How to uninstall CleanMyMac completely

Part of: Do Mac cleaners work? An honest answer from people who build one (Choosing a tool)

MacPaw describes two ways to remove CleanMyMac: drag it to the Trash like any other app, or use the Applications module inside CleanMyMac itself. Neither one cancels your subscription, so deal with that separately.

DiskJoy is our product, and it sits in the same wider space, so keep that in mind. The steps below come from MacPaw’s own support page and Apple’s guide, read on 2026-10-05. We did not run the uninstall ourselves.

Option 1: drag it to the Trash

MacPaw’s page calls this “the easiest way” to uninstall CleanMyMac. Following Apple’s guide:

1. Quit CleanMyMac. Right-click its icon in the Dock and choose Quit if it is running.
2. Open Finder, then the Applications folder.
3. Drag CleanMyMac to the Trash, or choose File, Move to Trash.
4. Enter your password if asked.
5. Empty the Trash to free the space. Remember that emptying is permanent. See why the Trash holds space.

Option 2: use the app’s own uninstaller

MacPaw’s page calls this “the most effective way” and says the app will “remove itself completely, leaving no leftovers on your Mac”. The steps on its page are:

1. Open CleanMyMac and click Applications in the sidebar.
2. Click Scan and wait for the results.
3. Select Manage My Applications, then go to the Uninstaller category.
4. Find and select CleanMyMac in the list of installed apps.
5. Click Uninstall and confirm.

Deal with the subscription

Apple’s guide says deleting or uninstalling an app “doesn’t cancel any subscription” you purchased with it. MacPaw’s uninstall page does not say how to cancel, and tells you nothing on that point. Check where you bought it, or contact MacPaw’s support team, and confirm the cancellation before or after removal.

Check for leftovers by hand

You can look without changing anything. In Terminal, these commands only read:

ls ~/Library/Application\ Support
ls ~/Library/LaunchAgents
find ~/Library -maxdepth 2 -iname '*macpaw*'

The first two list folders and launch agent files. The third lists items in your Library whose names contain “macpaw”. An empty result means nothing was found at that depth. We did not verify which files CleanMyMac creates, so treat the result as a hint and not a full list.

If you find something, check its name against the app before you remove it. See what apps leave behind and how to uninstall apps completely.

Before you remove it

If you are leaving because of price, see the alternatives and Mac cleaners without a subscription. If you are leaving because you doubt cleaner apps in general, do Mac cleaners work looks at that question. If you have used it to remove things, make sure you do not need to undo any of them. Look inside the Trash first.

If the app will not open or is missing

If you cannot open CleanMyMac to use its own uninstaller, the Trash method still works. Quit any running process from the Dock, move the app out of the Applications folder as described above, and then look for leftovers by hand. MacPaw’s page does not describe this case in the part we read, so we have not added steps beyond Apple’s general guide.

A note on helpers and menu items

Some apps add a menu bar item or a login item. After you remove the app, open System Settings, General, Login Items and Extensions. Apple says a yellow triangle next to an item means it will not open because it was moved or deleted, which is a good sign of a leftover. Our launch agents guide shows how to list the files behind such items.

After removal

1. Empty the Trash if you are sure you have what you need from it.
2. Check System Settings, General, Storage to see your free space.
3. If the number has not moved, give macOS some time. See why the number may lag.
4. Confirm the subscription is cancelled with the company you pay.

If you are switching, not just leaving

Many people remove an app because they want a different tool. Before you do, note what you used it for. If it was a disk view, a free analyzer covers it. If it was removing apps, the manual steps in our uninstall guide work. If it was something else, make a short list so you can check the replacement does it. Then remove the app.

Safe, Risky, Never

Try a scan

If you want to see how much space is in use after removal, DiskJoy’s scan reads your disk and shows categories. It changes nothing.

Sources and disclosure

DiskJoy is our product. Accessed 2026-10-05: MacPaw, uninstalling CleanMyMac https://macpaw.com/support/cleanmymac/knowledgebase/uninstall-cleanmymac ; Apple, uninstalling apps https://support.apple.com/en-us/102610. The read-only commands ls and find -iname were run on macOS 27.0.