How to uninstall Vanilla on Mac
Quit Vanilla's menu bar process before removing it, and keep its preferences if you want the same layout after reinstalling. This guide covers the official Mac app and Homebrew cask vanilla. Hiding another app's menu bar icon does not make that app part of Vanilla's uninstall.
Stop Vanilla, then remove the app
Quit using Vanilla's menu bar dot, or find Vanilla in Activity Monitor if the dot is hidden. The official notch guide names both ways to quit. If Vanilla starts at login, turn off that option and check System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions for its own entry.
Move Vanilla.app from Applications to Trash after quitting. The official permission guide identifies Vanilla's Accessibility and Screen Recording entries. If you want to revoke access after removal, change only Vanilla's entries in System Settings › Privacy & Security; do not clear the system permission database or change other apps' permissions.
Review local preferences
After quitting Vanilla, press Shift + Command + G in Finder to open each location below. Copy wanted preferences or support data to a backup location, then move the Vanilla items you no longer need to Trash. Keep other menu bar apps and the macOS permission database.
| Location | Keep or remove |
|---|---|
| ~/Library/Application Support/Vanilla | App-named support data in the current cask. Inspect and back up wanted state. |
| ~/Library/Preferences/net.matthewpalmer.Vanilla.plist | Vanilla's own preferences. Keep them if you want to restore the layout. |
These are the current cask's zap targets. The menu bar icons and application files belonging to other products remain outside this removal. Uninstalling does not reset a license or cancel a subscription.
Check the result
pgrep -il Vanilla
ls -d /Applications/Vanilla.app "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Vanilla" "$HOME/Library/Preferences/net.matthewpalmer.Vanilla.plist"
No process output means no matching name is running. Printed paths remain, missing-path errors mean absence, and permission errors leave the result unknown. These commands do not establish whether you revoked macOS permissions; inspect Vanilla's own entries in System Settings for that.
If you installed it with Homebrew
brew uninstall --cask vanilla
The ordinary cask uninstall removes the app without zap. Direct brew uninstall --cask --zap vanilla also targets the support folder and preferences above, regardless of Mole's checkboxes.
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.
What Mole lists
Vanilla's exact app preferences and owned caches are selected by default when present. Its app-named support folder is unchecked with Remove data and settings with apps off; enabling it can preselect eligible reviewed app data. Keeping preferences requires unchecking their row. macOS permission databases and other menu bar apps are outside these app-state rows.
What this test covered
Vanilla 2.2 was copied from the official DMG to Applications and uninstalled on September 21, 2026, without a Homebrew receipt or granting Accessibility. The 6.8 MB app, preferences and confirmed temporary cache went to Trash. The official download was available in that retest; an earlier unavailable installer was not treated as a successful install. Permission revocation, hidden-icon behavior and the current cask's newer app version were not verified.