Can I install NVIDIA drivers on Mac?

Unfortunately, there is no such option. Since macOS 10.14 Mojave, Apple has officially dropped support for NVIDIA drivers. As a result, you can no longer install, update, or load NVIDIA Web Drivers and CUDA on current macOS versions, including on Apple Silicon.

Is it safe to uninstall old NVIDIA drivers?

Absolutely. It’s both safe and advisable. Just make sure you delete all components: preferences, launch daemons, and CUDA frameworks.nYou can uninstall the drivers manually by diving into the Finder and Library folders. If it’s the case and you still worry about deleting a wrong file, back up data in Time Machine.nOr you can use a zero-risk tool, App Cleaner & Uninstaller, to uninstall the Nvidia driver. It removes apps instantly, completely, and permanently in a few clicks.

What is the Nvidia driver rollback?

Driver rollback means reverting to an older, more stable driver version.nHowever, on macOS, this option is irrelevant; Apple blocks all NVIDIA driver versions, both old and new, so you cannot roll back to a working configuration the way Windows users can. If CUDA causes issues, uninstalling is the only realistic solution.

December 19, 2025

Uninstall NVIDIA CUDA drivers on Mac: The right way

Written by

A content creator with a background in tech support and quality assurance, focused on writing clear, helpful guides for Mac optimization.

Sergio Tereshchenko

Approved by

The content has been reviewed and approved by our team member, an Apple Certified Support Professional, who provides technical support to Nektony’s users.

Alex Holovchenko

Everybody’s heard of NVIDIA’s breakthrough – getting the AI chip market under its control with about 90% share thanks to its flagship AI GPUs and CUDA software. Over 3.5 million developers embrace CUDA and use it to build AI, data-intensive tools, and other apps.

The bad news is, Apple discontinued official support for Nvidia drivers. This means CUDA no longer works properly on modern macOS versions or Apple Silicon (M1-M4) Macs. So, if you still have CUDA installed, it’s 100% outdated, unsupported, and potentially causing system conflicts or unnecessary background processes.

As uninstalling is unavoidable, the key is to do it the right way, not just removing the main app, but removing CUDA at its root, including every leftover, preference pane, and service file. In this post, you’ll see two tried-and-true ways to delete the NVIDIA CUDA driver, manually and automatically, and how to make sure you uninstalled CUDA for good.

This Article Contains

What is CUDA?
Why might you need to uninstall Nvidia Drivers?
2 ways to uninstall CUDA drivers from Mac
- 1. Uninstall the NVIDIA CUDA driver manually
- 2. Delete the NVIDIA CUDA driver easily
How to check if CUDA is installed on your Mac
FAQs

What is CUDA?

CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) is a driver and software platform developed by NVIDIA that allows the GPU to perform general-purpose computations, not just graphics rendering.

In simple terms, it lets compatible apps, such as those for AI, rendering, or processing video, offload heavy work from the CPU to the GPU, dramatically speeding things up.

On macOS, the CUDA driver once enabled this acceleration for NVIDIA GPUs. However, with Apple’s shift to its own chips and Metal graphics framework, CUDA is not compatible with recent macOS versions anymore. As a result, starting from macOS 10.14 (Mojave), Apple stopped supporting CUDA.

Naturally, this leads to only one outcome – uninstalling the NVIDIA CUDA driver from Mac.

Also Read:How to uninstall the Wacom Driver from Mac

Why might you need to uninstall Nvidia Drivers?

While the loss of official NVIDIA support is the root cause for uninstalling its drivers, it brings along consequences and is not the only one:

Outdated certificates and blocked extensions
macOS treats old unsigned NVIDIA components as unsafe, preventing them from loading at startup. Removing them helps avoid boot errors and clutter.
Errors and update alerts
You might notice constant popups about outdated drivers or apps failing to launch CUDA-accelerated functions. Consequently, the driver becomes dead weight.
Hardware compatibility issues
Older GPUs might lack modern compute capability, making them invisible to CUDA or running with limitations. So, it’s better to abandon it than waste time on its configurations.
Switching to other technologies
If your workflow no longer depends on CUDA, for example, you’ve moved to Metal, OpenCL, or CPU-only computation, keeping the CUDA driver installed feels redundant.

