Issue How to Uninstall Spotify

How to Uninstall Spotify

As one of the preferred services for legally-obtaining media like the latest hit songs, Spotify has an estimated user base of over two hundred and eighty million. Despite that worldwide success, Spotify isn't for all users – and many of them complain of having difficulties with fully-uninstalling its software. Experts recommend following standardized guidelines for removing this program thoroughly if a user decides that Spotify isn't their cup of musical tea.

Windows users and macOS users have different routines for removing applications like Spotify. For Windows, users can go through the Control Panel, Settings, or even the Start menu. Regardless of the operating system, always close Spotify before uninstallation – if necessary, open the Task Manager or Activity Monitor and check that no Spotify processes are present.

Users who know where their Spotify shortcut is on their Start menu can click Start, navigate to Spotify and right-click it. Then choose the Uninstall option.

Users who prefer the Control Panel (which also is the go-to option for older versions of Windows, before Windows 10) should type 'Control Panel' in the taskbar's search and click the result. In the Programs section, click the Uninstall link. The new list displays all installed programs. Users can search for Spotify by name or arrange entries according to their names, installation dates, etc., by clicking the respective data field category. Right-click the program and select Uninstall.

Another method for Windows software removal is typing 'Add or remove programs' into the search and clicking the result. Like the first technique, the list includes filters and a search by name option. Instead of right-clicking, left-click the entry to see the Uninstall button.

However, none of these options apply to macOS (or OS X) users. They should open Finder (Apple's UI equivalent to the Windows Explorer interface) and go to the Applications section. Scroll down until you see Spotify and click-drag it to the Trash. Alternately, they may right-click it and choose the 'Move to Trash' option. Unlike Windows users, they'll need to empty the Trash for confirming the deletion as permanent manually – remember that this action is practically irreversible.

macOS users who prefer a tidier hard drive also might want to get into the habit of removing all 'leftover' files from software installations that the Trash doesn't erase. Fortunately, there are standardized locations for these additional components. Experts recommend removing the following files and folders manually:

~Library/Application Support/Spotify
~Library/Caches/com.spotify.client
~Library/Caches/com.spotify.installer
~Library/LaunchAgents/com.spotify.webhelper.plist
~Library/Preferences/com.spotify.client.plist
~Library/Preferences/com.spotify.helper.plist
~Library/Saved Application State/com.spotify.client.savedState

Windows users have far fewer locations for searching for this cleanup step. They should look in:

C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Spotify

The 'USER' is a placeholder and changes with the name of the Windows user's account.

An important side note is that, currently, uninstalling Spotify also deletes any premium song downloads. Playlists remain on the account, so users don't have to worry about losing their playlists when cleaning the service off of a particular device.

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