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How to Completely Uninstall CleanMyMac X/3 (Proven Guide)

Updated on Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Written by

Connie Yang

Approved by

Jessica Shee

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Summary: This guide tells you how to uninstall CleanMyMac thoroughly, including deleting its leftovers from every corner of your Mac/MacBook. By the way, if you have trouble using CleanMyMac, try its best alternative - iBoysoft DiskGeeker.

CleanMyMac X (the updater of CleanMyMac 3) is an optimization tool for Mac. It can help you clean junk files on your Mac.

If you think that CleanMyMac X is not worth it or get the answer to "Is CleanMyMac X safe?" and prepare to uninstall it on your Mac, startup, or menu bar, follow this dedicated guide. This post will show you how to completely uninstall CleanMyMac in stepwise ways.

Guide to deleting CleanMyMac

Uninstall CleanMyMac from Mac1. Open CleanMyMac.
2. Click on "Uninstaller" from the sidebar.
3. Check the box next to CleanMyMac.
4. Click "Uninstall" at the bottom.
5. Open Disk Utility and then right-click CleanMyMac DMG and choose "Eject".
Remove CleanMyMac from startup1. Go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Users & Groups.
2. Click on the Login Items tab. 
3. Unlock the bottom lock, select CleanMyMac, and click the remove button (-).
Remove CleanMyMac from the menu bar1. Launch CleanMyMac.
2. Open CleanMyMac preferences.
3. Click on the Menu tab.
4. Uncheck "Enable Menu".

 Warning: The built-in uninstaller of CleanMyMac actually can't remove everything about it from your Mac. It always leaves some data or algorithm to keep in contact with their clients. Manually uninstalling CleanMyMac from your Mac is also very hard as all its associated files are scattered on your Mac that are hard to find.

 

So, for security and thorough removal of CleanMyMac, you need to use a professional tool like iBoysoft MagicMenu. This tool allows you to right-click CleanMyMac to delete it and all its files.

How to completely uninstall CleanMyMac from your Mac?

It seems easy to uninstall an app on Mac but not in reality. CleanMyMac X won't be uninstalled thoroughly by simply moving to Trash. Its leftovers are still on your Mac and occupy the disk storage space.

Here are three ways to completely remove CleanMyMac from your MacBook, choose one of them as you would like to.

Uninstall CleanMyMac using iBoysoft MagicMenu

Although CleanMyMac has a built-in uninstaller, many users report that it actually can't help thoroughly delete CleanMyMac. Some of the app's associated files are still hidden in macOS and sometimes disturb you.

To quickly and completely uninstall CleanMyMac from your Mac, you can switch to using iBoysoft MagicMenu. This right-click enhancer can add diverse lite features to your right-click menu, including the one-click to uninstall the target app and all its leftovers.

You can use it to right-click to absolutely delete not only CleanMyMac but also any other software.

Here's how:

  1. Download, install, and open iBoysoft MagicMenu.
  2. On the app's main interface, click Extension > the download button next to Uninstall App. This step is to add the Uninstall feature to your right-click menu.
  3. Right-click CleanMyMac and then select Uninstall. 
  4. All of the associated files of CleanMyMac are automatically ticked in, you only click Uninstall to completely delete them.

Then, you can't find anything about CleanMyMac on your Mac, and the storage space it takes is released.

Uninstall CleanMyMac with the built-in Uninstaller module

Of course, CleanMyMac is designed with a Uninstall functionality. You can use it to uninstall CleanMyMac and its app caches, preferences, supporting files, and other related data.

But note that, using the Uninstaller module to remove CleanMyMac actually can't do a complete cleaning. The DMG file (Disk Image) of CleanMyMac will be left on your Mac.

So, you can uninstall CleanMyMac with its Uninstaller first, and then eject its DMG.

Here's how to completely uninstall CleanMyMac X/3 from your Mac:

  1. Open CleanMyMac X or CleanMyMac 3.
  2. Click on "Uninstaller" on the left sidebar.
  3. Find and select the box next to CleanMyMac X/3. You can click the arrow behind CleanMyMac to see its associated files and ensure all of them are chosen.
  4. Click the Uninstall button > "Uninstall" on the pop-up confirmation dialogue box. 
  5. Choose a reason why you want to uninstall CleanMyMac X/3 and click "Submit Answer". (Optional).
  6. Open Finder and click the Mac hard drive under the Locations section on the sidebar, then right-click on the CleanMyMac X/3 DMG and choose "Eject". 

