MacOS – In OS X, is it better to put apps in /Applications or in ~/Applications

applicationsmacospermission

I've noticed that pkg installers and obviously apps installed from the App Store) put apps in the /Applications file, yet Steam usually puts them in ~/Applications. Both work, and both are writable by the user, but are there circumstances under which one should be done over the other?
I am the only user of this computer, and shared folders aside, I've disabled guest access.

(this is coming from a Linux user, so having a root folder be writable seems wrong, unless my permissions are wrong from the start)

Best Answer

  1. By default the root directory should not be directly writable, by other then root, without being prompt for permission with other users in Finder and or using sudo from the command line.

  2. IMO /Applications should be used over ~/Applications for most applications as that is the default location. Also I certainly do not want to bloat out my Home folder with applications. I like keeping User Data separate from the OS and Applications, it just makes logical sense for many reasons.

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