How to uninstall AnyDesk on Mac

How you remove AnyDesk depends on how it was set up. The portable version runs only the AnyDesk client, while a full installation also adds the AnyDesk Service, which runs in the background and allows unattended access. A full installation should come off through AnyDesk's own uninstaller first, and your AnyDesk ID and alias live in a configuration folder that is gone for good once you delete it. These steps cover the official download from anydesk.com and the Homebrew cask anydesk.

Before you start

• End any remote session and tell anyone who connects to this Mac that the address will stop working.
• If you might reinstall and want to keep the same AnyDesk ID and alias, copy ~/.anydesk, and /etc/anydesk on a full installation, to a safe place such as Documents first. AnyDesk's macOS page says deleting its configuration folders removes the ID and alias permanently unless backed up.
• Removing the app does not cancel an AnyDesk subscription.

Remove a full installation with AnyDesk's uninstaller

This follows AnyDesk for macOS:

1. Open AnyDesk, open its Menu and choose About AnyDesk.
2. Hold the Option key and click Uninstall at the top right.
3. If macOS asks for an administrator password, enter it or ask the Mac's administrator; the service and its helper live in system folders.
4. When the uninstaller has finished, delete the configuration folders you no longer need (see the table below).

Keep AnyDesk.app in Applications until the uninstaller has finished. Dragging the app to the Trash first can leave the service's launch files and helper behind, and you would then have to remove them by hand with administrator rights. On a managed Mac, check with your IT department before removing remote-access software.

Remove the client-only (portable) version

1. Right-click the AnyDesk icon in the menu bar and choose Quit.
2. Move AnyDesk from Finder's Applications folder to the Trash.
3. Delete the configuration folders you no longer need.

Where AnyDesk keeps its files

The configuration folders come from AnyDesk's documentation; the system files come from the Homebrew cask's uninstall steps and exist only after a full installation.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal:

pgrep -il anydesk
ls /Library/LaunchDaemons /Library/LaunchAgents /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools | grep -i anydesk
ls -d ~/.anydesk /etc/anydesk

• No output from pgrep means no AnyDesk process is running. A listed process needs its executable and owner identified first; a name match does not prove the AnyDesk Service is loaded. For a confirmed component of the full installation, use AnyDesk’s uninstaller described above; keep unrelated processes rather than automatically reinstalling.
• No output from the filtered second line, after all three directories were read without errors, means only that no filename matched anydesk there; read or permission errors leave the result unknown. Identify any listed item as belonging to this AnyDesk installation before using its uninstaller; a name match alone is not proof of ownership.
• ls -d prints each configuration folder that still exists and reports "No such file or directory" for the rest. A surviving ~/.anydesk is expected if you kept your ID.

For helpers that keep coming back after an uninstall, see App still running after uninstall on Mac.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The anydesk cask's uninstall step quits AnyDesk and its helper processes and deletes the two launch daemons, the two launch agents and the privileged helper listed above, which needs an administrator password. Its zap list adds both ~/.anydesk and /etc/anydesk, with your ID and alias, plus the preferences file. Back up both configuration folders before zap if you want the same ID after reinstalling. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap anydesk yourself does not look at Mole's checkboxes. Homebrew AnyDesk cask

Mole does not run zap for this cask because its configuration folders sit outside ~/Library. Homebrew ordinary uninstall still quits the processes and deletes all five system service files above, regardless of Mole’s helper-row selection. Mole then handles any additional selected remnant rows; omitting zap preserves the configuration folders unless you separately select or remove them.

To remove the app and its service but keep your ID:

brew uninstall --cask anydesk

What Mole lists

When you remove it with Mole:

• ~/.anydesk is reviewed app data, unselected while Remove data and settings with apps is off, the default. Enabling it can preselect eligible app-owned review rows; untick it to retain your ID and alias.
• The com.philandro.anydesk preferences file is selected by default.
• Launch daemons and agents in /Library whose label carries com.philandro.anydesk are listed and selected by default, and removing them asks for administrator approval. The privileged helper in /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools is listed but not selected. This test copied only the app, so none of these system rows were exercised.
• /etc/anydesk and custom-client folders are not listed.

What this test covered

On September 19, 2026, AnyDesk.app was copied from the official download into Applications without running a full installation, opened once, then removed with Mole 1.15 Preview (build 277). While it ran, Mole's Status tab showed AnyDesk as one row of five processes, and its process explanation noted that AnyDesk was listening on a public port. The app and its preferences went to the Trash and its startup entry left Mole's list. That build had no row for ~/.anydesk; the review row above was added after this run. The AnyDesk Service, AnyDesk's own uninstaller, a signed-in license and the Homebrew cask were not tested.