Then, you can open Finder and click the search icon in the upper right corner of the window to search for "CleanMyMac" to verify whether or not any CleanMyMac-related data remains on your Mac. 
image

Manually uninstall CleanMyMac

If you don't want to use CleanMyMac's default uninstaller, you can also uninstall CleanMyMac by hand. This way is a little more complicated as this app's related files are scattered on your Mac.

Here are how to manually uninstall CleanMyMac X/3 on your Mac:

  1. Close CleanMyMac X or CleanMyMac 3.
  2. Go to Launchpad > Other > Activity Monitor and click on the CPU tab.
  3. Search for CleanMyMac in the Activity Monitor search box to check whether or not all its background programs are closed. If not, select the program and click the "X" icon at the top. 
     
  4. Open Finder > Applications and right-click CleanMyMac X or CleanMyMac 3 and select "Move to Trash". You can also directly drag and drop the app to Trash.
  5. Find and delete all the related files of CleanMyMac X/3. 
    By default, these files are stored in the Library folder in your user folder. You can open Finder and click Go > Go to Folder on the top Finder menu bar. Then, enter ~/Library into the search box and press Return to open the Library folder. 
     
    Browse the following subfolders in the Library folder which contains the CleanMyMac X/3 related files and move them to Trash: 
    ~/Library/Application Scripts/
    ~/Library/Application Support/
    ~/Library/Caches/
    ~/Library/Cookies/
    ~/Library/Group Containers/
    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
    ~/Library/Logs/
    ~/Library/Preferences/ 
     
  6. Empty your Trash.

Share with more people the detailed ways to completely uninstall CleanMyMac from Mac.

 

How to remove CleanMyMac from startup?

If you are just tired of the anatomic launch of CleanMyMac every time you log into your Mac rather than want to delete it from your computer, you can simply stop CleanMyMac from opening at startup.

Steps to remove CleanMyMac from startup:

  1. Go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Users & Groups. 
  2. Click on the Login Items tab.
  3. Click the lock icon at the bottom and enter your admin account for further changes.
  4. Check the box next to CleanMyMac.
  5. Click the remove button (-) to remove CleanMyMac from the list. 

Then, CleanMyMac X won't open on your Mac startup.

Share how to remove CleanMyMac from startup to help more people stop its interference.

 

How to remove CleanMyMac from the menu bar?

If CleanMyMac on the menu bar keeps showing notifications that disturb your work, you can remove it from the menu bar.

The way to remove CleanMyMac from the menu bar:

  1. Open CleanMyMac and click on CleanMyMac from the menu bar > Preferences. 
  2. Click the Menu tab and uncheck the "Enable Menu option". 

Then, CleanMyMac won't show up in the menu bar.

CleanMyMac best alternative

Perhaps, you think CleanMyMac can't meet your needs for Mac cleaning and optimization. So, you want to uninstall it.

There are various Mac cleaners on the Market. iBoysoft DiskGeeker is one of them. It is a comprehensive disk management assistant that contains Mac optimization and cleaning functionality.

About iBoysoft DiskGeeker:

  • Support cleaning the scattered junk files on your Mac within a few clicks
  • Allow analyzing Mac hard drive space to optimize disk performance
  • Test and monitor the read-write speed of Mac hard drive and external drives
  • Prevent virus attacks via unknown USB drives

 Read-only & risk-free

 

You can free download iBoysoft DiskGeeker and try its advanced features to easily, quickly, and durably prompt your Mac performance.

Final words

It is a little bit hard to completely uninstall CleanMyMac from your Mac as it has a lot of associated files. If you are not clear on how to remove CleanMyMac from your Mac thoroughly, follow the ways mentioned in this post. Then, you won't be annoyed by CleanMyMac.

Share the post to help your friends to delete CleanMyMac from the Mac computer, startup, or menu bar.