Uninstall Spotify on Mac

Dragging Spotify to the Trash removes the app only. Its local data, including music and podcasts downloaded for offline listening, stays in ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify until you delete that folder. Spotify also says those downloads have to be fetched again after a reinstall, so do not count on them surviving one. These steps cover the Mac app from Spotify and the Homebrew cask spotify. Removing the app does not cancel Spotify Premium or close your account; manage the plan in your Spotify account.

Remove the app

  1. Quit Spotify.
  2. In Finder, open Applications and drag Spotify to the Trash.
  3. If Spotify was set to open at login, check System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions and turn off any Spotify entry that remains.

That is Spotify’s quick reinstall for the Mac app: Reinstalling your Spotify app. Empty the Trash when you want the app itself gone. Your Spotify account is separate from this copy.

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 spotify cask’s zap list includes ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify, so running brew uninstall --cask --zap spotify yourself removes your offline downloads and local settings along with caches, cookies and preferences, whatever you selected in Mole. The cask’s uninstall step also unloads Spotify’s startup helper jobs.

Offline downloads play only inside Spotify, so a copy of that folder is not a music backup. To keep them on this Mac, remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask spotify

Decide whether to keep local data

You can also delete this data when permanently uninstalling Spotify. Keep the support folder if you want its settings for a later installation. Quit Spotify first. In Finder, open the Go menu, hold the Option key, and choose Library. Spotify then names three items. Move those to the Trash. Do not delete Library or Application Support.

Location What to do
~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client Cache Spotify tells you to delete for a clean reinstall.
~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client.helper Listed with the cache above. Skip it when it is missing.
~/Library/Application Support/Spotify Local app data. Spotify’s clean reinstall deletes this folder, and offline downloads in the app go with it.

A missing folder is not an error. Restart the Mac only if you are continuing into Spotify’s reinstall, not because the uninstall itself requires it.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after quitting and removing Spotify:

pgrep -il spotify
launchctl list | grep -i spotify
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Spotify"
  • No output from pgrep means Spotify and its helpers have quit. A listed process means a copy is still running; quit it before deleting data.
  • No output from launchctl list means no Spotify job is loaded. A listed startup helper means the login item is still registered; turn it off in Login Items & Extensions.
  • The support folder printing back means offline downloads and settings are still on this Mac. That is expected if you kept them; “No such file or directory” means they are gone.

If offline content disappears after reinstalling

Check that playlists remain accessible in your account and allow time and space for new downloads; offline files are not an independent music backup playable without the app. For an app problem, try Spotify's quick reinstall flow before choosing the complete local-data removal procedure.

Account playback and playlists remaining available is different from old downloads still using Mac disk space. Decide whether you need them before clearing Application Support/Spotify.

What Mole lists

The unselected data rows below assume Remove data and settings with apps is off, the default. Turning it on can select eligible app-owned review rows; keep wanted data unchecked. Shared stores and protected data retain individual review or protection.

For the app downloaded from Spotify:

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify is listed but not selected, because it holds offline downloads and settings.
  • Caches, preferences, cookies, web storage and saved window state filed under com.spotify.client are selected by default.
  • ~/Library/Application Support/io.branch/com.spotify.client, a small folder the Branch SDK inside Spotify writes, is selected by default. Mole takes only that folder, never the shared io.branch parent.

Keeping ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify on purpose, because you still want the downloads, is not a failed uninstall.

What this test covered

Spotify was installed from the Homebrew cask spotify and uninstalled with Mole on September 17, 2026. Homebrew’s zap step ran, and Mole found no Spotify leftover its general rules missed. On September 26, 2026, Spotify was installed again from Spotify's own download and removed with a development build of Mole with every row ticked: the app and 13 listed items went to the Trash, and only ~/Library/Application Support/io.branch/com.spotify.client, 8 KB left by the Branch SDK, stayed, because Mole did not list it then. The startup helper com.spotify.client.startuphelper registered on first launch was gone afterward. Neither run signed in or downloaded music, so keeping offline downloads was not tested.