How to uninstall Baidu Input (百度输入法) on Mac

Baidu Input keeps its user dictionary in ~/Library/Application Support/BaiduInput, 2.9 MB on the test Mac. Copy that folder somewhere outside ~/Library before you remove anything, and keep the copy if you might install Baidu again. This guide covers 百度输入法 installed with the official installer from Baidu's website, 安装百度输入法.app, which puts BaiduIM.app in /Library/Input Methods, a launch agent in /Library/LaunchAgents and a system daemon in /Library/LaunchDaemons. The same steps work if you only copied BaiduIM.app into an Input Methods folder yourself. For Sogou, Baidu and WeChat Input side by side, see How to Uninstall Sogou, Baidu and WeChat Input Methods on Mac.

Back up your dictionary first

  1. In Finder, press Shift + Command + G and open ~/Library/Application Support/BaiduInput. If it does not exist, Baidu has not written one on this Mac.
  2. Copy the whole folder to Documents, an external drive or anywhere else outside ~/Library, then open the copy to check it.

Take it out of the input source list

  1. Switch to another input source from the input menu in the menu bar, such as ABC. Removing the input method you are typing with can leave you briefly unable to type.
  2. Open System Settings › Keyboard › Text Input › Input Sources › Edit, select 百度输入法 and click Remove. Apple describes this pane in Change Input Sources settings on Mac.

Removing it from the list deletes nothing. The app, its helpers and your dictionary are still on the Mac.

Stop the helpers, then remove the files

The installer adds two launch items that run programs from inside the app: the agent com.baidu.InputService, which runs enableInput, and the daemon com.baidu.baiduService, which runs baiduService in the system domain. Stop both before you move the files:

launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u)/com.baidu.InputService
sudo launchctl bootout system/com.baidu.baiduService

The second command asks for your password. If launchctl prints an error, that item was not loaded, and you can carry on. Then, in Finder:

  1. Open /Library/LaunchAgents and move com.baidu.InputService.plist to the Trash. root owns it, so macOS asks for an administrator password.
  2. Open /Library/LaunchDaemons and move com.baidu.baiduService.plist to the Trash.
  3. Open /Library/Input Methods and move BaiduIM.app to the Trash. If you copied it into ~/Library/Input Methods yourself, remove it from there instead.
  4. Log out and back in, so the input menu stops showing 百度输入法 and nothing keeps running from the Trash.

Where Baidu keeps its data

These locations come from the recorded test; Baidu does not publish a list of them.

Location What it holds What to do
/Library/Input Methods/BaiduIM.app The input method, 68 MB from the installer in the test Remove, with an administrator password
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.baidu.InputService.plist Agent that runs enableInput from inside the app Remove, with an administrator password
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.baidu.baiduService.plist System daemon that runs baiduService from inside the app Remove, with an administrator password
~/Library/Application Support/BaiduInput Your user dictionary, 2.9 MB in the test Back it up first, remove it once you no longer need it
Preferences, Caches, HTTPStorages and cookies named com.baidu.inputmethod.BaiduIM Settings and caches Remove
~/Library/sapi and ~/Library/Application Support/Baidu The test could not show that the input method wrote them Keep unless you know what wrote them
Anything named com.baidu.BaiduNetdisk-mac or baidunetdisk Baidu Netdisk, a different product Keep

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after logging back in:

pgrep -il 'baiduim|baiduservice|enableinput'
ls /Library/LaunchAgents /Library/LaunchDaemons | grep -i 'com.baidu'
ls -d "/Library/Input Methods/BaiduIM.app" ~/Library/Application\ Support/BaiduInput
  • No output from pgrep means none of Baidu's input processes is running. A process that returns seconds after you quit it means the agent or the daemon is still loaded.
  • The grep line should print nothing once both plists are gone. A remaining com.baidu.InputService.plist or com.baidu.baiduService.plist starts again at the next login or restart.
  • "No such file or directory" for BaiduIM.app means the input method is gone. BaiduInput still listed means your dictionary is on disk, which is fine until you decide what to do with it.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The baiduinput cask downloads Baidu's installer and asks you to run it yourself. brew uninstall --cask baiduinput uninstalls, through pkgutil, any package whose id matches com.baidu.inputmethod.* (the official installer wrote no receipt in the test), and deletes /Library/Input Methods/BaiduIM.app. It does not name the com.baidu.InputService agent or the com.baidu.baiduService daemon, and the cask has no zap list, so stop and remove those two plists yourself as described above, and BaiduInput stays where it is.

brew uninstall --cask baiduinput

Homebrew's baiduinput cask

What Mole lists

For 百度输入法 from the official installer:

  • Mole finds input methods in both Input Methods folders. When you pick one, it reminds you to switch to another input source first. It shows no last-used date for input methods, because macOS keeps them running whether you type with them or not.
  • The com.baidu.InputService agent and the com.baidu.baiduService daemon are selected by default, because their programs sit inside BaiduIM.app. Before it asks a running input method to quit, Mole unloads the launch items you selected. Root-owned items, the app included, need your administrator password.
  • The preferences, caches, HTTPStorages, cookies and temporary folder named com.baidu.inputmethod.BaiduIM are selected by default.
  • ~/Library/Application Support/BaiduInput is listed but not selected.
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Baidu, ~/Library/sapi and anything of Baidu Netdisk are not listed.
  • After a batch that removed an input method, Mole restarts the input menu so the old entry disappears.

What this test covered

Two runs on September 22, 2026, both with a development build of Mole. In the first, only BaiduIM.app 6.0.3.66 was copied into ~/Library/Input Methods, without running the installer. The app, 141 MB, went to the Trash with its caches, HTTPStorages, preferences and temporary folder, and nothing failed. BaiduInput, 2.9 MB, was not listed in that run and stayed; it is the unselected row described above. Mole's Status page showed Baidu as one 百度输入法 row of about 26 MB.

In the second, the official installer from Baidu's website was run; the newest version it offered was 5.7.0.16. The 68 MB app went to the Trash through the administrator password, together with four user-level rows, and nothing failed. The agent and the daemon stayed, the daemon still loaded, because that build could not yet move root-owned launch items; they were removed by hand afterwards. Baidu was not enabled as an input source in this run, so BaiduInput was never written. Unloading selected launch items before the quit and moving root-owned launch items were added after this run and were not rerun against the installer. Nothing was signed in, no custom words were added, and the Homebrew cask was not tested.