If you’ve played League of Legends on your Mac for any length of time, you know how quickly the game eats up storage. New patches, champion updates, and cached game data can push its total size past 20GB before you even notice. Maybe you’re taking a break from the grind, or you just need to free up space for a new release. If you’re wondering how do you uninstall league of legends on mac without leaving gigabytes of hidden junk behind, you’re in the right place. I’ve walked through this process dozens of times for friends and my own devices, so I’ve sorted out all the annoying kinks you might run into.
Why Standard Drag-to-Trash Uninstallation Doesn’t Work for LoL
Most Mac users assume deleting an app is as simple as dragging its icon to the Trash and emptying it. For small, simple apps that only store data in their main bundle, that works just fine. But League of Legends is a massive, constantly updated online game, and it stores most of its data outside the main app file in your system’s hidden Library folder.
LoL stores up to 10GB of hidden supporting files that don’t get removed when you delete the main app icon. These include patch files, game logs, cached champion skins, and your local settings files. If you only drag the app to the Trash, all these files stay on your hard drive taking up space. Leftover files can slow down your Mac over time, and they can even cause errors if you try to reinstall LoL later on.
I made this mistake the first time I uninstalled LoL a few years back. I dragged the app to the Trash, thought I was done, and six months later I found 8GB of old LoL cache files when I was cleaning out my Library folder. That’s enough space for two or three smaller indie games, so it’s definitely worth taking the extra steps to remove everything.
How Do You Uninstall League of Legends on Mac Manually?
If you don’t mind spending 10 to 15 minutes digging through your system files, manual uninstallation is completely free and works perfectly if you follow the steps closely. You don’t need any special tools, just access to your hidden Library folder. Always close all Riot processes before you start uninstalling — if the game or Riot Client is running in the background, some files will be locked and you won’t be able to delete them.
Follow these steps to remove every trace of LoL from your Mac for good:
- First, close League of Legends and all related Riot Client processes completely. Open Activity Monitor from your Utilities folder, search for "Riot" or "League", and select "Quit" for every matching process you see. If any process won’t close normally, use the "Force Quit" option.
- Open your Applications folder, find the League of Legends app icon, and drag it to the Trash. You can also right-click the icon and select "Move to Trash" if you prefer that workflow.
- Open the Go menu in your top menu bar, hold down the Option key to reveal the hidden Library folder, and click to open it. If you don’t see the Option key prompt, you can also press Shift + Command + G while in Finder and type ~/Library to open it directly.
- Search for and delete all LoL and Riot-related folders in the following directories: ~/Library/Application Support/Riot Games, ~/Library/Caches/Riot Games, ~/Library/Logs/Riot Games, and ~/Library/Preferences/com.riotgames.LeagueofLegends.plist. Never delete random Library folders if you don’t recognize them — stick to the exact paths listed here to avoid removing important system files.
- Empty your Trash folder to complete the manual uninstallation process. If you get an error that a file is still in use, double check that you closed all Riot processes in Activity Monitor and try again.
This process works for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, and it will remove 100% of LoL-related files if you follow every step. I recommend double checking the Application Support folder one extra time, since that’s where most of the large game files are stored.
Third-Party Tools for Faster, More Complete LoL Uninstallation
If digging through hidden system folders sounds stressful, or you just don’t have the time to do it manually, you can use a trusted Mac cleaner tool to uninstall LoL in just a few clicks. These tools are designed to scan your entire system for all related files when you uninstall an app, so you don’t have to hunt for them yourself.
Only use verified, well-reviewed Mac cleaner tools — there are a lot of sketchy free uninstaller tools online that come bundled with adware or malware, so stick to popular, widely recommended options. The main benefit of using a third-party tool is that it saves you time, and it’s almost impossible to miss leftover files if the tool is working correctly. Most good cleaners will also let you bulk uninstall other unused apps at the same time, which is a nice bonus if you’re doing a full system cleanout.
The main downside is that most full-featured Mac cleaners require a paid subscription, or have limited functionality in their free versions. If you only need to uninstall LoL once, the manual process is probably the better deal. But if you regularly uninstall apps and want to keep your system running smoothly, a good cleaner is a worthwhile investment. I use one myself for regular maintenance, and it cuts down my cleanout time from an hour to 10 minutes tops.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Uninstalling LoL on Mac
Even if you follow the steps closely, it’s easy to make small mistakes that leave files behind or cause unnecessary headaches. I’ve seen all of these errors pop up when helping friends uninstall LoL, so they’re worth keeping in mind before you start.
One of the most common mistakes is forgetting to delete the Riot Client separately from LoL. The Riot Client is a separate app that runs in the background to handle game updates and launches, and it won’t be removed when you delete the LoL app itself. It takes up around 2GB of space on its own, so make sure you delete it as well if you don’t play any other Riot games like Valorant.
Another mistake is emptying your Trash immediately before double checking you didn’t delete the wrong files. Once you empty the Trash, it’s very hard to recover deleted files, especially if you don’t have a backup. Take 30 seconds to scan the Trash for any files you didn’t mean to delete before you empty it.
Finally, don’t ignore error messages when you’re deleting files. If you get a message that a file is locked or in use, that means you missed a running Riot process. Go back to Activity Monitor, close all related processes, and try again. Skipping locked files will leave gigabytes of data on your drive, defeating the whole point of uninstalling the game in the first place.
Whether you’re taking a permanent break from the rift or just freeing up space for a new game, it’s worth taking the extra time to remove every trace of the game from your system. Knowing how do you uninstall league of legends on mac correctly saves you from wasting valuable storage space and avoids annoying errors if you decide to reinstall later. If you’re comfortable navigating system folders, the manual process works perfectly for free, and if you’d rather save time, a trusted cleaner tool will get the job done in just a few clicks. No matter which method you pick, you’ll be glad you got rid of those hidden leftover files taking up space on your drive.