How to uninstall Telegram Desktop on Mac

Telegram Desktop is the cross-platform tdesktop client, bundle ID com.tdesktop.Telegram. It is a different app from the native Telegram for Mac (ru.keepcoder.Telegram) offered in the App Store and on telegram.org, which has its own guide, even though both can appear in Applications named Telegram. Your cloud chats live on Telegram's servers and stay there; this Mac's local data is in ~/Library/Application Support/Telegram Desktop. Files you saved from chats are ordinary files in your download folder and stay where they are. This guide covers Telegram Desktop downloaded from desktop.telegram.org and the Homebrew cask telegram-desktop.

Make sure you are removing the right Telegram

Run this read-only command to see which Telegram apps are in Applications:

mdls -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier /Applications/Telegram*.app
  • com.tdesktop.Telegram is Telegram Desktop, the app this guide covers.
  • ru.keepcoder.Telegram is the native Telegram for Mac; follow the Telegram guide instead.
  • org.telegram.desktop is Telegram Lite, the App Store build of Telegram Desktop, which keeps its data in ~/Library/Containers/org.telegram.desktop.
  • "no matches found" means no app named Telegram is in the top level of Applications.

Quit and remove the app

  1. Quit Telegram Desktop from its app menu and check Activity Monitor for Telegram.
  2. Move the app you identified above from Applications to the Trash.
  3. Removing the app does not end this Mac's session on your account. If you are giving up the Mac, end that session from the device list in Telegram's settings on another device you are signed in to.

Where Telegram Desktop keeps its data

Press Shift + Command + G in Finder and open each location, skipping any that is missing. They come from Homebrew's zap list and the recorded test.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Application Support/Telegram Desktop This Mac's local data for Telegram Desktop, 64 MB in the test Remove it once you no longer use Telegram Desktop here; cloud chats are unaffected
~/Library/Preferences/com.tdesktop.Telegram.plist and ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.tdesktop.Telegram.savedState Preferences and window state Remove with the app
Your download folder Files and media you saved from chats Keep what you want; these are your files

Check the result

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

pgrep -lf "Telegram Desktop.app"
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Telegram Desktop"
  • No output from pgrep means Telegram Desktop is not running. A listed process means it is still open. If your copy is named Telegram.app, run pgrep -il telegram instead and check that the listed process is not the native app.
  • ls -d printing the path means the local data folder is still there, which is expected after a Mole uninstall with the default selection. "No such file or directory" means it is gone.

If you installed it with Homebrew

Mole skips --zap when the zap list reaches data you left unchecked, a path another installed app uses, or anything Mole cannot check, and it still cleans the leftovers you selected.

The telegram-desktop cask installs the app as Telegram Desktop.app. Its zap list covers ~/Library/Application Support/Telegram Desktop, the preferences file and the saved state. brew uninstall --cask --zap telegram-desktop moves them to the Trash; your cloud chats stay on Telegram's servers, and files in your download folder are not touched. To remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask telegram-desktop

Homebrew's telegram-desktop cask

What Mole lists

For Telegram Desktop downloaded from desktop.telegram.org:

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Telegram Desktop is listed but not selected.
  • The preferences and saved state under com.tdesktop.Telegram are selected by default.
  • Your download folder is not listed.

What this test covered

On September 20, 2026, Telegram Desktop was copied from the official download into Applications as Telegram Desktop.app, without Homebrew, run, and uninstalled with Mole 1.15 Preview build 280 using the default selection. While running it showed as one row in Status at about 475 MB. The app went to the Trash, and the 64 MB Application Support/Telegram Desktop folder was listed, left unselected and stayed on disk. Telegram Lite from the App Store was tested separately and is not described here. The record includes no signed-in account, and the Homebrew cask was not tested.