Uninstall Microsoft Teams on Mac
Leave meetings and verify access to required chats and files in Teams on the web. Save local recordings and downloads separately, then quit Teams and move it from Applications to the Trash. These steps remove the current Teams app (com.microsoft.teams2) and its local data; the Homebrew section also describes the cask's package cleanup. Moving an app copied from Microsoft's package to the Trash does not establish that all components of a full package installation are gone. Chats and files live in your Microsoft account; the Mac keeps local data and cache.
Quit Teams and its background parts
Press Command + Q in Teams. The full installer can also add an updater daemon, a Teams audio device and Microsoft AutoUpdate. Microsoft AutoUpdate is shared with Office and OneDrive, so keep it while any of them is installed. Check any remaining Teams entry in System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions before disabling it: a full installer can leave a working updater daemon, not just a stale link to the app.
Where Teams keeps local data
In Finder, press Shift + Command + G and open each location that exists.
| Location | What it holds | What to do |
|---|---|---|
~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2 |
Local data and cache of the Teams app | Remove after quitting; Teams rebuilds it |
~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams |
Shared Teams data | Microsoft's own cache reset deletes it; remove it only for Teams |
/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/TeamsUpdaterDaemon |
The updater daemon from the full installer | Only present after the full installer; removing it needs an administrator |
Microsoft's steps for clearing the new Teams cache on a Mac delete exactly the first two folders. Clear the Teams client cache Other folders that start with UBF8T346G9. belong to other Microsoft apps and to Microsoft sign-in; never remove them along with Teams. Keep ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft as well, since other Microsoft apps use that folder.
If an audio device remains
The receipt check below identifies the Teams audio package, and pkgutil --files com.microsoft.MSTeamsAudioDevice lists its recorded files. A receipt alone does not show whether the audio device is active. For a direct package installation, this guide does not provide a verified removal procedure for that audio component or the updater daemon; keep system audio files and use Microsoft Teams support or your organization's administrator to complete that part. Microsoft's Mac app-removal steps cover quitting Teams and moving the app to the Trash; its separate classic-Teams cleanup instructions should not be applied to the current client without checking the component ownership.
Check the result
Run these read-only commands in Terminal:
pgrep -ilf "Microsoft Teams.app"
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2" "$HOME/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams"
pkgutil --pkgs | grep -i teams
No output from pgrep means Teams is no longer running. For ls, "No such file or directory" means the folder is gone; a listed path still exists. pkgutil lists installer receipts: com.microsoft.teams2 or com.microsoft.MSTeamsAudioDevice in the output means that package is still registered, and pkgutil --files com.microsoft.MSTeamsAudioDevice shows which files it installed. No output means no Teams receipt remains.
Teams meetings still working on the web do not prove that the Mac client is running. For how Teams, Slack and Discord use disk space, 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.
Running brew uninstall --cask --zap microsoft-teams yourself runs the cask's zap list on its own, whatever you selected in Mole. It includes every ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams* container and the ~/Library/Group Containers/*.com.microsoft.teams group, which matches UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams. Its ordinary uninstall step, with or without zap, stops the Teams updater daemon, deletes its listed system files, and removes files recorded by the Teams and audio-device packages before forgetting their receipts. It can also quit Microsoft AutoUpdate during removal even though shared AutoUpdate files are retained. None of this is chat history, which stays in your account. Homebrew Teams cask
To remove the app without the zap list:
brew uninstall --cask microsoft-teams
What Mole lists
~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2 and the Teams extension containers are selected by default. Mole keeps ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams: it skips that group as a protected path. It does not list ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft or Microsoft AutoUpdate.
What this test covered
Two runs, neither signed in. On September 19, 2026, the app was copied from the package without Microsoft AutoUpdate or the audio device, then removed. On September 21, 2026, Mole 1.15 Preview (build 282) removed the app taken from Microsoft's official package, 1.17 GB, together with its Application Scripts. macOS refused to move the four com.microsoft.teams2 containers, so they stayed on disk, and Mole skipped UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams as protected. Neither run installed the updater daemon or the audio device.