Complete Guide: How to Uninstall The Sims 4 (All Devices)

Uninstalling The Sims 4 sounds like a one-click task until you realize the game leaves behind saves, mods, screenshots, and custom content in a separate folder that most standard uninstall methods never touch. This guide covers the actual removal process for Windows, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation, plus the extra step needed if you want every trace of the game gone rather than just the application itself.

Uninstalling on Windows

The Sims 4 can be uninstalled through whichever platform you originally installed it from, or through Windows itself directly.

Through the EA App:

1. Open the EA App and log in.
2. Go to Library and select The Sims 4.
3. Open the Manage menu, shown as a gear icon or three dots depending on your app version.
4. Select Uninstall and confirm.

Through Steam:

1. Open Steam and go to Library.
2. Right-click The Sims 4.
3. Hover over Manage, select Uninstall, and confirm.

Through Windows Control Panel:

1. Open Control Panel from the Start menu.
2. Go to Programs, then Programs and Features.
3. Find The Sims 4 in the list, right-click it, and select Uninstall.

Any of these three methods removes the installed program files. None of them touch the separate user data folder covered further down, which is where mods, saves, and custom content actually live. If the game doesn’t show up where you expect in Steam’s library, Steam Support covers library and installation issues that occasionally come up before you even get to the uninstall step.

Uninstalling on Mac

Through the EA App: the steps are identical to the Windows EA App method above.

Manual removal, for the most complete cleanup:

1. Quit The Sims 4 and close the EA App entirely.
2. Open Finder, go to Applications, and drag The Sims 4 to Trash.
3. Go to Documents, then Electronic Arts, then The Sims 4, and move that folder to Trash as well to remove your user data.
4. For a deeper cleanup, check ~/Library/Application Support, ~/Library/Preferences, and ~/Library/Caches for any remaining Sims 4 related files, though most users won’t need to go this far.
5. Empty the Trash to finish.

Removing user data for a fully clean uninstall

This is the step most guides skip, and it’s the reason a “clean” reinstall sometimes still shows old mods or a corrupted save. Both Windows and Mac store this data in the same relative location:

Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4

Deleting this entire folder removes your saves, mods, screenshots, and every custom setting in one step, since they all live inside it together. This is permanent, so back up anything you’d want later before deleting the folder. If you only want to clear out mods specifically while keeping your saves and the game itself intact, that’s a narrower job than what this guide covers, since it involves picking through the Mods subfolder and cache files individually rather than removing the whole directory.

Uninstalling on Xbox

1. Open My Games & Apps.
2. Select See All.
3. Highlight The Sims 4 and press the Menu button on your controller.
4. Select Uninstall, then Uninstall All if you also want any installed add-ons or expansions removed along with the base game.

Uninstalling on PlayStation

1. Highlight The Sims 4 on the home screen.
2. Press the Options button on your controller.
3. Select Delete, and confirm.

On both consoles, save data typically backs up to the cloud automatically through your Xbox or PlayStation account, so manual save backup usually isn’t necessary the way it is on PC. It’s still worth confirming your cloud save sync is current before deleting anything if you’ve played recently offline. If a save doesn’t sync the way you expect, EA Help covers cloud save issues separately for each platform.

When a full uninstall is actually the right move

A complete removal, application plus user data folder, is worth doing specifically when you’re dealing with persistent crashes, freezing that survives a basic mod cleanup, or corrupted preference files that keep causing the same error after every fix attempt. If you’re just trying to remove a few problem mods, a full uninstall is overkill. Deleting or isolating specific files in the Mods folder handles that without losing your saves.

Quick reference by platform

Platform	Removes application	Removes user data (saves, mods, CC)
Windows (EA App, Steam, Control Panel)	Yes	No, separate step required
Mac (manual removal)	Yes	Yes, if you delete the Documents folder too
Xbox	Yes	Cloud-backed, separate from local app data
PlayStation	Yes	Cloud-backed, separate from local app data

Conclusion

The actual uninstall step, through the EA App, Steam, Control Panel, Finder, or a console’s own menu, only ever removes the application itself. The user data folder under Documents on PC and Mac is where everything you’d actually miss lives, and it survives every standard uninstall method until you delete it separately. Knowing that distinction upfront saves the confusion of reinstalling later and finding old mods or a broken save still sitting there, waiting to cause the exact same problem again.