Mac guides · Android file transfer

How to Remove or Uninstall MacDroid on Mac (Completely)

Dragging MacDroid to the Trash deletes the app, but it leaves a dozen folders, two system extensions' data and possibly an active subscription behind. Here is the full cleanup, tested on MacDroid 2.10.

Why dragging MacDroid to the Trash isn't enough

Most Mac apps are a single .app bundle, and deleting it is the end of the story. MacDroid is a little more involved because of how it shows your phone inside Finder.

It ships two extensions inside the app: a Finder Sync extension (the status icons you see on phone files) and a File Provider extension that presents the phone as a drive in Finder's sidebar. Each one gets its own sandbox folder in ~/Library/Containers, and macOS keeps separate File Provider state for the mounted device. On top of that, the app writes the usual preferences, caches, cookies and a log file.

Electronic Team's own uninstall instructions stop at "quit it and drag it to the Trash." That works, and your Mac will be fine. But if you're uninstalling because MacDroid misbehaved (a phone that won't mount, a ghost drive in the sidebar, endless "Device not connected" errors), the leftovers are exactly what makes a reinstall carry the same problem forward. A clean removal fixes that.

Before you uninstall: 3 checks

Do these first. The first one matters most.

1. Unmount your phone and unplug it. While the phone is mounted, the files you see in Finder live on the phone. If you go hunting through folders and delete the wrong thing, you delete it from your phone. Let any copy finish, click Unmount next to the device in MacDroid (or eject it in Finder's sidebar), then disconnect the cable.
2. Note how you installed it. The app comes three ways: from macdroid.app, from Homebrew (brew install --cask macdroid), or from the Mac App Store. The website and Homebrew versions use the bundle ID us.electronic.macdroid; the App Store build uses us.electronic.mas.macdroid. That decides which folders you'll look for.
3. Turn off USB debugging if you used ADB mode. The app's ADB mode asks you to enable Developer options and USB debugging on the phone. If nothing else needs it, switch it off under Settings → System → Developer options on your Android phone. It's a small security win.

Method 1: Uninstall MacDroid manually (Finder only)

No Terminal needed. This takes about five minutes.

Step 1: Quit MacDroid

The app lives in the menu bar, so closing its window doesn't quit it. Click the MacDroid icon at the top of the screen and choose Quit. If it's stuck, press ⌥ Option + ⌘ Command + Esc, select MacDroid and click Force Quit.

Step 2: Move MacDroid.app to the Trash

Open Finder, go to Applications, and drag MacDroid to the Trash (or right-click it and choose Move to Trash). Enter your Mac password if asked. Don't empty the Trash yet.

Step 3: Delete MacDroid's leftover files

In Finder, press ⇧ Shift + ⌘ Command + G, paste a path from the table below, press Return, and move the matching item to the Trash. Skip any path that doesn't exist; not every Mac will have all of them.

Step 4: Empty the Trash and restart

Open the Trash, check that it only holds what you meant to remove, then click Empty. Restart your Mac so Finder drops any cached sidebar entry for the old MacDroid drive.

Method 2: Remove MacDroid completely with Terminal

If you're comfortable with Terminal, this does Method 1 in one paste. It moves everything to your Trash instead of deleting it outright, so you can still restore something if needed. Unmount and unplug your phone first.

# 1. Quit MacDroid and its extensions
osascript -e 'quit app "MacDroid"' 2>/dev/null
pkill -if macdroid

# 2. Move the app and every leftover to the Trash
for p in \
  "/Applications/MacDroid.app" \
  ~/Library/Preferences/us.electronic.macdroid.plist \
  ~/Library/Application\ Support/us.electronic.macdroid \
  ~/Library/Application\ Support/MacDroid \
  ~/Library/Application\ Support/FileProvider/us.electronic.macdroid.mountprovider \
  ~/Library/Caches/us.electronic.macdroid \
  ~/Library/HTTPStorages/us.electronic.macdroid \
  ~/Library/HTTPStorages/us.electronic.macdroid.binarycookies \
  ~/Library/WebKit/us.electronic.macdroid \
  ~/Library/Logs/MacDroid.log \
  ~/Library/Containers/us.electronic.macdroid.AFTFinderSync \
  ~/Library/Containers/us.electronic.macdroid.mountprovider \
  ~/Library/Application\ Scripts/us.electronic.macdroid.AFTFinderSync \
  ~/Library/Application\ Scripts/us.electronic.macdroid.mountprovider \
  ~/Library/Group\ Containers/XS85JU6YZ3.us.electronic.macdroid \
  ~/Library/Application\ Scripts/XS85JU6YZ3.us.electronic.macdroid
do
  [ -e "$p" ] && mv "$p" ~/.Trash/ && echo "Trashed: $p"
done

Terminal may ask for permission to access folders such as Containers. If a line fails with "Operation not permitted," give Terminal Full Disk Access in System Settings → Privacy & Security, run the block again, then turn that access back off.

