Do I need FUSE for macOS?

Tech Support
1

I noticed in my macOS (High Sierra) System Preferences that FUSE for OS X is installed in my iMac (late 2014). Clicking on the OSXFUSE icon revealed this:

OSXFUSE allows you to extend OS X’s native file handling capabilities via third-party file systems. Visit the OSXFUSE website for more information. Installed Version 2.54; Update available: 3.8.2.

Do I need this? Update to FUSE for macOS or uninstall it completely?

I suspect that OSXFUSE was installed in this or a previous iMac years ago and has been carried forward through many OS X and macOS upgrades. Do I still need it?

2

I had it installed on my first iMac in 2005 but haven’t installed it in anything since…I can’t remember what I was mounting with it… probably to mount an FTP connection or something similar which I have long since replaced with cloud services.

3

Unless you are using a non-Apple filesystem like NTFS or Veracrypt, you don’t need it. You can uninstall it.

4

The application Papers also would offer to install FUSE because of the way its database file was designed. If you’ve ever used that app, that’s a potential origin for it on your system. If you STILL use Papers, you may want to keep FUSE.

5

Thanks for the comments so far - it appears that I don’t need FUSE. I tried to remove it using the already-present remove function, but it didn’t work, even after a re-boot. This makes me even more motivated to remove FUSE - if I can figure out how.