Help · Mac apps

How to uninstall Xcode or Android Studio on a Mac.

By Grant and Brad, who make Pangalin's apps · Updated 10 October 2026

Developer tools are among the biggest things on a Mac. The app itself is only part of it: simulators, SDKs, emulator images and build caches live elsewhere and stay behind when you drag the app to the Trash.

Xcode

1. Remove simulators and components first

This is the part Apple documents, and it's where most of the space is.

1. Open Xcode and choose Xcode › Settings, then click Components (Platforms in older versions). Xcode shows how much space each item uses.
2. Under Other Installed Platforms and the platform list, click the ⓘ next to each simulator runtime you want gone, then Delete. (Some versions use a – button at the bottom instead.)

Delete runtimes this way before removing Xcode. Apple's engineers note that runtimes left behind can end up in a system folder you can't delete by hand.

2. Remove the app

3. Quit Xcode and drag it from Applications to the Trash, then empty the Trash.

3. Developer data

Xcode's build data, device support files, archives and simulator devices are in ~/Library/Developer. Apple doesn't publish uninstall steps for this folder. Before removing anything there, keep any Archives you need for apps still on the App Store (their debug symbols). See clearing Xcode's cache for what each part is.

Android Studio

Google doesn't publish a Mac uninstall guide, but it does document where Android Studio keeps its files:

1. Quit Android Studio, and stop any running emulators.
2. Drag Android Studio from Applications to the Trash.
3. Remove its settings, caches and logs (each folder name includes the version, such as AndroidStudio2026.2; preview builds use AndroidStudioPreview):
   • ~/Library/Application Support/Google/AndroidStudio… (settings and plug-ins)
   • ~/Library/Caches/Google/AndroidStudio…
   • ~/Library/Logs/Google/AndroidStudio…
4. Emulators and SDK (the big part): virtual devices are in ~/.android/avd and other Android settings in ~/.android. The SDK is wherever Android Studio's settings say (Settings › Appearance & Behavior › System Settings › Android SDK), often ~/Library/Android/sdk. Check before removing; other tools such as Flutter or React Native may use the same SDK.

Just upgrading? When you first open a new major version, Android Studio offers to delete folders left by old versions.

Both tools may leave a Gradle cache in ~/.gradle; see developer caches.

Based on Apple's and Google's documentation, checked October 2026. Neither publishes a full uninstall guide; paths beyond what they document are labelled.