Uninstall Brave on Mac

Sync or export your bookmarks and saved passwords before you remove Brave, and if you use Brave Wallet or Brave Rewards, back up your wallet's recovery phrase first, because that state lives only in the profile folder this guide removes. These steps cover the direct download from brave.com and the Homebrew cask brave-browser; the recorded test used the Homebrew cask.

Back up what the profile holds

Open Brave's Settings and check whether Brave Sync is on; a synced profile keeps a copy of bookmarks, passwords and extensions in your Brave account, so you can sign back in on any Mac. If you are not syncing, use Brave's own export tools for passwords and bookmarks before you continue. If you hold funds in Brave Wallet, write down its recovery phrase now: the keys are stored locally, and deleting the profile without a backed-up phrase makes that wallet unrecoverable. If you have unclaimed Brave Rewards (BAT), check your balance and payout status first, since it is tied to this local install.

Quit Brave and remove the app

Finish downloads, quit Brave from its menu, then move Brave Browser from Applications to the Trash. Removing the app does not touch your Brave account or a synced profile on another device; it only removes what is on this Mac.

Where Brave keeps its data

These paths come from the Homebrew Brave cask's zap list, which matches what a direct download from brave.com writes to the same locations.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal:

pgrep -ilf "Brave Browser"
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser"

No output from pgrep means Brave is not running. The ls command shows whether your profile is still on this Mac: a listed path means your bookmarks, passwords and any wallet data are still there, which is expected if you chose to keep them; "No such file or directory" means the whole profile is gone.

For freeing space in a profile you are keeping, see Free Up Chrome and Safari Storage on Mac Safely; the same cache layers apply to Brave's Chromium-based profile.

If you installed it with Homebrew

Brave is a browser, so Mole removes a Homebrew-installed copy with brew uninstall --cask brave-browser, without --zap, whatever you tick in Mole's review list, so your profile is never deleted through Mole. Homebrew Brave cask

Running the zap list yourself is a different matter. If you (not Mole) run brew uninstall --cask --zap brave-browser, that deletes the whole profile in the table above, wallet and Rewards state included, regardless of any backup you have made through Mole's review screen. Back up first, or leave --zap out:

brew uninstall --cask brave-browser

Account and subscription

Removing Brave does not close your Brave account or affect a synced profile on another device. It does not withdraw unclaimed Brave Rewards or move Brave Wallet funds anywhere; both stay tied to the local data above until you have backed them up elsewhere. Manage your Brave account, Sync devices, and Rewards payout status from brave.com.

What Mole lists

This describes Mole 1.15, currently in Preview. ~/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser is listed as sensitive browser data because it can hold Brave Wallet keys and Rewards state. In Mole Preview 290 and later you can tick it on its own: it is never selected by default or by select-all, Mole asks you to confirm, and it goes to the Trash, so it stays recoverable until you empty the Trash. Earlier builds locked it with no checkbox. Write down your wallet recovery phrase before you tick it.

What this test covered

The recorded uninstall used the Homebrew cask on September 17, 2026, with a development build of Mole. Caches and preferences were removed; the profile folder was left on disk, listed but locked from selection, as that build did. Brave Wallet and Brave Rewards were not set up on the test Mac, so their specific data was not present to verify.