Uninstall Discord on Mac

Leave voice calls and streams, save downloaded attachments, and verify that you can still sign in. Quit Discord and move it from Applications to the Trash. If macOS says it is running, check Activity Monitor and quit the relevant processes first. Removing the local app does not delete your Discord account or cancel Nitro. These steps cover the app downloaded from Discord and the Homebrew cask discord.

Separate local data from update caches

Discord’s troubleshooting documentation identifies ~/Library/Application Support/discord. Open it with Shift + Command + G in Finder. Preserve local settings you need before deciding whether to reset the whole directory; clearing a cache does not require discarding every app-data file. Official troubleshooting guide

The app’s current bundle ID is com.hnc.Discord, while its updater still writes files under the older com.discord.discord.ShipIt name. These are updater leftovers, judged separately from the user-data folder above.

For how Discord’s cache, history and downloads differ, see Discord, Slack, and Teams on Mac: Cache vs History vs Downloads.

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.

The discord cask’s zap list includes ~/Library/Application Support/discord along with the caches, cookies, web storage and preferences filed under com.hnc.Discord. brew uninstall --cask --zap discord moves them to the Trash, and the cask’s uninstall step unloads the com.discord.discord.ShipIt updater job. When you run that command yourself, the zap list does not follow Mole’s checkboxes. To keep local settings, copy the folder first or uninstall without zap:

brew uninstall --cask discord

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after the app is in the Trash:

pgrep -il discord
launchctl list | grep -i discord
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/discord"

• No output from pgrep means Discord and its helpers have quit. A listed process means a copy is still running.
• A com.discord.discord.ShipIt line from launchctl is a session job the updater submitted; it does not show that the client is running, and it disappears when you log out.
• The folder path printing back means local settings are still on this Mac, which is expected if you kept them.

Then check your servers and messages on the website.

If Discord notifications continue

Determine whether they come from a browser tab, another Discord installation, or a desktop process that is still running. Quitting and uninstalling the app does not automatically sign out every web session. Conversely, old ShipIt updater files do not show that the client is still running.

For a troubleshooting reinstall, keep ~/Library/Application Support/discord initially. Check whether settings and sign-in return in the new installation before deciding to reset that folder separately.

What Mole lists

For the app downloaded from Discord:

• ~/Library/Application Support/discord is unselected with Remove data and settings with apps off (the default), keeping local settings. Turning it on can preselect eligible Discord-owned data, so untick this row if you want to keep those settings. Its Chromium caches (Cache, Code Cache, GPUCache and similar) remain separate rows selected by default.
• The three com.discord.discord.ShipIt rows and the caches, preferences, cookies, web storage and saved window state filed under com.hnc.Discord, including com.hnc.Discord.ShipIt, are selected by default.

What this test covered

Discord was installed from the Homebrew cask discord and uninstalled with Mole on September 17, 2026. That run found the updater files still written under the older com.discord.discord.ShipIt name, including a cache in the system’s per-user cache folder, and Mole’s rules for them were added afterwards. Sign-in, servers and messages were not part of the test.

On September 26, 2026, Discord 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 Discord row of ten processes at about 529 MB. Fourteen items went to the Trash and nothing from the list was left.