How to uninstall Session on Mac
Save your Session Recovery Password securely and keep any local messages you need before uninstalling. The official FAQ says the password restores your Account ID but does not recover all historical messages. This guide covers the Mac desktop app, not deletion of a Session account.
Quit and remove the app
Quit Session with Cmd + Q, including its tray/menu-bar process if it stays open. Move Session.app from Applications to the Trash. Keep the local support folder until you have verified the material you want to retain.
Review local data
~/Library/Application Support/Sessioncontains the desktop profile and local messaging data; copy it while Session is quit before considering removal.~/Library/Caches/Sessionis separate from the message profile.~/Library/Preferences/com.loki-project.messenger-desktop.plistand~/Library/Saved Application State/com.loki-project.messenger-desktop.savedStatecan be removed if you want to reset desktop settings.
After saving your Recovery Password, checking wanted local messages and copying its support folder while Session is closed, use Shift + Command + G in Finder to open the exact paths above. Move only the Session item you chose to discard to the Trash. Identity recovery does not replace a copy of local message history.
Check the result
pgrep -ifl Session
ls -ld /Applications/Session.app "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Session" "$HOME/Library/Caches/Session"
No process output means this name was not found, not that every helper has gone. Check any match against the app’s actual executable path. A missing-path error from ls means only that location is absent; permission errors leave its state unknown. A surviving folder can be intentional data to keep.
If you installed it with Homebrew
There is no separate uninstall helper in the cask. Zap includes the Session support folder, cache, preferences and saved state, so a manual zap can remove local chat history.
To uninstall without zap, use:
brew uninstall --cask session
Mole checks Homebrew's full removal list and skips --zap when it reaches unchecked data, shared files or anything it cannot verify. It still removes the leftovers you selected. A direct brew uninstall --cask --zap session runs Homebrew’s full zap list without consulting Mole’s checkboxes.
Removing the desktop app does not itself delete your Session identity. Restoring an identity and preserving a local message archive are different operations.
What Mole lists
Mole selects the app, attributable caches and exact preferences by default. ~/Library/Application Support/Session is listed unchecked when Remove data and settings with apps in General > Cleaning is off. Turning it on can preselect this eligible local profile; uncheck it to retain its messages. Files in other apps merely named “session” are not Session leftovers.
What this test covered
The official desktop app was tested on September 21 and reinstalled and removed again with a development build of Mole on September 26, 2026. The later run removed all 14 listed items, while name-only matches belonged to other apps. No account was signed in, so message recovery, sync and a populated chat database were not tested.