How to uninstall Paste on Mac
Paste keeps your Clipboard History and Pinboards on each device, and with iCloud sync turned on also in your private iCloud account (Back up and move your data). Before you remove the Mac app, make sure you have a copy you trust: iCloud sync, or a Time Machine backup, which includes Paste automatically. Uninstalling the app does not delete the iCloud copy. This covers the app downloaded from pasteapp.io (bundle id com.wiheads.paste-direct) and the Homebrew cask paste, which installs the same download.
Quit and remove the app
Paste's uninstall instructions say to right-click the P icon in the menu bar and choose Quit, then drag Paste from the Applications folder to the Trash and empty the Trash.
Where the data lives
Press Shift + Command + G in Finder and check each path. Paste's help pages do not list file paths; these come from Homebrew's zap list for Paste and the recorded test. The folders are named after the bundle id, com.wiheads.paste-direct, not after the word Paste.
| Location | What it holds | What to do |
|---|---|---|
~/Library/Application Support/com.wiheads.paste-direct |
Paste's own data folder on this Mac | Back it up, or confirm iCloud has your history, before removing it |
~/Library/Caches/com.wiheads.paste-direct |
Cache | Safe to remove |
~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.wiheads.paste-direct |
Web storage state | Safe to remove |
~/Library/Preferences/com.wiheads.paste-direct.plist |
Settings | Remove it for a clean start |
~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.wiheads.paste |
A group container Homebrew's zap list names for Paste | Check it before removing; it is not named after this app's bundle id |
Uninstalling does not remove your iCloud copy. To delete that too, Paste's instructions point to System Settings › Apple Account › iCloud › Manage › Paste › Delete from iCloud; do this only if you want the data gone from every device, not only this Mac.
Check the result
pgrep -il paste
ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.wiheads.paste-direct ~/Library/Preferences/com.wiheads.paste-direct.plist
No output from pgrep means no Paste process is running; a listed process should be quit from the menu bar icon first. For ls -d, "No such file or directory" means that folder or file is gone; a printed path means it is still there, which is what you want if you kept it on purpose.
If you installed it with Homebrew
Mole skips --zap when its list reaches unchecked or shared data, or cannot be fully checked, and still cleans the leftovers you selected.
The paste cask's zap list is ~/Library/Application Support/com.wiheads.paste-direct, ~/Library/Caches/com.wiheads.paste-direct, ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.wiheads.paste, ~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.wiheads.paste-direct and ~/Library/Preferences/com.wiheads.paste-direct.plist. If you untick the data folder in Mole, Mole's Homebrew removal drops --zap and removes only the rows you left ticked. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap paste yourself moves everything on the list to the Trash, whatever you selected in Mole.
To keep your clipboard history, back up ~/Library/Application Support/com.wiheads.paste-direct first, or remove only the app:
brew uninstall --cask paste
Account and subscription
Uninstalling Paste does not cancel a subscription. Paste's subscription page says to turn off renewal in Apple's subscription settings for an App Store purchase, cancel from your account on the Paste website for a direct purchase, or manage the Setapp membership in the Setapp app.
What Mole lists
~/Library/Application Support/com.wiheads.paste-directis selected by default, because it is named after Paste's bundle id. Back it up first, or untick it, if you want to keep your local clipboard history.~/Library/Caches/com.wiheads.paste-direct,~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.wiheads.paste-directand~/Library/Preferences/com.wiheads.paste-direct.plistare selected by default when they exist.- Mole finds these through the bundle id, so they show up even though the folder names do not contain the word Paste on its own. Your iCloud copy is not touched.
What this test covered
Paste 7.0.0 was copied into Applications from the official download, with no Homebrew receipt, and uninstalled on September 20, 2026, with Mole 1.15 Preview (build 280). The review list was expanded and every row was ticked; the app and its files under com.wiheads.paste-direct went to Trash. Paste was not signed in, so iCloud sync, a subscription and the Homebrew cask were not tested.