How to uninstall NetEase Cloud Music on Mac

NetEase Cloud Music (网易云音乐) keeps your playlists and account with NetEase, so removing the Mac app does not delete them. What can be lost is local: songs you downloaded and anything you cached for offline play. Check where your downloads are saved before you remove the app, and keep that folder. These steps cover the Mac app downloaded from music.163.com and the Homebrew cask neteasemusic; the recorded test used the download from music.163.com.

Keep your downloads

Open NetEase Cloud Music's settings and look at the download location. If it points to a folder in your Music, Downloads or Documents folder, it is outside everything below and uninstalling will not touch it. If it points inside ~/Library, copy the songs you want to your own folder first, because the app folders below can be removed with the app.

Mole never removes anything in your Music, Downloads, Documents, Desktop, Pictures or Movies folders when it uninstalls an app.

Quit NetEase Cloud Music and remove the app

Quit NetEase Cloud Music from its menu; closing the window may leave it running. Then move NeteaseMusic from Applications to the Trash.

The app carries its own login-item helper inside the bundle. In the recorded test it was turned off. If you had it on, check System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions after removal and turn off any NetEase Cloud Music entry left there.

Where NetEase Cloud Music keeps its data

These are the paths in the Homebrew cask's zap list, plus one file the recorded test found. Open each with Shift + Command + G in Finder; skip the ones that do not exist.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Containers/com.netease.163music The app's sandboxed data and caches Check it holds no downloads you set there, then remove with the app
~/Library/Application Support/com.netease.163music App data Remove with the app
~/Library/Caches/com.netease.163music Cache Safe to remove
~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.netease.163music, ~/Library/WebKit/com.netease.163music, ~/Library/Cookies/com.netease.163music.binarycookies Network storage, embedded web data and cookies Safe to remove with the app
~/Library/Preferences/com.netease.163music.plist App preferences Remove for a clean start
~/Library/Saved Application State/com.netease.163music.savedState Window state Safe to remove
~/Library/Preferences/com.netease.music.crash.plist Found on the test Mac, not in the cask: crash-reporter settings under an older name Safe to remove

Other NetEase apps, such as UU Remote (UU远程), use their own names. Removing NetEase Cloud Music is not a reason to touch them.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal after the app is in the Trash:

pgrep -il neteasemusic
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Containers/com.netease.163music" "$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.netease.music.crash.plist"
  • No output from pgrep means the app is not running. A listed process means it is still open or playing; quit it first.
  • For each path, ls printing it means that item is still on this Mac. "No such file or directory" means it is gone. The crash plist is small and harmless if you leave it.

If you installed it with Homebrew

Running brew uninstall --cask --zap neteasemusic yourself moves every cask path in the table above to the Trash, the container included. The zap list does not include the crash plist. If you set your downloads inside the container, copy them out first, or remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask neteasemusic

Mole checks the zap list before running it and leaves --zap out if it would reach a row you left unchecked. Homebrew NetEase Cloud Music cask

Membership

Uninstalling does not cancel a NetEase Cloud Music membership or its auto-renewal. Manage it in your NetEase Cloud Music account, or where you paid for it, such as the App Store.

What Mole lists

For the app downloaded from music.163.com:

  • ~/Library/Containers/com.netease.163music and ~/Library/Application Support/com.netease.163music are selected by default, because they are named after the app's bundle ID. Uncheck the container if your downloads live inside it.
  • The caches, preferences, cookies, web data and saved window state filed under com.netease.163music are selected by default.
  • ~/Library/Preferences/com.netease.music.crash.plist is listed but not selected.
  • Your download folder in Music, Downloads or Documents is not listed, and UU Remote's files are not listed.

What this test covered

NetEase Cloud Music 3.1.9 was downloaded from music.163.com, because the Homebrew cask's disk image would not mount on the test Mac, and uninstalled with Mole Preview 272 on September 17, 2026. The app's embedded login item was listed and turned off. ~/Library/Preferences/com.netease.music.crash.plist stayed on disk after removal, which is why Mole lists it. UU Remote, installed on the same Mac, was not touched. On September 26, 2026, the same 3.1.9 download was installed again, opened once and removed with a development build of Mole with every row ticked, the crash plist included. Mole's Status page showed it as one row of nine processes. All 14 items, the app included, went to the Trash, none of them was still on disk afterwards, and no login item or launch agent appeared. Signing in, downloads and a membership were not tested, and the Homebrew cask was not uninstalled.