How to Uninstall CleanMyMac

March 17, 2025
Asya Karapetyan
Written by
Asya Karapetyan
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A content marketer with 10+ years of experience specializing in macOS, focused on creating guides for Mac cleanup and optimization.
A content marketer with 10+ years of experience specializing in macOS, focused on creating guides for Mac cleanup and optimization.
Vladimir Nuzhdin
Approved by
Vladimir Nuzhdin
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The content has been reviewed and approved by our team member, an Apple Certified Support Professional, who provides technical support to Nektony’s users.
The content has been reviewed and approved by our team member, an Apple Certified Support Professional, who provides technical support to Nektony’s users.

For various reasons, you might need to remove CleanMyMac from your Mac. In this article, we will provide a step-by-step guide on how to completely uninstall CleanMyMac on Mac, so that it doesn’t leave its leftover files on your hard drive.

Contents:

  1. How to uninstall CleanMyMac using its built-in option
  2. How to manually delete CleanMyMac
  3. The safest way to entirely uninstall CleanMyMac
  4. FAQs

How to uninstall CleanMyMac using its built-in option

You can delete CleanMyMac uisng its Applications module feature. Here’s how:
  1. Launch CleanMyMac.
  2. Go to the Applications section from the sidebar.
  3. Click the Scan button.
  4. Go to the Uninstaller category.
  5. Select CleanMyMac from the list in the right panel.
  6. Click the Uninstall button.
  7. Confirm the removal.
    8. Deleting CleanMyMac

Although MacPaw provides these steps to remove CleanMyMac, users have reported that this method does not completely delete the app. Some leftover files may remain on the system.

For example, here are a couple of relevant questions on StackExchange platforms:
“Uninstalled CleanMyMac still shows notifications” (source)
“Cleanmymac has left folder actions after uninstall” (source)

To ensure complete removal, you may need to manually delete leftover files in ~/Library/ or use a third-party uninstaller.

Quick Video: How to completely delete CleanMyMac

How to manually delete CleanMyMac

Carefully follow every step of our guide to completely get rid of CleanMyMac on your computer.
  1. Quit CleanMyMac
  2. Close all the background processes related to the app. For this run Activity Monitor, select all CleanMyMac processes in the CPU tab and click the Close “X” icon.
    3. Activity Monitor window showing CleanMyMac processeses
  3. Go to the Applications folder and move CleanMyMac to Trash.
    4. Removing CleanMyMac into the Trash

    Another method to remove the app is to do it using Launchpad. Open Launchpad → drag and drop CleanMyMac into the Trash bin.

    Launchpad screen showing how to remove Cleanmymac to Trash
  4. Open Finder and press the Command+Shift+G key shortcut.
  5. In the search field type ~/Library and press Return.
    6. Go to folder search field showing the Library location
  6. In the Library folder find and remove all files related to CleanMyMac. Check the following folders for them:
    • ~/Library/Preferences/
    • ~/Library/Application Support
    • ~/Library/Caches/
    • ~/Library/Logs/
    • ~/Library/LaunchAgents
    • ~/Library/Cookies
    • ~/Library/Group Containers
    7. Library folder showing CleanMyMac support files
  7. Once you remove all service files of the app, don’t forget to empty the Trash to uninstall CleanMyMac permanently.
Read also: “CleanMyMac alternatives,” “How to uninstall Setapp.“

The safest way to entirely uninstall CleanMyMac

You can use App Cleaner & Uninstaller Pro which is designed to completely uninstall applications on a Mac in just a few clicks. The best thing about App Cleaner & Uninstaller is that it finds even the remaining files of already removed applications.

Steps on how to completely remove CleanMyMac:

  1. Launch App Cleaner & Uninstaller.
  2. Select CleanMyMac in the left panel.
  3. Click the Remove button.
  4. Confirm the action.
uninstall CleanmyMac using App Cleaner & Uninstaller If you have already removed CleanMyMac using the manual method, check for its leftovers.
  1. Run App Cleaner & Uninstaller.
  2. Switch to the Remaining Files section from the sidebar.
  3. Select CleanMyMac service files.
  4. Click the Remove button and confirm.
Remaining files tab

FAQs

How to turn off showing CleanMyMac in the menu bar?

To remove CleanMyMac menu from your desktop toolbar, do the following:

  1. Go to the CleanMyMac settings.
  2. Switch to the Menu section.
  3. Uncheck the option “Enable Menu.”
  4. The CleanmyMac icon will disappear from the menu.
  5. You can close the settings window.

How to stop running CleanMyMac at system startup?

There are several ways to stop CleanMyMac from running at Mac startup.

Way 1

  1. Open System Settings on your Mac.
  2. Click General in the left panel and select Login Items.
  3. Remove CleanMyMac from the list of login items at the top of the window.
  4. You can also scroll down and turn off the background processes of the app.
System Settings showing CleanMyMac

Way 2

  1. Open App Cleaner & Uninstaller.
  2. Switch to the Startup Programs section from the left panel.
  3. Locate CleanMyMac login item and launch agent and disable them.
App Cleaner & Uninstaller showing CleanMyMac launch agent

Where is CleanMyMac on my Mac?

It depends on how you installed CleanMyMac on your computer. If you downloaded it from the Mac App Store, by default, all apps are saved in your Applications folder. If you downloaded it from the website, you can find it in your Downloads folder or wherever you saved it. To find CleanMyMac related files, use a free application from Nektony called Funter, which can help you find all files, including hidden ones.

Funter showing CleanMyMac files

How do I cancel MacPaw CleanMyMac subscription?

If you have the site version of CleanMyMac, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the MacPaw website.
  2. Log in to your account.
  3. Select the application and click Cancel Subscription.
  4. Confirm the action.

If you installed the App Store version of CleanMyMac, do the following:

  1. Open the App Store.
  2. Go to your account information. For this, click your account name in the bottom left corner of the window.
  3. Scroll down and locate the subscriptions section. Click Manage.
  4. Locate CleanMyMac in the list of your purchases and click Edit.
  5. Click to cancel CleanMyMac subscription.
App Store window showing the subscription details

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