How to uninstall Downie 4 on Mac

Downie downloads video from many sites and can pass a finished download to Permute, the converter from the same developer. Besides its own sandboxed container, Downie keeps two Group Containers, one for its Safari extension and one named after the developer's team, and those are the folders that need a separate decision. These steps cover Downie 4 downloaded from the developer's site, plus a Homebrew section for the downie cask.

Quit and remove Downie

  1. Let any active download or Permute hand-off finish, then quit Downie from its application menu.
  2. In Finder's Applications folder, move Downie 4.app to the Trash.
  3. If you turned on Downie's Safari extension, check Safari's Extensions settings afterwards and turn off any Downie entry that is still listed.

Where Downie keeps its data

Press Shift + Command + G in Finder and open each path that exists. The paths below are the ones the Homebrew cask lists for Downie; a * stands for any ending.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Containers/com.charliemonroe.Downie* The app's sandboxed data and settings Remove with the app
~/Library/Application Scripts/com.charliemonroe.Downie* Scripts folders for the app Remove with the app
~/Library/Preferences/com.charliemonroe.Downie-4.plist App preferences Remove with the app
~/Library/Caches/com.charliemonroe.Downie-4 Cache Safe to remove after quitting
~/Library/Group Containers/com.charliemonroe.Downie.Safari Data for Downie's Safari extension Remove only if you no longer use the extension
~/Library/Group Containers/D43XN356JM.Downie and ~/Library/Application Scripts/D43XN356JM.Downie A group named after the developer's team rather than after Downie 4 alone Leave it while Permute or another app from the same developer is installed

If you installed it with Homebrew

The downie cask quits Downie before it removes the app, and its zap list covers every path in the table, including both Group Containers and the Downie help cache under ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.helpd/Generated. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap downie yourself moves all of them to the Trash, whatever you selected in Mole. To remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask downie

Mole runs --zap only when every path in the stanza is under ~/Library, is a row you ticked, is not claimed by another installed app, and uses directives it can review. Otherwise it drops --zap and still removes the rows you ticked.

Check the result

pgrep -il "Downie 4"
ls -d ~/Library/Containers/com.charliemonroe.Downie-4
ls -d ~/Library/Group\ Containers/*Downie*
  • No output from pgrep means Downie is not running. A listed process means it is still open; quit it before deleting data.
  • The first ls -d printing the path means the app's container is still on disk; "No such file or directory" means it is gone.
  • The second ls -d lists any Downie Group Container still present. Seeing D43XN356JM.Downie is expected while Permute or another app from the same developer is installed; "no matches found" or "No such file or directory" means none are left.

What Mole lists

Mole selects Downie's own container, Application Scripts folder, preferences and cache by default. The Group Containers Downie shares with its Safari extension and with Permute, and their Application Scripts folders, are listed for review and are not selected by default. They are shared groups, so even when you tick one, Mole removes it only after confirming that no other installed app claims it; when it cannot confirm that, it keeps the folder and the result reads "Kept: couldn't confirm no other app uses this group".

What this test covered

Downie 4 version 4.13.1 was copied from the developer's official DMG into Applications and uninstalled live on September 20, 2026, with Mole 1.15.0 build 280, with every review row selected. The app and its own rows went to the Trash. Mole kept the Group Containers shared with the Safari extension and Permute, together with their Application Scripts folders, and macOS refused to move Downie's 444 KB container to the Trash, so that folder also stayed on disk. Downloads, the Safari extension and any account features were not tested.

Downie