2 ways to uninstall CUDA drivers from Mac

I tested two methods to remove NVIDIA CUDA Driver v418.163 on macOS 15.0. Here’s what I found:

Method	Difficulty	Time	Leftovers	Best for
Manual removal (Finder)	Advanced	~7 mins	⚠️ Possible leftovers	Experienced users
App Cleaner & Uninstaller	✅ Easiest	✅ 30 sec	✅ None	✅ Who wants a quick, full cleanup

Note:

Before uninstalling anything driver-related, back up your data. Deleting system extensions may affect dependent apps or scripts. For this purpose, you can use Time Machine.

Uninstall the NVIDIA CUDA Driver manually

Open Activity Monitor → select and stop (x) all the Nvidia processes.
Open System Settings and scroll to the bottom.
In the left sidebar, find CUDA, right-click it.
Select Remove ‘CUDA’ Settings Pane.
Open Finder → search for cuda using the Name Contains filter.
Select all CUDA-related files → Move to Trash.

Note:

Alternatively, you can use Funter by Nektony, a free tool that helps locate hidden driver files by keyword, for example, cuda. The most convenient thing about it is, you can delete those files from the result output.

Manually delete the remaining CUDA paths. Given the Finder doesn’t show all the routes in the standard search, and if you haven’t tried Funter to reveal them, you need to detect hidden files by taking an extra effort:
- In Finder, press Shift + Cmd + G.
- Using the Go to Folder window, check these directories for CUDA files and delete all the driver files you see:
  - ```
  /Library/Extensions/CUDA.kext  
```
  Copy
- ```
/usr/local/cuda
```
    Copy
  - ```
  /Library/Frameworks/CUDA.framework
```
  Copy
- ```
/Library/Preferences/com.nvidia.CUDAPref.plist  
```
    Copy
  - ```
  /Library/LaunchAgents/com.nvidia.CUDASoftwareUpdate.plist
```
  Copy
- ```
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nvidia.cuda.launcher.plist
```
    Copy
  - ```
  /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nvidia.cudad.plist
```
  Copy
- ```
/private/var/db/receipts/
```
    Copy
    → find, select, and move to trash all CUDA folders or files that begin with com.nvidia.cuda
Empty Trash and restart your Mac to bring the CUDA driver deletion to an end.

That’s all. Keep in mind, it’s essential to remove each of the CUDA components, because missing even one file may cause excessive processes or even issues.

Uninstall the NVIDIA CUDA driver easily

App Cleaner & Uninstaller does its job to prevent you from missing a thing when it comes to uninstalling apps on Mac. And it is in charge even in complicated cases, like with CUDA. The uninstallation flow is pretty simple and takes you a couple of clicks:

Get the tool (for starters, a 2-day free trial) → open it.
In the search bar, type CUDA or find CUDA Preferences in the list.
Click Uninstall → review the CUDA files planned for removal → click Remove.

That’s it. CUDA and all its background components disappear permanently. In the end, this matters: no leftovers, no risks, no mess.

And even if you deleted CUDA yourself, App Cleaner & Uninstaller can track down the rest. Open the Remaining Files tab to locate any leftover CUDA fragments and clear them out effortlessly.

How to check if CUDA is installed on your Mac

Before calling it done, make sure CUDA is really gone. Here’s a quick way to confirm:

System Settings: Open System Settings → scroll down the left sidebar to the bottom. If CUDA is not there, it’s a good sign you deleted the driver successfully.
Finder search: Open Finder → hit Shift + Cmd + G → type
```
/usr/local/
```
Copy
→ see if there’s no cuda folder left.
Terminal check: Open Terminal → run the following command:
```
nvcc –version
```
Copy

If Terminal answers with zsh: command not found: nvcc, I can congratulate you on uninstalling Nvidia CUDA totally.

Done – you can be confident your Mac is clean of NVIDIA CUDA traces.

Final click

CUDA has made history, but on modern Macs, it’s history itself. Apple’s move toward Metal and ARM chips means NVIDIA’s CUDA drivers are relics of the Intel era, taking up space and simply doing nothing. So, freeing up space by deleting CUDA is obvious.

If you’re good with Finder searches and terminal checks, manual removal works fine.

But if you want a guaranteed clean uninstall without tracking down 15+ file locations, App Cleaner & Uninstaller saves time and makes CUDA disappear completely in a click.