How to uninstall OpenVPN Connect on Mac

Quit OpenVPN Connect before removing it, and keep a copy of any VPN profiles you imported: they sit in the app's Application Support folder, which is the one folder here holding something you cannot download again. This guide covers the official macOS package from openvpn.net; the Homebrew cask openvpn-connect installs the same package.

Quit the app

OpenVPN Connect runs from the menu bar. Click its icon, disconnect if a profile is connected, then quit. The package also registers a login item named OpenVPN Connect; if it is still listed after removal, turn it off in System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions.

Remove the app

For a full website-package installation, open /Applications/OpenVPN Connect/Uninstall OpenVPN Connect.app after backing up your profiles and disconnecting. The inspected official 3.8.2 (6009) package installs that exact uninstaller. Its remove.sh requests administrator authorization to stop the client and helper jobs, then removes the app, frameworks, current-user app data and OpenVPN-stored credentials. Do not delete the app folder first, since that also removes the uninstaller.

That script deliberately leaves the two LaunchDaemon plist files for a later reinstall; files remaining do not prove the jobs are still running. Check the actual system jobs below. For a copy made only from the app payload, move the copied app to the Trash instead; that copy did not install these service components.

Where OpenVPN Connect keeps its data

Location	What it holds	What Mole does
`~/Library/Application Support/OpenVPN Connect`	`config.json` and the profiles you imported	Starts unchecked with the app-data setting off; enabling it can preselect eligible app-owned data. Back up profiles and review the row
`~/Library/Logs/OpenVPN Connect`	Connection logs	Listed and selected by default
`~/Library/Preferences/org.openvpn.client.app.plist`, `~/Library/Preferences/org.openvpn.client.app.helper.plist`	App and helper preferences	Listed and selected by default
`~/Library/Saved Application State/org.openvpn.client.app.savedState`	Saved window state	Listed and selected by default
Keychain `openvpn.keychain-db`	A keychain Homebrew's zap step deletes by name	Not touched; Mole never removes anything under `~/Library/Keychains`

After the uninstall finishes, use Shift + Command + G in Finder to inspect each remaining current-user path above. Move only unwanted OpenVPN Connect items to the Trash after checking your backup; leave the parent folders in place.

Check the result

pgrep -ilf openvpn
launchctl list | grep -i openvpn
sudo launchctl print system/org.openvpn.client
sudo launchctl print system/org.openvpn.helper
pkgutil --pkgs | grep -i openvpn
ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/OpenVPN\ Connect

No output from pgrep means no OpenVPN Connect process is running. launchctl list checks only the current user’s session. The two sudo launchctl print commands check the specific system jobs; an entry means the job remains registered, so inspect its state. An explicit service-not-found response means that job is absent; a permission error is inconclusive. Lines from pkgutil --pkgs are package receipts the full installer registered; no output means none are recorded. ls -d printing the path means your profiles are still on disk, which is what you want if you kept them.

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 openvpn-connect cask's plain uninstall step unloads org.openvpn.client and org.openvpn.helper, quits the app, removes the login item, removes files registered by six org.openvpn.* package receipts before forgetting them, and deletes /Applications/OpenVPN Connect.app and /Applications/OpenVPN Connect. Its zap step runs security delete-keychain openvpn.keychain-db and trashes the four ~/Library paths in the table, profiles included. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap openvpn-connect yourself does all of that, whatever you ticked in Mole. Mole never adds --zap for this cask, because the stanza runs a command it cannot review; the rows you selected still go to the Trash. Homebrew openvpn-connect cask

brew uninstall --cask openvpn-connect

What Mole lists

~/Library/Application Support/OpenVPN Connect starts unchecked with Remove data and settings with apps off; enabling it can preselect eligible app-owned data. Back up profiles and review the row. The vendor uninstaller above has its own data-removal scope and does not follow Mole’s checkboxes.
Logs, both preferences files and the saved window state are listed and selected by default.
The openvpn.keychain-db keychain is never listed.

What this test covered

On September 19, 2026, OpenVPN Connect 3.8.2 was uninstalled with a Preview build of Mole 1.15 (build 277), with no Homebrew receipt. The app was not installed by running the official package: its payload holds a bare Contents folder, which was wrapped into OpenVPN Connect.app and copied to Applications, and the helper package was not installed. So the helper, its jobs and the package receipts were never on this Mac, and their removal was not tested. The app went to the Trash and the Application Support/OpenVPN Connect row, holding config.json and the profiles folder, was left unticked and stayed.