How to delete Image playground from my iMac M3 and MacBook Air M1?

Deleting Image playground for my iPhone was easy. How do I delete this thing form my Mac's? It just won't go to the trash.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iMac 24″, macOS 15.2

Posted on Dec 14, 2024 7:08 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 28, 2025 4:20 PM

obimk1 wrote:

I can't delete Image Playground.
On 25 05-2025 auto-magical installed by Apple.

Siri language is not the same as system language

Because of my disability I can't use Siri.

Apple this is getting pathetic, please fix this.

And I hate the lack of control on my own computer, somebody had to say this.

That's right. On a Mac, Image Playground is an integral part of MacOS and it can't be removed. You may own your computer, but Apple owns MacOS. There are loads of things built into the OS you can't remove. If you don't want to use Image Playground, don't use it, like you likely don't use every single thing built into your Mac as it is.


Is your Siri language different from your system language because of Apple Intelligence?


Ultimately however, you aren't speaking with Apple here. This is a user to user only forum and no one from Apple will see or read your comments.


If you want to complain to Apple, you can use this link --> Product Feedback - Apple



76 replies

Dec 16, 2024 5:08 AM in response to Wifipadchamps

I too would like to know this. I understand that Apple likes to include fun little applications that show of their new features, like Photo Booth when the iSight camera was integrated into the iMac, but this AI stuff if God awful. You can tell when an image or text is AI generated, which is making everyone's voice the same. Originality and personality are a thing of the past. When it's not making us all the same, the information it gives is wrong, so I'd like to scrub this fad from all devices.

Dec 16, 2024 8:25 AM in response to GeoffDeGeoff666

GeoffDeGeoff666 wrote:

The app appears before you opt in and can't be deleted. It's the U2 album all over again

Um, not really. True the U2 album, which Apple initially gave to everyone, thinking it would be taken as a gift, couldn't be removed. Then when people complained, Apple let the album be removed. But the album wasn't built into the OS. It was just deposited, free of charge into our music apps. That's a big difference.


To this day, the album remains in my Library. I like U2 and appreciated the free gift. Some however, got their knickers in a knot over a free album. Go figure.

Dec 31, 2024 6:14 PM in response to oxana192

I can copy and paste using Image Playground. I opened an Image I created in Image Playground and right clicked on it and it offered copy, then I pasted it into a text message. Now, I can't copy and paste the same image into this forum, as the forum requires specific formatting, like JPEG for example.


But to your point that you should have the option to remove Image Playground, I'm sure there are loads of things on your device you don't use, which you can't remove. That's how operating systems work. There are things in Windows, which can't be removed.

Jan 4, 2025 2:13 PM in response to lobsterghost1

Getting the album for free wasn’t the problem. Getting the album and having it in your library when you don’t like the band was the problem when you wouldn’t have purchased it that was the problem.


The fact that you like and enjoy the album was brilliant, but me a lot of people like me didn’t want it


Additionally, this app is also installed on the iPhone but when you turn Apple Intelligence off it goes away I want the iMac to do the same

Jan 4, 2025 2:18 PM in response to GeoffDeGeoff666

Further to add this is not an issue exclusive to Apple.


Microsoft do it on their platform Google do it on their platform even Samsung do it if you buy one of their phones.


providers need to get over the fact that they think we need to use all the software if we don’t use it we should be able to delete it. It just wastes space on the devices we have paid for.

Jan 6, 2025 10:42 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Yes, you are correct, I was thinking iPhone.

Whether it's a Mac, iPhone or iPad, I still don't see what's archaic about it? Most people just don't read past the first post anyway.


Archaic according to Websters Dictionary:


1: having the characteristics of the language of the past and surviving chiefly in specialized uses

an archaic word

Note: In this dictionary the label archaic is affixed to words and senses relatively common in earlier times but infrequently used in present-day English.

2: of, relating to, or characteristic of an earlier or more primitive time antiquated

archaic legal traditions

3: capitalized of or belonging to the early or formative phases of a culture or a period of artistic development

especially of or belonging to the period leading up to the classical period of Greek culture

4: surviving from an earlier period

specifically typical of a previously dominant evolutionary stage

5: capitalized of or relating to the period from about 8000 b.c. to 1000 b.c. and the North American cultures of that time


Feb 15, 2025 8:01 AM in response to lobsterghost1

I'm not an Apple employee, so I paid for my computer, including the ram, and the disk. Everyone knows they under-size the disk and ram to nudge people to upgrade their hardware. It's an artificially scarce resource.


The push all their inferior apps, to further impose artificial scarcity. All the junk I can't remove:


root@Fraa-Jad /System/Applications> du -sck *.app
9684	App Store.app
3940	Automator.app
55376	Books.app
2060	Calculator.app
6640	Calendar.app
10888	Chess.app
5616	Clock.app
5888	Contacts.app
13668	Dictionary.app
5500	FaceTime.app
26436	FindMy.app
6060	Font Book.app
28284	Freeform.app
5420	Home.app
2100	Image Capture.app
2128	Image Playground.app
584	Launchpad.app
16096	Mail.app
63540	Maps.app
3032	Messages.app
164	Mission Control.app
60684	Music.app
4008	News.app
15156	Notes.app
624	Passwords.app
3240	Photo Booth.app
22804	Photos.app
37472	Podcasts.app
6004	Preview.app
3988	QuickTime Player.app
13444	Reminders.app
2872	Shortcuts.app
2288	Siri.app
1332	Stickies.app
3152	Stocks.app
4148	System Settings.app
40468	TV.app
1804	TextEdit.app
1052	Time Machine.app
3604	Tips.app
3996	VoiceMemos.app
17496	Weather.app
4916	iPhone Mirroring.app
527656	total


...Is about half a gig. So, not zero. Small, but not zero. When your disk is full, you'd wish you had it.


And this doesn't even include the "Apple Intelligence" LLMs. Turn it off, you still have to drag all that crud around.


I license the files, but I own the disk, right?


Also, ALL operating systems? Go try linux. You can remove any file. You can strip that OS down to a tiny disk footprint.


Finally? "Built-in" implies necessary for reliable secure operation. What does AI-generated cat pics have to do with that? Or even Pages, or Podcasts, or Quick TIme Player. They're user applications, not operating system necessities.


Apple's marketing department has more say about what's "necessary" on my hard drive than I do.






Feb 15, 2025 8:13 AM in response to lost-sailor

Did Apple or someone make you purchase a Mac which might not possibly meet your storage needs? NOPE. I understand that as technology continues to advance, it does faster than hardware already acquired can. So I purposely buy my devices with more storage than I may need. My MacBook Pro is 1TB. My iPhone and iPad are 512GB. I don't have to be concerned about things which are built into the operating system, whether I use them or don't. Because again, I understand that there will ALWAYS be things built into the operating system I can't remove.

Feb 15, 2025 1:21 PM in response to lobsterghost1

I totally can’t do it on windows. It might make my windows unstable, but I can still do it.


I absolutely can do it in a Linux install


and also I can do it on iOS and iPadOS so clearly Apple can support it.


I have reported it in feedback stop pushing back here because you don’t like the fact that I want it to be different.


Apple clearly support the deletion of these objects in other operating systems and therefore they can support it here and this is the support website so I can talk about it.


You cannot censor me.

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How to delete Image playground from my iMac M3 and MacBook Air M1?

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