Auto Eject · Part of Recento Pro
Auto Eject installs a downloaded app, ejects its disk image and clears the clutter from your desktop. It also keeps the drives you rely on from being ejected by accident.
macOS 14 or later · Apple Silicon & Intel
Installing a Mac app from the web leaves a trail. The disk image mounts, you drag the app across, and then the installer sits on your desktop and in Finder's sidebar until you remember to eject it. A week later there are four of them. Meanwhile the external drive you actually need gets ejected by sleep, a stray key or another app halfway through a backup. What you want is to auto eject DMG installers on your Mac and leave everything else alone.
Auto Eject fixes both ends. It can auto eject DMG installers on your Mac as soon as the app inside is in Applications, and it can offer to do the install for you, then eject the image. For the drives that should stay put, Keep Mounted blocks ejects so they stay available. Auto Eject is one of the tools in Recento Utilities, part of Recento Pro.
In the default mode, Auto Eject waits until the app inside a disk image has been copied to Applications, then ejects the image. It also catches installers that were already mounted before Recento started, so yesterday's leftovers get cleaned up too.
Turn on Install Downloaded Apps and Recento asks once when a disk image finishes downloading, naming the browser it came from. Accept, and it copies the app to Applications and ejects the image. Leave the question unanswered and nothing happens.
macOS's own security check (Gatekeeper) has to accept the app before it is copied, and the app keeps its "downloaded from the internet" mark, so macOS still asks you before the first launch. Installer packages are never run for you, and an image that shows a licence agreement is left for you to open yourself.
When you install a newer version of an app you already have, the old copy goes to the Trash, not straight into oblivion. If the app is running, Recento asks you to quit it first instead of replacing it underneath you.
Pick one of four modes: When App Installed, After a Delay (2 seconds to 5 minutes), Immediately on Mount, or Manual Only. Every automatic mode waits for the app inside to be installed first.
With Only installers on, a disk image with no app inside is left alone so you can keep working from it. Any image you never want ejected can go on a never-eject list.
Keep Mounted blocks ejects for the drives you list, so sleep, a stray key or another app cannot pull them out from under you. Drives are remembered across unplugging and reconnecting.
See every mounted disk image and external drive with its size and what will happen to it. Eject one, show it in Finder, or eject all disk images at once, and read a history of every eject.
| Feature | Free version | Recento Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-eject & install downloaded apps | Included | Included |
| Drives kept mounted | 1 | Unlimited |
| Activity history | Last 20 | Full, by date |
Recento Pro costs $9.99 a month after a 2 day free trial (cancel any time) or $99 one time and unlocks every drive and the full history.
Plans, trial and refund terms are on the Recento Pro pricing section.
Turn on Auto Eject in Recento Utilities and leave the mode on When App Installed. Once the app inside the disk image is in Applications, the image is ejected for you. It also handles installers that were mounted before Recento started.
Not if they are data images. With Only installers on (the default), a disk image without an app inside stays mounted. You can also add any image to the never-eject list.
Yes. Turn on Install Downloaded Apps and Recento asks once when a disk image finishes downloading. Accept and it copies the app to Applications, then ejects the image. It is off until you switch it on.
Recento never installs without asking. macOS's Gatekeeper check must accept the app first, the app keeps its downloaded-from-the-internet mark so macOS still checks it at first launch, and installer packages are never run for you. Anything it refuses, it hands back with a button to open the disk image yourself.
Disk images with more than one app, installer packages (.pkg), images that show a licence agreement, and apps that are currently running. In each case Recento says why and leaves the install to you.
Turn on Block ejects under Keep Mounted and add the drive. Recento then refuses eject requests for it, whether they come from sleep, a key or another app. Pulling the cable out is something no app can stop.
The free version keeps one drive mounted. Recento Pro keeps as many as you like and shows the full eject history by date.
No. On an administrator account apps go to Applications without a password. On a standard account they go to the Applications folder in your home folder.
Download Recento Pro and never eject another installer by hand.
