Deleting Zoom from your Mac can sometimes be tricky, especially if the app’s processes are still running in the background. In such cases, users might encounter errors or find that the app isn’t fully removed from their system. To avoid this, follow our guide to completely uninstall Zoom from your Mac.
Contents:
- What is Zoom and why uninstall it?
- Removing Zoom manually
- Removing Zoom using its built-in uninstaller
- Removing Zoom with App Cleaner & Uninstaller
- How to remove Zoom cache files
- FAQs
Before we start
App Cleaner & Uninstaller
Video Guide: Deleting Zoom on a Mac
What is Zoom and why uninstall it?
Zoom is a popular service for organizing video conferences, online meetings, webinars, live chats and screen-sharing. In March 2024, nearly 732 million unique global visitors accessed Zoom.us, reflecting the widespread use of the platform (Statista).
However, there are several reasons why you might need to remove Zoom from your Mac.- Background processes. Along with Zoom, a web server was previously installed on macOS, which continued to run in the background even if the user had already left the application. In 2019, Apple has pushed a silent Mac update to remove this hidden web server (TechCrunch). However, if you are using an old version of the software, we strongly recommend updating or uninstalling it.
- Disk space. Like any other application Zoom creates a lot of service files that help the program to work correctly while using it. With time these files can occupy your disk memory which can lead to the problem of a slow Mac.
- Switching to another service. If you have decided to use another service for video conferencing and Zoom application is no longer needed for you we recommend you to get rid of it.
How to uninstall Zoom from Mac manually
To manually remove the app you need to find and remove all its support files. By default they are hidden and located in the Library folder. Follow these steps:
- Launch the Zoom desktop application.
- Click on Zoom in a menu bar.
- Select the Uninstall Zoom option.
- Confirm the deletion by clicking OK. Now the app is deleted but all its service files are still stored in the hidden library of your Mac. Keep following the instructions to get rid of Zoom’s leftovers.
- Open Finder → click on Go in the menu bar → choose Go to Folder.
- Type ~/Library and press Return on your keyboard.
- In the Library folder, find and delete all the files and folders that contain “zoom” in their names.
- ~/Library/Caches
- ~/Library/Logs
- ~/Library/Cookies
- ~/Library/Saved Application State
- Once all service files are deleted empty your Bin.
Check the following paths to find Zoom’s service files:
Note! Be careful. If you delete any system file by mistake, it might damage your system. That is why before you delete something, you should double-check the name of the file or folder.
How to remove Zoom using its built-in uninstaller
Zoom provides an uninstall option that promises to remove the application completely along with all its related files. Here’s how to use it:
- Open Zoom.
- Click Zoom Workplace in the top menu bar.
- Click Uninstall Zoom Workplace.
- Click OK in the window that appears.
- If prompted, enter your Mac user password.
- The program will start the removal process.
- Once the process is complete, you’ll get a notification.
Note: Despite Zoom promising a complete uninstallation, we checked our Mac for leftover files and found numerous service files still present:
- users/admin/Library/Application Support/BJ4HAAB9B3.ZoomClient3rd
- Macintosh HD/private/var/folders/gm//private/var/folders/gm/vl6bd07j1tn7j_2skv2z9bxr0000gn/C/us.zoom.CptHost
- Macintosh HD/private/var/folders/gm//private/var/folders/gm/vl6bd07j1tn7j_2skv2z9bxr0000gn/C/us.zoom.xos
- Macintosh HD/private/var/db/receipts/us.zoom.pkg.videomeeting
How to entirely uninstall Zoom from your Mac
The easiest and safest way to uninstall any unnecessary app including the Zoom program is to use App Cleaner & Uninstaller. This tool will delete Zoom along with all its support files in four easy steps:
- Launch App Cleaner & Uninstaller.
- Select Zoom from the list of applications.
- Click the Uninstall button.
- Confirm the uninstallation.
How to delete Zoom cache on a Mac
If you often use Zoom, the volume of its cache files might be huge. With App Cleaner & Uninstaller, you can clear its cache files. Here is how:- Launch App Cleaner & Uninstaller.
- Select Zoom on the left panel.
- Enable the Expert mode. Use the toggle button on the top of the window for this.
- Tick Caches in the list of Zoom service files.
- Click the Remove button and confirm the removal.
In this article, we provided you with three possible ways how to get rid of Zoom on your Mac. Please note that the manual method has its drawbacks. For example, this method will take you much more time than the automatic one; and you should be extremely attentive to finding all the leftovers and at the same time to not delete something by mistake. That is why we recommend you use a third-party uninstaller that provides you with a safe and quick way to app’s uninstallation.
FAQs
Can you use Zoom on your phone?
You can start or join the video meetings using the Zoom mobile app on Android or iOS.
Is Zoom free to use?
You can use the Basic Plan. It has a 40 mins limit on group meetings, hosts up to 100 participants and unlimited number of sessions. However, it is also possible to use Pro, Business or Enterprise plans which have additional options.
What is the Zoom app for?
It is a video conferencing service. You can use it to virtually meet with others by video or audio conference.
Is Zoom a video call or audio?
It is a video conferencing platform that can be used for both video and audio conferencing meetings, as well as webinars, meetings recordings and live chats.