A lightweight .app launcher
Watch your space come back.
Space reclaimed0.00GB
Big apps, moved out.More room for you.
Give your apps and data a home on an external drive.Same familiar experience. A much lighter Mac.
AppPortsYour familiar shortcuts stay.The heavy lifting moves out.
A new home for your big apps.
Apps, data, and caches. Everything in its place, with a little more breathing room on your Mac.
XcodeAPP DATA MIGRATION
Spotify data adds up.Give it a new home.
Offline albums, downloaded podcasts, and playback cache can grow well beyond the app itself. Move Spotify's data to an external drive and make room on your Mac.
Move Spotify's data folders, including offline music, downloaded podcasts, and cache. Spotify keeps reading from the same paths.
Spotify
Data on your Mac- Offline musicMusic28.4 GB
- Downloaded podcastsPodcasts7.6 GB
- Playback cacheCache1.2 GB
Local storage37.2 GB
External SSD
ConnectedYour data, ready to move.
Data moves out. Your Mac has room to spare.
Space reclaimed0.0GB0.0 GB
- 01Choose data
- 02Move to your drive
- 03Use the same paths
Spotify data: Choose data
Quit Spotify before migrating, then keep the drive connected while listening.
Explore data migrationThe Mac you know
Open as usual.
A lightweight app launcher keeps the original icon on your Mac, without a shortcut badge. Open it from Finder, the Dock, or your system app menu.
Small details. A better move.
MIGRATION STRATEGIES
The right route for each app.
Native macOS apps, iOS apps, and app suites are identified before AppPorts chooses their migration strategy.
UPDATE PROTECTION
A little more protection for updates.
Lock supported self-updating apps to protect the external copy from changes or replacement. Unlock it when you're ready to update.
DESTINATION CHECKS
What is already there comes first.
Migration and restore check who the destination belongs to. An unrecognized app with the same name stops the operation and raises a conflict.
PRIVACY
Your files stay on your devices.
Core migration happens locally. No account required, and your apps and files are never uploaded to a server.
LANGUAGES
Make yourself at home.
Choose from over 20 languages, including English, 中文, 日本語, and 한국어, for a more familiar everyday experience.
ACCESSIBILITY
More ways to make it yours.
Clear VoiceOver labels, keyboard shortcuts, and a Braille language option support different ways to use AppPorts.
A lighter Mac in three steps.
No Terminal. No long paths to remember. Just connect your drive and take it from there.
External drive connected
Your app library is ready
AppPorts
Less weight. Just as familiar.
A lightweight .app launcher stays on your Mac, keeping the original icon and familiar way to open it.
| The experience | With AppPorts | Manual symlinks |
|---|---|---|
| What stays on your Mac | A separate, lightweight .app launcher | A symbolic link to the external app |
| App icon appearance | Original app icons, without shortcut badges | Usually shows a shortcut arrow |
| Migration status | Local, linked, and problem states at a glance | Check paths yourself |
| Update protection | Optional locking for self-updating apps | Maintain the migrated state yourself |
| Moving back | Restore from inside the app | Move files and clean up links manually |
Migration methods depend on the app and macOS version.Read compatibility notes
Is AppPorts free?
Yes. AppPorts is free, open source, and ad-free. The source is available under Apache 2.0. Visit GitHub to explore the implementation, report an issue, or contribute.
What kind of external drive do I need?
A reliable external SSD with enough available space is recommended. Requirements vary by migration method: container-volume migration requires APFS and other preparation checks. AppPorts explains the requirements before you move anything.
Can I use migrated apps with the drive disconnected?
The full apps and their migrated data live on the external drive, so keep it connected while using them. Quit related apps before disconnecting. After reconnecting, check that the library is available and any data volumes are mounted before launching again.
Can every app be moved?
Different apps need different migration strategies. Protected system apps and running apps are not moved directly. Check the documentation and in-app guidance for App Store apps, app suites, and apps with special signature or permission requirements.
How do I move everything back?
Connect the original drive, quit related apps, make sure your Mac has enough space, and use the restore controls in AppPorts. Back up important data first. If an operation does not finish, keep your existing copies and follow the recovery guidance.
Make room for your next good thing.
An external drive. One thoughtful little app. Your favorite tools and plenty of room to grow.
Free. Open source. No ads.