2 Ways to Completely Uninstall Xcode on Mac [2023]

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Clare Weaver
Last updated: May 22, 2023

Xcode is taking up a lot of space and you want to uninstall it from your Mac? Here's how to uninstall it completely.

Xcode is a powerful tool for developing apps for Mac devices. A big disadvantage of this program is that it takes up a lot of disk space. If you're having problems with it or you don't need it anymore, it's good to cleanly remove it from your Mac.

Don't know how to do a clean uninstall of Xcode? Read on for detailed steps.

2 Ways to Completely Uninstall Xcode on Mac

How to Manually Uninstall Xcode on Mac

Uninstalling Xcode from a Mac manually is risky and complicated. If you still want to do it yourself, follow these steps:

  1. Quit Xcode.

  2. Open Finder > Applications, select Xcode and move it to Trash.

    Manually Uninstall Xcode on Mac with Finder
  3. Click the Go menu in Finder and select Go to Folder.

  4. Paste the following paths into the search box, one at a time, and press Return.

    • ~/Library/Developer
    • ~/Library/Application Support/Xcode
    • ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode
    • ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist
    • /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist
    • /System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeExtensionSupport.bom
    • /System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeExtensionSupport.plist
    • /System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeSystemResources.bom
    • /System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeSystemResources.plist
    Delete Xcode Related Files on Mac
  5. Move the file or folder opened to the Trash.

  6. Empty your Trash.

Earlier Xcode versions, such as 7 and 8, left files in different folders. To clear them all, use the Terminal.

Here's how:

  1. Open Terminal via Finder or Spotlight.
  2. Run the command: sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=all.
  3. Enter your admin password.
  4. Wait for the scripts to finish running, then quit Terminal.
Remove Xcode Leftovers on Mac with Terminal

How to Quickly Uninstall Xcode on Mac Using BuhoCleaner

A faster and easier way to uninstall Xcode from your Mac is to use BuhoCleaner, the perfect tool for uninstalling unwanted apps on your Mac.

With BuhoCleaner, you can delete Xcode and its supporting files with one click, so you can have more free space to play games and download movies.

Here're the steps:

  1. Download, install and launch BuhoCleaner.
  2. Click App Uninstall to see which apps are installed on your Mac.
  3. Locate Xcode, select it and click the Remove button. That's it!
Quickly Uninstall Xcode on Mac with BuhoCleaner

Final Words

Have you successfully uninstalled Xcode from your Mac? Which way did you use?

Note that BuhoCleaner is more than an app uninstaller. It also comes with features like clearing caches and logs, removing large and duplicate files, managing startup programs, analyzing disk space and much more. It's really worth a try.