Steam for Mac: how to install and uninstall it, step by step

Before you start: beware of games and save files

Before uninstalling Steam on Mac, one important thing to know: deleting the Steam app does not always remove all games, but removing the entire Steam folder can erase downloaded games, settings and associated files.

If you only want to free up space, you might prefer uninstalling specific games. If Steam shows errors, won’t open or you want a clean install, it makes sense to also remove residual files.

Check if Steam is installed using Terminal

If you want to check from Terminal whether Steam is installed on your Mac, open Terminal and run:

ls /Applications | grep -i steam

If Steam is installed, you should see something like:

Steam.app

You can also check whether the Steam support folder exists:

ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/ | grep -i steam

This step is useful before uninstalling Steam on Mac because it lets you know whether files remain even if the main app is no longer in Applications.

How to uninstall Steam on Mac with Terminal

If you prefer to use commands, you can use Terminal. This method is more direct but you must copy the commands carefully.

1. Quit Steam from Terminal

First try to quit Steam properly:

osascript -e 'quit app "Steam"'

If Steam is unresponsive, you can force‑quit it:

pkill -f Steam

2. Remove the Steam application

To remove the main application:

rm -rf /Applications/Steam.app

3. Remove the main Steam folder

To remove Steam completely, including games and associated files:

rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Steam"

4. Remove caches and preferences

You can also remove residual files:

rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Caches/com.valvesoftware.steam"
rm -f "$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.valvesoftware.steam.plist"
rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Logs/Steam"
rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Saved Application State/com.valvesoftware.steam.savedState"

5. Restart the Mac

After deleting Steam and its associated files, restart the Mac to close residual processes and check that everything has been removed correctly.

How to uninstall Steam on Mac without losing games

If you want to uninstall Steam but keep your downloaded games, first copy the steamappsfolder.

Check whether the steamapps folder exists

ls "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps"

Check how much space the folder uses

du -sh "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps"

Copy steamapps to the Desktop

cp -R "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps" "$HOME/Desktop/steamapps-copia"

You can also copy it to an external drive if it takes up a lot of space. When you reinstall Steam, you can use that copy to restore part of your library.

How to find out how much space Steam uses on Mac

You can check how much space Steam uses with this command:

du -sh "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Steam"

To see the size of each installed game:

du -sh "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common"/*

This is useful if you want to free up space without deleting Steam completely.

Quick commands to uninstall Steam on Mac

If you’re sure you want to delete Steam completely, this would be the full command block:

osascript -e 'quit app "Steam"'
pkill -f Steam
rm -rf /Applications/Steam.app
rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Steam"
rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Caches/com.valvesoftware.steam"
rm -f "$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.valvesoftware.steam.plist"
rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Logs/Steam"
rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Saved Application State/com.valvesoftware.steam.savedState"

Frequently asked questions about uninstalling Steam on Mac