How do I back up applications?

Carol in Chicago wrote:

Time Machine does not back up installed applications. Why?

How do I back up applications? Will I need to reinstall everything if I change computers?

Generally speaking, applications that are not bundled with macOS can be migrated to a new Mac via Migration Assistant.

That said, I have always found it best to install apps from scratch on a new computer. As good as Migration Assistant is, it can bring over incompatible apps and other cruft that it would be best not to have on a new machine.

Time Machine does back up third-party apps in /Applications, it just doesn’t bother backing up Apple’s own apps because they’re part of macOS and get reinstalled automatically. What confuses people is that App Store apps and many licensed apps are meant to be re-downloaded, not “restored” as standalone installers.

When you move to a new Mac, Migration Assistant pulls apps, settings, and support files together so they actually work, not just the app bundle.

You won’t lose everything, but for long-term sanity, reinstalling critical apps fresh and then restoring your data and settings is usually the cleanest approach.

Ones bundled with the OS are reinstalled with it and will be present on a new computer. Otherwise, manually back them up, or redownload them.

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