Method 3: Uninstall MacDroid with Homebrew

If you installed MacDroid with brew install --cask macdroid, let Homebrew do the work. The --zap flag removes the app plus the leftover list the cask maintainers wrote down:

brew uninstall --cask --zap macdroid

Zap covers the preferences, caches, logs, the Finder extension's folders and the group container. It does not list three things, so remove these by hand afterwards:

mv ~/Library/Containers/us.electronic.macdroid.mountprovider ~/.Trash/ 2>/dev/null
mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/FileProvider/us.electronic.macdroid.mountprovider ~/.Trash/ 2>/dev/null
mv ~/Library/HTTPStorages/us.electronic.macdroid ~/Library/WebKit/us.electronic.macdroid ~/.Trash/ 2>/dev/null

Want to keep your settings in case you reinstall later? Use plain brew uninstall --cask macdroid instead, which removes only the app.

If you got MacDroid from the Mac App Store

The App Store version is sandboxed and doesn't use FUSE, so it's simpler. Open Launchpad, hold the app icon until it jiggles, and click the ×. Or drag it from Applications to the Trash as above.

Its leftovers use the us.electronic.mas.macdroid bundle ID. The quickest way to find them all is Spotlight from Terminal:

mdfind -name "us.electronic.mas.macdroid"
ls -d ~/Library/*/*us.electronic.mas.macdroid* 2>/dev/null

Move anything those commands print to the Trash, then empty it.

Cancel your MacDroid subscription (deleting the app won't)

This is the step that costs people money. MacDroid PRO is an annual auto-renewing subscription, listed at $19.99 a year on MacDroid's site. Removing the app from your Mac does nothing to the billing.

Bought on macdroid.app

1. Find the order email titled "Welcome to MacDroid PRO."
2. Scroll to the bottom and click review your subscription, then cancel.
3. Can't find the email? Write to support@electronic.us and ask them to cancel.

Bought through the App Store

1. Open the App Store on your Mac and click your name at the bottom left.
2. Click Account Settings, scroll to Subscriptions and click Manage.
3. Click Edit next to MacDroid and choose Cancel Subscription.

If you bought a lifetime license instead, there's nothing to cancel.

Should you remove macFUSE too?

Maybe. The App Store build never uses FUSE. The website build only uses it if you picked a FUSE-based mount type and installed macFUSE yourself; MacDroid 2.x defaults to a native macOS mount, and a clean install doesn't add macFUSE.

So check: open System Settings and scroll to the bottom of the sidebar. If you see a macFUSE pane, macFUSE is installed. Keep it if you use anything else that depends on it, like NTFS drivers, Cryptomator, VeraCrypt or cloud-drive mounters. If MacDroid was the only reason you installed it, open the pane and use its remove option, then right-click the pane and choose Remove "macFUSE" Settings Pane.

How to check that MacDroid is really gone

Run these in Terminal. They only read; they don't change anything.

pgrep -il macdroid
pluginkit -m | grep -i macdroid
ls -d ~/Library/*/*macdroid* ~/Library/*/*/*macdroid* 2>/dev/null

• No output at all from every line: MacDroid is fully removed.
• A process name from pgrep: something is still running. Restart your Mac and check again.
• A line from pluginkit: macOS still has a MacDroid extension registered, usually because another copy of MacDroid.app is sitting somewhere (a Downloads folder, an old DMG). Find it with mdfind -name MacDroid.app and trash it.
• Paths from ls: leftovers you missed. Move them to the Trash.

One more place to look: System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions. MacDroid shouldn't appear there anymore. If a Finder or File Provider entry for it lingers, restarting usually clears it.

A simpler way to move files between Android and Mac

Full disclosure: I build ShuttleDrop, so read this section with that in mind.

I started ShuttleDrop after going through the routine above one too many times. I wanted something that does the one job, moving files between my Android phone and my Mac, without a drive that half-mounts, a menu-bar process, or a yearly bill for copying photos.

The app is a native Mac app. Plug in your phone, pick File transfer on the phone, and it opens like a folder. Drag files either way, or right-click anything in Finder and choose Send to Android Phone. Uninstalling it is one drag to the Trash.

Frequently asked questions

Leftover paths in this guide come from MacDroid 2.10 and the Homebrew macdroid cask. MacDroid is a trademark of Electronic Team, Inc. ShuttleDrop is not affiliated with Electronic Team.