps you've uninstalled

1. Check that the app is really gone, including its widgets and helpers. Look in /Applications.
2. Open ~/Library/Group Containers and find the folders with the app's or developer's name. The Team ID prefix is the same for all of one developer's apps, so make sure no other app from that developer is still installed.
3. Look inside. If you see anything you might want, such as exported files, recordings or a chat database, copy it somewhere safe first.
4. Drag the folder to the Trash. Also check ~/Library/Containers and ~/Library/Application Support for the same app; see Is it safe to delete the Application Support folder?.
5. Restart, use your Mac for a few days, then empty the Trash.

To remove Office completely, follow Microsoft's Uninstall Office for Mac steps. Microsoft warns that moving the three Office group containers to the Trash removes Outlook data, and recommends backing them up first.

In SquirrelDisk, drag a leftover container into the collector and choose Move to Trash, or Back up to a folder first. SquirrelDisk never lets you delete ~/Library itself and asks for an extra confirmation for anything inside it.

What you should not delete

• The Group Containers folder itself.
• Apple's containers. Deleting group.com.apple.notes can lose notes, especially those kept On My Mac rather than in iCloud. Voice Memos recordings live in their own group container too.
• Containers of apps you use, especially chat apps and Office: you can lose local messages, media, mail and settings.
• A container shared by several apps when only one of them is uninstalled.

About the "access data from other apps" prompt

On macOS Sequoia and later you may see a message saying an app "would like to access data from other apps". It comes from the same protection: an app is asking for data that macOS keeps separate. Apple developers discuss it as a side effect of how some apps name their group containers. Allow it for apps you trust, deny it otherwise. Deleting folders in Group Containers won't stop it, and may cost you data.

If something breaks, put the folder back from the Trash (right-click → Put Back) or restore it from Time Machine.