# How to Uninstall Zoom and Microsoft Teams on a Mac

> Use Zoom's uninstaller and Microsoft's Teams steps, then check the support folders, launch jobs and audio drivers they leave, and keep recordings you saved.

Published: 2026-10-04 | Updated: 2026-10-17

To uninstall Zoom on a Mac, open Zoom and choose **zoom.us › Uninstall Zoom** in the menu bar, or run the ZoomUninstaller inside the app if that menu item is missing. To uninstall Microsoft Teams, quit it and move **Microsoft Teams** from Applications to the Trash, which is Microsoft's documented step. Both apps leave more than the app bundle: support and cache folders in your Library, background helpers or launch jobs, and on some installs an audio device in `/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL`. This guide covers what each uninstaller removes, what stays, and how to check.

Before you start, leave any meeting, and save what is yours. Zoom can keep local recordings in `~/Documents/Zoom` and `~/Desktop/Zoom`. Teams chats and channel messages are stored in Microsoft 365, but files you downloaded from a chat are ordinary files on your Mac. Uninstalling either app does not cancel a paid plan or delete your account.

## Uninstall Zoom with its own uninstaller

Zoom's support article for a failed update ([error 10008](https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0069574)) gives two removal routes:

1. **From the app:** open the Zoom desktop app, click **zoom.us** at the top of the screen, then **Uninstall Zoom**, and confirm.
2. **From the bundle**, when the menu item is missing or the app will not open: in Finder, open Applications, Control-click **zoom.us**, choose **Show Package Contents**, open **Contents › Frameworks** and double-click **ZoomUninstaller**.

Use one of these rather than dragging the app to the Trash. The official package installs a privileged helper and launch jobs outside the app bundle, and dragging the app leaves them behind. The [Zoom uninstall guide](https://mole.fit/tested-apps/zoom) lists those paths, the Homebrew route, and what a recorded test on Mole left in place.

Zoom installs its audio driver, `ZoomAudioDevice.driver`, into `/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL` on first use rather than with the app, so it is not present on every Mac. Check for it separately after the uninstaller finishes.

## Uninstall Microsoft Teams

Microsoft's [Teams uninstall article](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/uninstall-microsoft-teams-3b159754-3c26-4952-abe7-57d27f5f4c81) has two steps for Mac: quit Teams (if it does not quit, Control-click its Dock icon, hold Option and choose **Force Quit**), then open Applications and move Microsoft Teams to the Trash.

**New Teams or classic Teams?** The current client is the one Microsoft calls new Teams, with the bundle identifier `com.microsoft.teams2`. Microsoft's [classic Teams end of availability notice](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-classic-client-end-of-availability) says classic Teams is no longer available as of July 1, 2025, and that Microsoft attempted to uninstall the classic client after installing new Teams. If an older classic Teams app is still in Applications, it no longer works and can be removed the same way. Its old cache lived in `~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams`; remove that one subfolder if it is still there, never the `Microsoft` folder above it, which other Microsoft apps share.

The full Teams installer can add parts outside the app: an updater daemon, a Teams audio device, and Microsoft AutoUpdate. Keep Microsoft AutoUpdate while Office, OneDrive or Edge is installed, because it updates them too. To see whether the audio device was installed, check its receipt:

```
pkgutil --pkgs | grep -i teams
pkgutil --files com.microsoft.MSTeamsAudioDevice
```

`com.microsoft.MSTeamsAudioDevice` in the first list means the audio package was registered, and the second command shows which files it installed. A receipt alone does not prove the device is still active. The [Teams uninstall guide](https://mole.fit/tested-apps/teams) has the local data table and the Homebrew route.

## Webex, briefly

Cisco publishes a Webex Uninstaller with separate downloads for Apple silicon and Intel, on its [Uninstall Webex App on macOS](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/136hu4/Uninstall-Webex-App-on-macOS) page, with an option to keep user files. Webex keeps its data in `~/Library/Application Support/Cisco Spark`, a name that matches neither the app nor its bundle identifier, so it is easy to miss. The [Webex uninstall guide](https://mole.fit/tested-apps/webex) covers the rest, including why Webex Meetings, a separate app, keeps its own folders.

## The leftovers meeting apps keep

Every video meeting app needs the same things: a camera, a microphone, a way to share system audio, a way to start at login and a way to update itself. Each of those can live outside the app bundle.

| Leftover | Typical location | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Support data and caches | `~/Library/Application Support/<app>`, `~/Library/Caches/<bundle id>` | Remove once the app is gone, after saving anything you want to keep |
| Sandbox containers | `~/Library/Containers/<bundle id>`, `~/Library/Group Containers/<team>.<id>` | Remove only the folders that belong to that app; vendor prefixes are shared |
| Preferences | `~/Library/Preferences/<bundle id>.plist` | Remove with the app |
| Login items and launch jobs | **System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions**, `/Library/LaunchDaemons`, `/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools` | Let the vendor uninstaller remove them; these are root-owned |
| Virtual audio device | `/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/<name>.driver` | Remove only after the app that owns it is gone |
| Virtual camera | Older plug-ins in `/Library/CoreMediaIO/Plug-Ins/DAL`, newer camera extensions as system extensions | Remove through the app that installed it |
| Installer receipts | `pkgutil --pkgs` | A record only; forget it after the files are gone |

Virtual cameras are mostly installed by separate camera and streaming tools rather than by Zoom or Teams themselves, but they show up in the same video menus. Apple introduced camera extensions in its [WWDC22 Core Media IO session](https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2022-10022) as the modern replacement for DAL plug-ins, so newer ones are system extensions rather than files in a plug-in folder.

