How to uninstall Qianwen (千问, formerly 通义) on Mac

Qianwen, 千问, is Alibaba's AI assistant app, renamed from 通义 in November 2025. On the Mac the app is still Qianwen.app with the bundle ID com.alibaba.tongyi. Your conversations belong to your Alibaba account, and removing the app does not delete the account. Two things matter before you uninstall. First, the app updates itself often and quickly, so quit it before you start. Second, its data folder ~/Library/Application Support/Qianwen can be large, 338 MB in one recorded test, and Mole leaves it for you to decide. This guide covers the client downloaded from qianwen.com and the Homebrew cask qianwen.

Quit and remove the app

  1. Quit 千问 with Command + Q. If it offers to install an update, let it finish or dismiss it first; in the September 20 test the app replaced itself twice during the session, and Mole skipped it once because it had changed after the scan.
  2. Move Qianwen from Applications to the Trash.
  3. Open System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions. In the September 20 test a login item named Qwen was still listed after the uninstall, pointing at the app in the Trash. Turn it off if you see it.

Where the app keeps its data

Press Shift + Command + G in Finder and open each location, skipping any that is missing. Alibaba does not document these paths; they come from Homebrew's zap list and the recorded tests.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Application Support/Qianwen The app's web data, including the sign-in state, 338 MB after the September 20 test Remove it once you are done with the app on this Mac
~/Library/Caches/Qianwen Cache Safe to remove
~/Library/Logs/Qianwen Logs, listed in Homebrew's zap list Safe to remove
~/Library/Preferences/com.alibaba.tongyi.plist Preferences Remove it with the app

Check the result

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

pgrep -il qianwen
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Qianwen" ~/Library/Caches/Qianwen ~/Library/Logs/Qianwen
  • No output from pgrep means the app is not running. A listed Qianwen process means it is still open, possibly in the middle of an update.
  • ls -d prints each folder that still exists. Application Support/Qianwen surviving is expected if you did not remove it yourself. "No such file or directory" means that folder is gone.

If you installed it with Homebrew

When you remove a Homebrew install, Mole runs Homebrew's uninstall and adds --zap only when every path in the cask's zap list sits inside ~/Library, none of them is a row you left unticked, and no other installed app claims it. Otherwise it leaves --zap out and still removes the rows you ticked.

The qianwen cask's zap list covers ~/Library/Application Support/Qianwen, ~/Library/Logs/Qianwen and the preferences file. When the data folder exists and you leave it unticked, Mole leaves --zap out. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap qianwen yourself moves all three to the Trash whatever you ticked in Mole. To remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask qianwen

千问 · Caixin on the rename from 通义 to 千问 · Homebrew's qianwen cask

What Mole lists

For the client downloaded from qianwen.com:

  • The recent-items list, the preferences file named after com.alibaba.tongyi and the hidden .com.alibaba.tongyi.* temporary folders the app leaves in macOS's per-user temporary folder are selected by default when they exist.
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Qianwen is listed but not selected. In the September 20 test Mole treated it as browser data, which cannot be ticked in the list, so if you want it gone, move it to the Trash in Finder after the uninstall.
  • Mole does not edit login items; turn off a leftover Qwen entry in System Settings.

What this test covered

On September 26, 2026, Qianwen 2.3.1 was copied from the official download into Applications, without Homebrew, launched once, and uninstalled with a development build of Mole, with every listed item ticked for the test. It stayed on its sign-in page, showed in Status as one row, Qianwen, with a single 42 MB process, and wrote nothing Mole could attribute except the recent-items list; the app and that row went to the Trash. An earlier test on September 20, 2026 used the same official package with Mole 1.15 Preview build 280. During that session the app updated itself to 3.1.0 and then 4.3.2 and showed as 千问 in Status; after a refresh Mole removed it, ~/Library/Caches/Qianwen went with it, the 338 MB Application Support/Qianwen was listed as browser data that could not be ticked and stayed, and the Qwen login item remained, pointing at the Trash. Neither test signed in, and the Homebrew cask was not tested.