TidyMacUninstall your games from inside Steam first (right-click › Manage › Uninstall), then quit Steam and drag it from Applications to the Trash. Remove ~/Library/Application Support/Steam, which holds the client and, in steamapps/common, every installed game, plus ~/Library/Preferences/com.valvesoftware.steam.plist. Steam Cloud keeps saves for supported games.
Uninstall Steam step by step
- In Steam, right-click each game you want to remove and choose Manage › Uninstall.
- Check that games without Steam Cloud have their saves backed up.
- Quit Steam (Steam › Quit Steam).
- Drag Steam from Applications to the Trash.
- Move ~/Library/Application Support/Steam to the Trash.
- Move ~/Library/Preferences/com.valvesoftware.steam.plist to the Trash.
- Empty the Trash.
Where Steam leaves files
| Location | What it is | After uninstalling |
|---|---|---|
| ~/Library/Application Support/Steam | Steam client files and, in steamapps/common, installed games | Your choice |
| ~/Library/Preferences/com.valvesoftware.steam.plist | Preferences | Safe |
In Finder choose Go › Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G) and paste a path to open it. Safe means nothing you made is inside; Check first means it may hold the only copy of something. To see how much space they use, run this read-only command in Terminal:
du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/Steam ~/Library/Preferences/com.valvesoftware.steam.plist 2>/dev/nullGames are inside the Steam folder
Steam installs games into ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common. Each game can be tens of gigabytes, so this folder is usually the biggest thing Steam leaves behind. Uninstalling games from Steam’s Library first lets Steam keep track of them and makes reinstalling simple. More about the Steam folder
Only want space back?
Keep Steam and uninstall the games you’re not playing. You can reinstall any game you own later.
Uninstall Steam with TidyMac
TidyMac’s uninstaller lists every app with its size and last use, and finds the leftovers that belong to it by bundle ID. Remove Steam and its leftovers in one review: everything goes to the Trash first, you confirm twice, TidyMac checks the disk afterwards, and you can put anything back. Leftovers from apps you already deleted are found too, labelled Check first.
Uninstall apps and their leftovers in one step
See every part of your storage explained, and clean only what’s safe after you confirm twice. $9.99, one time.
Frequently asked questions
Does dragging Steam to the Trash uninstall it completely?
No. It removes the app, but Steam leaves 2 kinds of files behind in your Library and elsewhere: steam client files and, in steamapps/common, installed games; preferences. The steps above remove them.
What is Steam’s bundle ID on Mac?
com.valvesoftware.steam. Most of its leftover files and folders are named after it, which is how you (and TidyMac) can tell they belong to Steam.
Can I reinstall Steam later?
Yes. Download it again from Valve. Anything stored in your account online comes back when you sign in; local-only data you removed does not.