Uninstall Bitwarden on Mac
Sign in to the Bitwarden web vault or another device and check recently edited items. Verify your master password and two-step login before removing the desktop app. If this Mac is the only place you can still unlock the vault, resolve recovery and backup before signing out. Your vault lives in your Bitwarden account; removing the app neither deletes the account nor cancels a subscription. These steps cover the desktop app from bitwarden.com, the Mac App Store version, and the Homebrew cask.
If you need an independent backup
Use Bitwarden’s export process and choose an appropriate encrypted format. Keep the export password and check that format’s restoration restrictions. Attachments and other content may not be included in a standard export, so save them separately as documented. One export file does not necessarily contain everything. Bitwarden export instructions
If your export is unencrypted, keep it in a location you control and remove it when no longer needed rather than leaving it in a shared Downloads folder.
Before clearing local state
If the browser extension usually unlocks through the desktop app, quit the app and unlock the extension with your master password once before touching support data. Otherwise an access problem after removal can look like a cleanup problem. Browser extensions are separate installations, and desktop-dependent unlocking stops working once the app is gone.
Remove the desktop app
- Quit Bitwarden from its menu.
- If Bitwarden opens at login, turn it off under System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions.
- Move Bitwarden from Applications to the Trash.
Where Bitwarden keeps its files
| Location | What it holds | Keep or remove |
|---|---|---|
~/Library/Application Support/Bitwarden |
Desktop app data and settings for the bitwarden.com download | Remove after confirming the vault on the web. |
~/Library/Containers/com.bitwarden.desktop |
The same app data for the Mac App Store version, which runs sandboxed (Bitwarden source) | Same as above. |
NativeMessagingHosts/com.8bit.bitwarden.json in each browser's folder under ~/Library/Application Support |
The file that connects browser extensions to the desktop app. It uses Bitwarden's former id | Safe to remove with the app. It is not the vault. |
~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~com~8bit~bitwarden |
Bitwarden's iCloud Drive folder | Leave it; it is cloud storage, not a leftover. |
Check the result
pgrep -il bitwarden
ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/Bitwarden ~/Library/Containers/com.bitwarden.desktop
find "$HOME/Library/Application Support" -type f \( -path '*/NativeMessagingHosts/com.8bit.bitwarden.json' -o -path '*/NativeMessagingHosts/com.bitwarden.desktop.json' \) -print
No output from pgrep means Bitwarden has quit. For ls -d, No such file or directory means that folder is gone; a listed path is still on disk. The last command prints only the two exact browser-connection filenames under NativeMessagingHosts. No output means none were found only if the search completed without errors; permission or other errors leave the unreadable locations unverified. Inspect any printed file’s JSON path and remove only a manifest pointing into the removed app; keep browser profiles and other manifests. They only show that the extension and the app once worked together; prove vault recovery by opening recently changed items on the web or another device.
If you installed it with Homebrew
Mole skips --zap when its list reaches unchecked or shared data, or cannot be fully checked, and still cleans the leftovers you selected.
Running brew uninstall --cask --zap bitwarden yourself runs the zap list regardless of which rows you check in Mole. It trashes ~/Library/Application Support/Bitwarden, the desktop app's data and settings, along with caches, logs, preferences, and saved state. That is fine once the vault is confirmed on the web; otherwise run brew uninstall --cask bitwarden without zap. The zap list does not include the browser connection files.
What Mole lists
The unselected support-data row below assumes Remove data and settings with apps is off, the default. Enabling it can preselect eligible Bitwarden-owned review data; untick it to retain local settings. This does not change the separate browser-profile or cloud-storage protections.
| Location | In the plan |
|---|---|
~/Library/Application Support/Bitwarden |
Listed but not selected. |
NativeMessagingHosts/com.8bit.bitwarden.json and com.bitwarden.desktop.json in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Vivaldi, Chromium, Brave, Opera, Arc, Dia, Zen, and Helium |
Selected by default, exact files only. |
~/Library/Containers/com.bitwarden.desktop and Library items named com.bitwarden.desktop (caches, preferences, saved state) |
Selected by default. |
Mole never lists the browsers' own profile folders or iCloud~com~8bit~bitwarden. The connection files are not the vault, and removing them does not delete your account.
What this test covered
Bitwarden was installed from the Homebrew cask on September 17, 2026 and uninstalled through Mole; the build used then ran the zap list. The app and the cask record went. Connection files under the old com.8bit.bitwarden name stayed in several browsers' folders; Mole lists them. An older iCloud Drive folder stayed on purpose. The Mac App Store version and a signed-in vault were not tested.
On September 26, 2026, Bitwarden was installed again from the official package, opened once, and uninstalled with a development build of Mole with every listed row ticked. Status showed one Bitwarden row of six processes at about 337 MB. Twenty-four items went to the Trash and nothing from the list was left; the login item Bitwarden added on first launch was gone afterwards.