Eject safely — tells you what's still in the way.
UnplugAll safely ejects your external drives — and tells you exactly which app is blocking it when it can't.
macOS 14.0+ · Apple Silicon · $2.99 one-time
Disconnecting → safely unmounted
When an eject fails, UnplugAll asks the system for the cause, names it, and tells you exactly what to do next — not a generic "disk in use" dead end.
“QuickTime Player is using this drive. Close its windows with files on ‘Archive’ and try again.”
“A shell in Terminal has its working directory set to ‘Archive’. Type ‘cd ~’ in that window and try again.”
The advice is specific to the actual cause — a GUI app with open files gets different guidance than a shell sitting in that directory. Not one generic message for everything.
All of this works without Full Disk Access and without admin rights — just the app's normal sandbox.
No dashboard, no clutter — a menu bar app that handles external drives and is honest when something doesn't work.
Lives exclusively in the menu bar — no Dock icon, no window, on purpose. One click shows every external drive; eject one, eject all, open settings. Multiple volumes on one physical device are grouped together and ejected in the right order.
Never says “done” when it isn't. Partial success is stated plainly — “3 of 4 ejected, 1 still in use” — and whatever didn't work stays visible in the menu with a reason and a retry button. A partial result is never reported as a success, not even in a notification.
Set a time per drive; when it runs out, UnplugAll unmounts it. Opt-in per drive — nothing happens on its own. A global switch only allows the automation; you still turn it on per drive, with a one-time confirmation. The countdown runs visibly in the menu and in the menu bar icon (the icon indicator can be turned off) and can be cancelled at any time. You can count from the moment the drive connects — or, on APFS drives, from its last actual use (idle detection). exFAT and HFS+ don't give macOS any usage data, so those drives only get the time-based timer. Automation only ever unmounts, never ejects: the drive stays connected and powered, and you remount it by unplugging and reconnecting it, or from the Finder. Encrypted drives are never touched by the automation — they lock when unmounted and ask for their password again afterwards. A status line in Settings always says plainly whether automation is active, paused, or limited, and why.
On request, UnplugAll unmounts the drives you've individually enabled for this before the Mac sleeps — up to 10 seconds are available (measured, and the ceiling), and anything that doesn't make it is reported, not hidden. Lid-close (clamshell) is a separate toggle, on battery power only by default — on power a Mac doesn't necessarily sleep, and the drive would be gone for nothing. The app visibly warns when a setting currently has no effect (e.g. “this Mac isn't sleeping on lid-close right now”). After waking, the drives stay unmounted — macOS doesn't bring them back by itself, and the app doesn't claim otherwise. Reconnect a drive by unplugging and replugging it, or mounting it again in the Finder.
While a Time Machine backup is running, automation pauses and waits — with a trailing buffer — instead of stepping on it. Drives macOS marks as a backup target, or where UnplugAll finds backup data at the top level, are left alone by automation. Any drive can also be marked as a backup drive by hand.
Mark a drive as protected and neither automation nor “eject all” will ever touch it. Set your own timer per drive. Rules are attached to the drive's identifier, not its name — renaming or replugging changes nothing.
On request, the icon only appears while external drives are connected (matters on a notched MacBook). It always stays visible when something needs attention — a blocked drive, a running countdown, a failed eject. Hiding it is only offered once you've chosen a way back during onboarding: a shortcut, Spotlight, or always showing the icon.
Freely assignable with its own recorder field, suggested default ⌃⌥⌘E. Choose what it does: eject all drives, or open settings. Works everywhere, including in full-screen apps — without the Accessibility permission (a Carbon hotkey, the same approach established Mac apps use). Warns you before registering it if macOS already owns that combination (⌘Space → Spotlight, etc.) instead of silently doing nothing.
Choose what “Eject” means from the menu: unmount and eject the device (then unplug and reconnect it), or unmount only, leaving it powered (then remountable from the Finder). This applies to anything you trigger manually — automatic actions always only unmount. Forcing an unmount through a blockage is possible, but always behind a confirmation that clearly states running apps could crash.
UnplugAll only asks for permission once there's actually something to report — never on launch. Toggle separately: “when a drive can be safely removed” and “when a drive couldn't be ejected.” Partial results always go through the failure toggle, never as a success message.
An optional login item, off by default — the app only registers once you flip the switch. Status is visible, with a direct link into System Settings.
A short first-run walkthrough: where the app lives, how to quit and find it again, and your choice of a way back — shortcut, Spotlight, or always-visible icon.
Fully in German and English, switchable inside the app (with a restart button).
No Full Disk Access, no admin rights, no background daemon, no Accessibility permission.
No account, no analytics, no ads, no network connection at all — the app simply has no network access.
An App Store app isn't allowed to, and UnplugAll doesn't pretend it can. Instead: it names the blocker, explains it — and can still unmount on request, behind an honest confirmation.
One-time purchase, $2.99. No subscription, no in-app purchases.
| Platform | macOS 14.0 or later, Apple Silicon |
| Distribution | Mac App Store exclusively |
| Languages | German, English |
| Drives | USB sticks, external SSDs and hard drives |
| Price | $2.99 one-time |
| Dependencies | None — zero-dependency project |
UnplugAll is in development, heading for the Mac App Store. Leave your email and we'll let you know the moment it's live — one message, nothing else.
One email at launch, nothing else. No newsletter, no third party.
No. Every feature — including naming the app that's blocking an eject — works inside the app's normal sandbox, with no elevated permissions.
Not always. macOS reports at most one blocking process, and sometimes none. When no name comes back, UnplugAll tells you that directly and suggests what to try instead, rather than staying silent.
Automation only ever unmounts — your drive stays connected and powered. Reconnect it by unplugging and replugging, or by mounting it again in the Finder.
The automation never touches them. Encrypted drives lock as soon as they're unmounted and ask for their password again afterwards, so they're excluded from the timer entirely.
No — an App Store app isn't allowed to terminate other processes, and UnplugAll doesn't pretend otherwise. It names the blocker and explains it; forcing an unmount is possible, but only behind a confirmation that clearly warns running apps could crash.
No. No account, no analytics, no ads — and no network connection at all, since the app has no network access to begin with.
No. UnplugAll is a one-time purchase for $2.99 on the Mac App Store — no subscription, no in-app purchases.
USB sticks, external SSDs and hard drives.
UnplugAll is heading to the Mac App Store. Get notified the moment it's live.
macOS 14.0+ · Apple Silicon · $2.99 one-time