How to uninstall Douyin (抖音) on Mac

Douyin, 抖音, keeps your account, videos, likes and messages on Douyin's servers, so removing the Mac client deletes none of them. What stays on the Mac is mostly cache: after one launch its folder ~/Library/Application Support/抖音 held 59 MB, 53 MB of it in a Cache subfolder. The client is an Electron app, and its updater registers a background job that outlives the app until you log out. This guide covers the client downloaded from douyin.com and the Homebrew cask douyin.

Quit and remove the app

  1. Quit 抖音 with Command + Q. Status showed it as one row with 14 processes and about 1.2 GB, the app plus its Helper, GPU and Renderer processes; they close with it.
  2. Move 抖音 from Applications to the Trash.

The first launch registered com.bytedance.douyin.desktop.ShipIt, the updater job, with launchd. It is a job for your login session with no file on disk, so it disappears the next time you log out, and it cannot update an app that is gone. There is no login item to turn off.

Where the client keeps its data

Press Shift + Command + G in Finder and open each location, skipping any that is missing. Douyin does not document these paths; they come from Homebrew's zap list and the recorded tests.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Application Support/抖音 The client's own data, where an Electron app keeps its sign-in state, and its Cache, Code Cache and GPUCache subfolders Remove it once you are done with the client on this Mac
~/Library/Caches/com.bytedance.douyin.desktop and ~/Library/Caches/com.bytedance.douyin.desktop.ShipIt App cache and updater cache Safe to remove
~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.bytedance.douyin.desktop Network storage Remove it with the app
~/Library/Preferences/com.bytedance.douyin.desktop.plist Preferences, plus a small updater file under ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost Remove them with the app
~/Library/Logs/douyin Logs, listed in Homebrew's zap list; the tests did not see it Remove it if it exists

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after the app is in the Trash:

pgrep -lf 抖音.app
launchctl list | grep -i douyin
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/抖音"
  • No output from pgrep means the client is not running. A listed process means the app or one of its helpers is still open.
  • A com.bytedance.douyin.desktop.ShipIt line from launchctl list is the updater job described above. It goes away when you log out; no output means it is already gone.
  • ls -d printing the path means the data folder is still there, which is expected if you left it unticked in Mole. "No such file or directory" means it is gone.

If you installed it with Homebrew

When you remove a Homebrew install, Mole runs Homebrew's uninstall and adds --zap only when every path in the cask's zap list sits inside ~/Library, none of them is a row you left unticked, and no other installed app claims it. Otherwise it leaves --zap out and still removes the rows you ticked.

The douyin cask's zap list moves the recent-items list, ~/Library/Caches/com.bytedance.douyin.desktop, the HTTPStorages folder, ~/Library/Logs/douyin, the preferences file and the saved window state to the Trash. For ~/Library/Application Support/抖音 it only removes the folder when it is already empty, so after brew uninstall --cask --zap douyin the data folder usually stays and you remove it yourself. To remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask douyin

Douyin · Homebrew's douyin cask

What Mole lists

This describes Mole for the client downloaded from douyin.com:

  • The cache folders inside ~/Library/Application Support/抖音 (Cache, Code Cache, GPUCache, the Dawn caches and blob_storage) are selected by default.
  • ~/Library/Application Support/抖音 itself is listed but not selected, because it is matched by the app's name and can hold the sign-in state.
  • Both Caches folders, the HTTPStorages folder, both preferences files, the recent-items list and the temporary folders macOS keeps for the app are selected by default.
  • Mole does not unload the ShipIt updater job; logging out does.

What this test covered

On September 26, 2026, 抖音 8.5.1 was copied from the official download into Applications, without Homebrew, launched once without signing in, and uninstalled with a development build of Mole, with every listed item ticked for the test. Status showed one row, 抖音, with 14 processes and about 1.2 GB. The app and every listed row went to the Trash, the 59 MB ~/Library/Application Support/抖音 included, and none of the files it had written were left; the ShipIt job was still loaded afterwards. An earlier test on September 20, 2026 used the official package with Mole 1.15 Preview build 280 and its default selection, and the 86 MB ~/Library/Application Support/抖音 stayed on disk because it was listed but not ticked. Neither test signed in, and the Homebrew cask was not tested.