How to uninstall Zen Browser on Mac

Zen Browser is built on Firefox, and like Firefox it keeps bookmarks, saved passwords, history and extensions in a profile folder that is separate from the app. Removing Zen.app leaves that profile in place; deleting the profile is what loses your data. Sign in to sync or copy the profile before you clean anything up. These steps cover the download from zen-browser.app and the Homebrew cask zen; Mole's tests covered both.

Back up the profile

Zen integrates with Firefox Sync: signing in with a Mozilla account syncs add-ons, bookmarks, history, passwords and other browser data, so you can restore them in a new install. Zen FAQ

For a local copy, open about:profiles in the address bar to see each profile and its folder. Managing profiles in Zen Quit Zen, then copy the whole profile folder somewhere outside Library. Do not copy it while Zen is running, since its databases keep changing.

Quit Zen and remove the app

Quit Zen from its menu, then move Zen from Applications to the Trash. The profile stays on disk until you remove it yourself.

Where Zen keeps its data

These are the paths in the Homebrew cask's zap list. Open each with Shift + Command + G in Finder; skip the ones that do not exist.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Application Support/Zen Your profiles: bookmarks, passwords, history, extensions Back up; keep it unless you want a full reset
~/Library/Caches/Zen Disk cache Safe to remove after Zen has quit
~/Library/Caches/Mozilla/updates/Applications/Zen and .../Applications/Zen Browser Downloaded Zen updates Safe to remove
~/Library/Preferences/app.zen-browser.zen.plist App preferences Remove for a clean start
~/Library/Saved Application State/app.zen-browser.zen.savedState Window state Safe to remove

On the test Mac the folders were named zen in lowercase; macOS treats zen and Zen as the same folder. Older Zen builds used the ID org.mozilla.com.zen.browser, and the cask also lists preferences and window state under that name.

Leave ~/Library/Caches/Mozilla and ~/Library/Application Support/Mozilla themselves alone. Firefox, Thunderbird and other Mozilla-based apps share those parent folders. If you only want disk space back from a profile you keep, see Free Up Chrome and Safari Storage on Mac Safely.

Check the result

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

pgrep -ilf "Zen.app"
ls "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Zen/Profiles"
  • No output from pgrep means Zen has quit. A listed process means a copy is still running; quit it before copying or deleting the profile.
  • ls listing folders means your profiles are still on this Mac, which is expected if you kept them. "No such file or directory" means they are gone.

If you installed it with Homebrew

Zen is a browser, so Mole removes a Homebrew install with brew uninstall --cask zen and never adds --zap, whatever you tick in its review list.

Running zap yourself deletes more. brew uninstall --cask --zap zen moves every path in the table above to the Trash, ~/Library/Application Support/Zen included, so your profiles go with it. Its only other step removes ~/Library/Caches/Mozilla if that folder is empty. Back up first, or leave --zap out:

brew uninstall --cask zen

Homebrew Zen cask

What Mole lists

When you remove it with Mole:

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Zen is shown as shared browser data and kept, with no checkbox, because more than one Zen installation can use it. Remove a profile yourself from Finder after backing it up.
  • ~/Library/Caches/Zen, ~/Library/Caches/Mozilla/updates/Applications/Zen, and the preferences and saved window state filed under app.zen-browser.zen are selected by default.
  • ~/Library/Caches/Mozilla and ~/Library/Application Support/Mozilla are not listed.

What this test covered

Zen was installed from the Homebrew cask zen and uninstalled with a development build of Mole on September 17, 2026. ~/Library/Caches/zen and ~/Library/Caches/Mozilla/updates/Applications/Zen were removed, and the profile folder ~/Library/Application Support/zen, about 61 MB, stayed on disk as browser data. On September 26, 2026, Zen 1.22.3b from its official GitHub download was installed again and removed with a development build of Mole with every row ticked. Mole listed Caches/zen, the update cache, the preferences and the temporary folders as selected and the 67 MB profile folder as browser data, which select-all leaves unticked; no Zen process or startup item was left afterward. Zen was not signed in, so Firefox Sync and restoring a profile backup were not tested.