How to uninstall Xunlei Thunder on Mac

Before removing Xunlei Thunder (迅雷), finish or cancel active downloads and move the files you want out of its download folder or at least note where that folder is. Uninstalling does not delete finished downloads, but unfinished tasks stop and can leave partial files in that folder. These steps cover the official download from xunlei.com and the Homebrew cask thunder.

Finish downloads first

Open the task list, let the downloads you need complete, and delete the tasks you no longer want. Then check Thunder's settings for the download folder and open a few finished files there to confirm they play or open. Removing the app does not cancel a Thunder membership.

Quit and remove the app

  1. Quit Thunder from its app menu, or make it active and press Command + Q. Closing the window can leave its download service running.
  2. Search for Thunder in Activity Monitor. In the test it ran as several processes, including a download service and a Safari extension helper; wait until all of them have exited.
  3. Move Thunder from Finder's Applications folder to the Trash.
  4. Open System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions and turn off any Thunder entry that is still listed.

If you turned on Thunder's Safari extension, it lives inside the app and goes with it; check Safari › Settings › Extensions afterwards. Thunder does not publish a Mac uninstaller, so this is the standard way to remove an app downloaded from the internet. The official site is xunlei.com.

Where Thunder keeps local data

In Finder, press Shift + Command + G and open each location that exists.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Application Support/com.xunlei.Thunder App data Remove when you no longer use Thunder
~/Library/Application Support/Thunder App data under the app's English name Review, then remove
~/Library/Caches/com.xunlei.Thunder Cache Safe to remove after quitting
~/Library/WebKit/com.xunlei.Thunder Embedded web data, about 50 MB in the test Remove with the app
~/Library/Preferences/com.xunlei.Thunder.plist, com.xunlei.Thunder.loginSDK.plist Preferences and sign-in settings Remove for a clean reinstall
~/Library/Caches/com.xunlei.XLPlayer, ~/Library/Preferences/com.xunlei.XLPlayer.plist Files of Xunlei's XLPlayer, which the cask removes together with Thunder Remove with the app
~/Library/Caches/SentryCrash/Thunder A few KB of crash-report data, seen on the test Mac after removal Remove only this Thunder folder, never SentryCrash
~/Library/xl_sdks_kvstorage An empty folder seen on the test Mac Remove it if it is empty

Most of these come from the Homebrew cask's zap list. The last two are local observations from this test; SentryCrash is a shared crash-report parent other apps use too. Your download folder is not in this list.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal:

pgrep -il thunder
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Thunder" "$HOME/Library/Caches/SentryCrash/Thunder" "$HOME/Library/xl_sdks_kvstorage"
  • No output from pgrep means Thunder is no longer running. A listed process, such as its download service, means it has not fully quit; quit it before touching its folders. If Thunderbird or another app with "thunder" in its name is open, it shows up here too, so read the names.
  • ls prints each folder that still exists and reports "No such file or directory" for the rest. All three stayed on the test Mac; none of them hold your downloads.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The thunder cask quits Thunder before removing it. Its zap list trashes ~/Library/Application Support/Thunder, the cache, cookies, both Thunder preferences files, the XLPlayer cache and preferences, saved window state and WebKit data. It does not name Application Support/com.xunlei.Thunder or your download folder. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap thunder yourself does not look at Mole's checkboxes. Homebrew Thunder cask

Mole checks the zap list first. Application Support/Thunder is unticked by default, so unless you tick it, Mole drops --zap and removes only the app and the rows you selected.

To remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask thunder

What Mole lists

When you remove it with Mole:

  • ~/Library/Application Support/com.xunlei.Thunder, the cache, HTTPStorages, WebKit data, the com.plausiblelabs.crashreporter.data/com.xunlei.Thunder crash cache and the com.xunlei.Thunder preferences files are selected by default.
  • The container and Application Scripts folder of Thunder's Safari extension, com.xunlei.Thunder.Thunder-Extension, are selected by default, because it ships inside the app.
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Thunder is listed but not selected, because it is named after the app rather than its bundle ID.
  • ~/Library/Caches/SentryCrash/Thunder is listed but not selected. The folder is named after the English name Thunder, while a Chinese system shows the app as 迅雷.
  • ~/Library/xl_sdks_kvstorage is not listed.
  • Your download folder is not listed.

What this test covered

On September 19, 2026, Thunder was copied from the official download into Applications, opened once, then removed with Mole 1.15 Preview (build 277). The app, its bundle-ID Application Support folder, cache, preferences, HTTPStorages and about 50 MB of WebKit data went to the Trash, and its login entry left Mole's startup list. Application Support/Thunder was listed and left unselected, and the small crash-report and xl_sdks_kvstorage folders stayed. No download, sign-in or membership was tested, and the Homebrew cask was not uninstalled in this test. On September 26, 2026, Thunder 5.80.8 from the official package was installed again and removed with a development build of Mole with every row ticked: the app and 10 listed items went to the Trash, Application Support/Thunder and the Safari extension's container included, and only ~/Library/Caches/SentryCrash/Thunder stayed, because Mole did not list it then.