## Check what is left with read-only commands

```
pgrep -il -E 'zoom|teams|webex'
launchctl list | grep -i -E 'zoom|teams|webex'
ls /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL /Library/CoreMediaIO/Plug-Ins/DAL 2>/dev/null
systemextensionsctl list
ls -d ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2 ~/Library/Application\ Support/zoom.us 2>/dev/null
```

No output from `pgrep` means nothing with those names is running. A line from `launchctl list` means a launch job is still loaded in your session. The `ls` of the plug-in folders shows audio drivers and older camera plug-ins by name, and `systemextensionsctl list` shows installed system extensions, including camera extensions. The last `ls` prints any of those two support folders that still exist.

Look up each name before acting on it. A HAL driver named after an app you still use is not a leftover, and the plug-in folders are shared by every audio and video product on the Mac.

## How Mole's uninstaller handles Zoom and Teams

When you remove an app in [Mole](https://mole.fit/)'s **Software › Uninstall**, it shows the app together with the leftovers it found, and you confirm the list before anything moves to the Trash.

For **Zoom**, the caches, preferences, logs and web data filed under `us.zoom.xos` and `~/Library/Logs/ZoomPhone` are selected by default. `~/Library/Preferences/ZoomChat.plist`, a preference file under Zoom's older chat name, is listed for review. The ZoomDaemon helper and Zoom's launch jobs are listed and removed through Mole's administrator helper. `ZoomAudioDevice.driver` in `/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL` is listed unselected, Mole accepts it only when its code signature matches Zoom's, and it moves the driver only once zoom.us itself is gone. `~/Documents/Zoom` and `~/Desktop/Zoom` are never listed, because they may hold your recordings.

For **Teams**, `~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2` and the Teams extension containers are selected by default. Mole keeps `~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams` as a protected path, and it does not list `~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft`, Microsoft AutoUpdate or the Teams audio device. Those are handled through Microsoft's own tools or your administrator.

Mole does not run Zoom's or Cisco's uninstaller for you, and it has no rule for camera plug-ins. Login items and background services that survive any uninstall appear in **Software › Startup**, where you can block one or see which program is missing. The two tested-app guides linked above record what each test run actually removed and what remained.

## What not to do

- Do not delete every folder whose name starts with `UBF8T346G9.` in Group Containers. That prefix is Microsoft's, and Office, OneDrive and Microsoft sign-in use folders with it.
- Do not remove Microsoft AutoUpdate while another Microsoft app is installed.
- Do not empty `/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL` or `/Library/CoreMediaIO/Plug-Ins/DAL` to "reset audio" or "fix the camera". Remove one named item whose owner you have confirmed is gone, then restart the Mac.
- Do not treat `~/Documents/Zoom` as app data. It holds recordings you made.

[How to remove leftover files after uninstalling](https://mole.fit/blog/how-to-remove-leftover-files-after-uninstalling-mac-apps) has the general method for judging Library folders by owner, and [Discord, Slack and Teams storage](https://mole.fit/blog/discord-slack-teams-mac-storage) explains Teams' cache reset if you want to keep the app.

## Verify

Restart the Mac, then rerun the read-only commands above. Open **System Settings › Sound** and check that Zoom's or Teams' audio device is no longer offered as an input or output if you removed it, and that your own microphone and speakers still are. If a Zoom item is still loaded, run ZoomUninstaller again instead of deleting root-owned files by hand.

## FAQ

### How do I uninstall Zoom on a Mac completely?

Open Zoom and choose **zoom.us › Uninstall Zoom**, or run **ZoomUninstaller** from **Contents › Frameworks** inside the app bundle. Then check `~/Library` for Zoom folders and `/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL` for `ZoomAudioDevice.driver`. Keep `~/Documents/Zoom` if it holds recordings you want.

### How do I uninstall Microsoft Teams on a Mac?

Quit Teams, force quitting it from the Dock with Option held if needed, and move Microsoft Teams from Applications to the Trash. Remove its `com.microsoft.teams2` containers afterward if you want its local data gone, but keep Microsoft AutoUpdate and other `UBF8T346G9.` folders that other Microsoft apps use.

### Do I need to uninstall classic Teams?

Microsoft says classic Teams is no longer available as of July 1, 2025, and that it attempted to uninstall the classic client after installing new Teams. If an older classic Teams app is still in Applications, it no longer works and you can move it to the Trash.

### Why does Zoom audio still appear in Sound settings after uninstalling?

The audio driver lives in `/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL`, outside the app. If the Zoom uninstaller did not remove `ZoomAudioDevice.driver`, remove that one item with administrator rights once Zoom is gone, then restart.

### Does uninstalling Zoom or Teams delete my meetings or chats?

No. Teams chats and channel messages stay in Microsoft 365, and Zoom meetings and cloud recordings stay in your Zoom account. Local recordings and downloaded files are your own files on the Mac and stay where you saved them.

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