How to uninstall Ableton Live on Mac

Save Live Sets, samples and custom presets before removing Ableton Live. The official Mac removal guide first checks Library settings for the actual Packs and User Library locations. Back up the whole wanted User Library and projects, verify the copies, then quit Live. User Library content cannot simply be downloaded again like factory content.

Remove the app, keep creative work

The recorded edition was Ableton Live 12 Trial.app; move only your actual edition from Applications to the Trash after checking saved work. Keep User Library and Packs when planning to reuse them. The vendor also lists preferences, support, caches and Live-specific ReWire entries for a complete reset, but those broader stores can span versions; do not remove them just to uninstall one app.

For a Homebrew Suite installation, the current Suite cask supports:

brew uninstall --cask ableton-live-suite

Use the actual installed edition's cask: Intro, Lite and Standard have their own ableton-live-intro, ableton-live-lite and ableton-live-standard recipes. These are not the recorded Trial copy. Ordinary removal quits Live and removes that edition's app. Zap targets Ableton support/cache/preferences, crash reports and ~/Music/Ableton; Suite also includes Max/Cycling '74 data and shared Max content. Direct --zap ignores Mole choices and can erase creative or shared data, so review every target and verify backups first.

ls -ld "/Applications/Ableton Live 12 Trial.app"
ls -ld "$HOME/Music/Ableton"

The first check applies only to the recorded Trial filename; another edition can have a different name. Printed paths remain, missing-path errors apply only to those locations and permission errors leave them unknown. A missing default Music path does not prove a custom User Library or Packs location is absent.

What Mole lists

The selected app is checked by default. Inspect actual preference and data rows before selecting them, keeping projects, User Library and content used by another version unselected. Remove data and settings with apps is off by default; shared content and protected stores retain individual boundaries. A removal record does not establish that every creative-data location is disposable.

What this test covered

The maintainer-installed official Trial app and selected preference entries were removed with source-built Mole on October 4, 2026. Trial activation was not performed and User Library functionality was not confirmed. Populated Live Set/sample recovery, full creative-content removal, Status and update behavior were not verified.