The need to have Java installed on your Mac is needless, to say the least.
Why may you ask? Because it’s not required for most of the applications on the machine. Besides, if any applications do need it, we can install it then whenever we’re asked.
Learning Java is one of the smartest things you can do at the moment. The world's most popular programming language is easy to set up and install on a Mac, and there are plenty of resources to. As aforementioned in the beginning part, if you were ever to encounter one of your existing applications stopped working on your Mac after uninstalling Java, then you may try to reinstall Java again if you wish to use the app. However, most Mac users will never require Java, and hence the methods above will altogether remove it from your Mac.
However, the issue with Java is that it comes preinstalled (without permission) and it is no straightforward task where you can hit an “Uninstall” button just like every other application to remove it.
Now bear in mind that some applications, specifically applications that are Java-dependent like IDEs (if you’re a developer you’ll know what we mean), office suite applications like OpenOffice or LibreOffice, torrent clients and more will rely on Java to work. In any case, after uninstalling Java on your Mac that one of your applications start not to work, then you can always reinstall Java on your Mac.
In this guide, we will show you step-by-step on how to uninstall Java entirely from your Mac.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
How to Uninstall Java on Mac: 9 Steps
- Firstly, close any running background apps or search browsers. Also, make sure to close any application which uses Java mainly. Now, of course, you may not know which application uses Java; hence which is why we suggest to close down every app first.
- Next, go ahead and open Finder on your Mac.
- Now from the top menu bar select Go and under the dropdown menu choose to Go to Folder…
- Great! What you will need to do now is copy-paste the below path into the Go to the path pop-up and then hit Go.
/Library/Internet Plug-ins/
- Now you will be brought to your Internet Plug-Ins location in your Mac. Here locate the JavaAppletPlugin.plugin and then delete it. Take note that removing this plugin will require you to know your admin password. Enter the admin password when prompted.
- So one down, two more files to go. Again, from the top menu bar select Go and under the dropdown menu choose to Go to Folder… and copy-paste the below path into the Go to the path pop-up and then hit Go.
/Library/PreferencePanes/
- Here you will be in your Preference Panes location in your Mac. Here locate the JavaControlPanel.prefPane and then delete it. Again, you will require to know your admin password. Enter the admin password when prompted.
- Two down. One more to go. Again, from the top menu bar select Go and under the dropdown menu choose to Go to Folder… and copy-paste the below path into the Go to the path pop-up and then hit Go.
- Lastly and this time remove the Java folder altogether. Copy-paste the below path into the Go to the path pop-up and then hit go. Again, you may require to know your admin password. Enter the admin password when prompted.
~/Library/Application Support/Java/
That just about should uninstall Java completely from your Mac. Make sure that you empty your Trash on your Mac.
Alternatively ?
You can also use your Mac’s Command-Line to remove all three files with just three lines quickly. Now, of course, you will need to be comfortable with using the Command-Line. However, if using the Command Line is like a second language to you then the steps from the section below will drastically save you plenty of time looking up each of the files and then deleting them manually.
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The Fastest Method: Using Your Mac’s Command-Line ?
Take note that you must be careful when entering the code below into your Command-Line as mistyping a syntax such as ‘rm’ with superuser privileges can cause a whole lot of unwanted trouble.
Here are the steps:
- Go ahead and open up your Command-Line on your Mac.
- Now one by one carefully enter the following lines individually into the Command-Line:
sudo rm -rf '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin'
sudo rm -rf '/Library/PreferencePanes/JavaControlPanel.prefPane'
How To Install Java On Mac
sudo rm -rf '~/Library/Application Support/Java'
- Lastly, watch as the magic happens where all the three files associated with Java on your Mac will be uninstalled completely.
You’re done! As aforementioned in the beginning part, if you were ever to encounter one of your existing applications stopped working on your Mac after uninstalling Java, then you may try to reinstall Java again if you wish to use the app. However, most Mac users will never require Java, and hence the methods above will altogether remove it from your Mac.
We hope that this guide has helped uninstall Java on your Mac. If you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment below, and we will love to help you out. ❤
If this guide helped you, please share it. ?
Java is a general-purpose, secure, robust, object-oriented language developed by Sun Microsystems in 1990. Java is portable which means it follows to write once run anywhere paradigm. The latest version is Java 13 which was released on March 2019. This tutorial helps you to install Java 13 latest or Java 11 LTS on macOS Sierra or High Sierra.
Step 1 – Prerequisites
Before starting the installation of Java using this tutorial you must have the following prerequisites
- Terminal: You must have Mac Terminal access and little knowledge about working with the terminal application. Ao login to your Mac system and open terminal
- Homebrew: This tutorial relies on Homebrew, So you must have homebrew installed. Homebrew can be installed with a single command.
For more instruction visit Homebrew installation tutorial.
Step 2 – Install Homebrew Cask
On Mac systems, Homebrew is the package manager, and Homebrew Cask is the app manager built on top of Homebrew. You Execute command to update brew cache and tap the caskroom/cask.
Java 11 Install For Mac
Step 3 – Install JAVA with Homebrew Cask
At the time of writing this tutorial the available version, Java 11 LTS and Java 13 latest for the installation. Use the following commands to view the details about java versions to be install.
Java Download For Mac
Now, install the Java version of your choice using one of the below commands. You can also install both versions if required.
Mac Install Java 11
I have installed Java 11 on my MacOS system. The download process may take some time to complete depending on your network speed. Once the installation finished, verify the installed Java version.
Java Installation For Macbook Air
All done. Your Mac system has installed Java on it.