How to fully uninstall Steam on Mac
Dragging Steam to Trash leaves behind downloaded games, workshop content, saves, and a background helper that can consume gigabytes of disk space. Here's how to remove everything.
7+
Leftover locations
1 – 100+ GB
Typical leftover size
Stored separately from app
Downloaded games
What Steam leaves behind
Steam stores downloaded games in Application Support — this folder alone can be 10–100+ GB. Even after deleting the app, game files, workshop content, saves, and screenshots remain scattered across at least 7 Library directories:
| Location | Contents |
|---|---|
| ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/ | Steam client data, downloaded games, workshop content, and user saves |
| ~/Library/Caches/com.valvesoftware.steam/ | Client cache and update staging files |
| ~/Library/Preferences/com.valvesoftware.steam.plist | User preferences and login settings |
| ~/Library/Logs/Steam/ | Client and game crash logs |
| ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.valvesoftware.steam.savedState/ | Window positions |
| ~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.valvesoftware.steam/ | Web storage and cookies |
| ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.valvesoftware.steam.ipctool.plist | Steam IPC background helper |
Manual removal (step-by-step)
- 1. Back up game saves firstIf you want to keep your save files, copy
~/Library/Application Support/Steam/userdata/to a safe location before proceeding. - 2. Quit Steam completelyClick Steam in the menu bar and choose Quit Steam, or press ⌘Q while Steam is focused.
- 3. Delete the app bundleOpen /Applications in Finder, drag Steam.app to Trash.
- 4. Remove downloaded gamesNavigate to
~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamappsand delete the entire folder. This contains all downloaded games and can be 10–100+ GB. - 5. Delete remaining leftover filesPress ⌘ Shift G in Finder and type
~/Library. Navigate to each location in the table above and delete the Steam files. Use ⌘ Delete to move to Trash. - 6. Empty TrashOnce you're confident, empty the Trash to reclaim disk space.
Automated removal with Zapper
Instead of hunting through 7+ directories manually, Zapper finds everything in seconds:
- Before deleting Steam, drop
Steam.apponto Zapper's window. - Zapper scans all 11 Library directories and shows every leftover file with its path and size.
- Review the list, check the files you want to remove, and click Zap.
- Files move to Trash — including the IPC background helper. Restore with ⌘Z if needed.
Backing up Steam game saves
Steam stores game save data in the userdata folder. If you plan to reinstall Steam later or want to preserve your progress, back up this folder before deleting anything.
~/Library/Application Support/Steam/userdata/
This folder contains save files organized by your Steam user ID. Copy it to a safe location (like your Desktop or an external drive) before uninstalling. Many games also support Steam Cloud saves, but not all — check each game's settings to be sure.