How to fully uninstall Zoom on Mac
Dragging Zoom to Trash leaves behind caches, preferences, logs, and a background LaunchAgent that runs at login. Here's how to remove everything.
10+
Leftover locations
200–800 MB
Typical leftover size
Yes — ZoomOpener
Background process
What Zoom leaves behind
Zoom is notorious for leaving behind a background process called ZoomOpener that launches at login — even after you delete the main app. Beyond that, Zoom scatters files across at least 10 Library directories:
| Location | Contents |
|---|---|
| ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/ | Zoom app data, recording settings, plugins |
| ~/Library/Caches/us.zoom.xos/ | Cached meeting data and thumbnails |
| ~/Library/Caches/com.zoom.us/ | Additional Zoom cache files |
| ~/Library/Preferences/us.zoom.xos.plist | User preferences and settings |
| ~/Library/Logs/zoom.us/ | Meeting logs and diagnostic data |
| ~/Library/Containers/us.zoom.xos/ | Sandboxed Zoom container data |
| ~/Library/HTTPStorages/us.zoom.xos/ | Web storage and cookies |
| ~/Library/WebKit/us.zoom.xos/ | WebKit data from Zoom's browser views |
| ~/Library/Saved Application State/us.zoom.xos.savedState/ | Window positions and UI state |
| ~/Library/LaunchAgents/us.zoom.xos.ZoomOpener.plist | Background Zoom launcher (runs at startup) |
Manual removal (step-by-step)
- 1. Quit Zoom completelyRight-click the Zoom icon in the Dock → Quit, or press ⌘Q while Zoom is focused.
- 2. Delete the app bundleOpen /Applications in Finder, drag zoom.us.app to Trash.
- 3. Open Library in FinderPress ⌘ Shift G in Finder and type
~/Library. - 4. Delete these folders/filesNavigate to each location in the table above and delete the Zoom files. Use ⌘ Delete to move to Trash.
- 5. Remove the LaunchAgent (important!)The file
~/Library/LaunchAgents/us.zoom.xos.ZoomOpener.plistkeeps Zoom running in the background. Delete this file to prevent Zoom from auto-starting. - 6. Empty TrashOnce you're confident, empty the Trash to reclaim disk space.
Automated removal with Zapper
Instead of hunting through 10+ directories manually, Zapper finds everything in seconds:
- Before deleting Zoom, drop
zoom.us.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 ZoomOpener LaunchAgent. Restore with ⌘Z if needed.
Why Zoom runs in the background after deletion
Zoom installs a LaunchAgent — a background process definition in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/. LaunchAgents run automatically when you log in, independently of the main app.
Even after deleting Zoom.app, macOS will still try to launch the ZoomOpener if the LaunchAgent plist file exists. This is why many users notice Zoom-related processes in Activity Monitor even after "uninstalling" it.
~/Library/LaunchAgents/us.zoom.xos.ZoomOpener.plist
Delete this file to completely stop Zoom from running at login. Zapper finds and removes it automatically during the scan.