How to uninstall PlayCover on Mac

Back up wanted sideloaded apps, game saves and key mappings before removing PlayCover. This guide covers the downloaded Mac app, with Homebrew handled separately below.

Quit and remove the app

Use PlayCover to review installed iOS apps before quitting. Removing PlayCover alone does not establish that every sideloaded app, game account or save has been removed.

Before quitting, right-click each app whose keymap you want to keep, choose Export Keymapping, select a destination and press Open to save its .playmap file. Keymap export.

Quit PlayCover using its own quit action. In System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions, turn off any PlayCover login entry if present. After backing up, move /Applications/PlayCover.app to Trash in Finder and leave Trash intact until the wanted data is confirmed saved.

Project documentation.

Review local data

Use Shift + Command + G in Finder to inspect each complete path. Copy wanted contents elsewhere before deciding to move that item to Trash. These locations come from the recorded test and the live Homebrew cask. Do not create a missing path. A * marks a matching range, not a literal filename; inspect the actual matches individually.

If you installed it with Homebrew

To uninstall without running zap:

brew uninstall --cask playcover-community

This removes the cask-managed app, without running its zap data list.

The following direct command applies the cask’s entire zap list independently of Mole’s checkboxes. Use it only after backing up and approving every target.

brew uninstall --cask --zap playcover-community

The live zap targets are ~/Library/Application Support/io.playcover.PlayCover, ~/Library/Caches/io.playcover.PlayCover, ~/Library/Containers/io.playcover.PlayCover, ~/Library/Frameworks/PlayTools.framework, ~/Library/Preferences/io.playcover.PlayCover.plist, ~/Library/Saved Application State/io.playcover.PlayCover.savedState.

Group folders, containers and support folders may contain wanted data. Use the command without zap when retaining any of them. Live cask.

Check the result

ls -ld '/Applications/PlayCover.app'
pgrep -ifl '/Applications/PlayCover[.]app/'

A listed app path means that bundle remains. “No such file or directory” means that exact path is absent; “Permission denied” leaves the check unconfirmed. This checks one location, not other copies, background services or user data.

A pgrep result means a running command line matches this app path. No output means no such match, not that independent helpers or other app copies are absent; an error leaves this step unconfirmed.

What Mole lists

• ~/Library/Containers/io.playcover.PlayCover is selected by default and may hold sideloading data; uncheck it if retaining that data.
• ~/Library/Preferences/io.playcover.PlayCover.plist is selected by default.

These defaults assume “Remove data and settings with apps” is off, which is the default. Enabling it also selects eligible reviewed app data; shared and protected items retain their individual boundaries. Mole invokes Homebrew zap only when the whole zap scope passes its check. Unchecked, shared or out-of-boundary paths and unsupported directives suppress zap; selected remnants still use Mole’s own deletion flow.

What this test covered

Removal used a source-built Mole app. The recorded first-launch scan was partial and does not establish every file the app can create.

The official Apple Silicon app was first-launched and removed without signing in, granting permissions or installing content. The app and PlayTools framework were removed; its container was retained after a system denial.