How to Uninstall Kaleidoscope on Mac
Save comparisons or files you created outside Kaleidoscope before removing the app. If you use its ksdiff command in scripts or Git, note where that integration was installed so you can remove only the owned link later. Kaleidoscope Prism is a separate menu bar component that can continue running after the main window closes. The recorded test used the official download.
Remove the app and review its data
Before quitting, open Kaleidoscope › Integration › Command Line Tool and note the installed ksdiff location and integrations you configured. Use command -v ksdiff and ls -l on the returned path to inspect it. Remove only the tool or link identified as this installation’s, keeping another copy’s tool; update only Git or script settings you configured to call it. If you cannot establish which installation owns a copied executable, ask Kaleidoscope support before deleting it. Ordinary Homebrew uninstall uses its declared ksdiff package removal, separately from zap.
Quit Kaleidoscope and Prism, then move Kaleidoscope.app to the Trash. In System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions, turn off a remaining Kaleidoscope entry. Back up wanted custom settings to a separate location and verify them. In Finder press Shift + Command + G to open each path or parent, then move existing unwanted leaves to the Trash:
~/Library/Application Support/Kaleidoscope~/Library/Application Support/app.kaleidoscope.v4~/Library/Caches/app.kaleidoscope.v4~/Library/HTTPStorages/app.kaleidoscope.v4~/Library/WebKit/app.kaleidoscope.v4~/Library/Preferences/app.kaleidoscope.v4.plist~/Library/Saved Application State/app.kaleidoscope.v4.savedState~/Library/Containers/app.kaleidoscope.v4.KaleidoscopePrism~/Library/Containers/app.kaleidoscope.v4.KSShareExtension~/Library/Application Scripts/app.kaleidoscope.v4.KaleidoscopePrism~/Library/Application Scripts/app.kaleidoscope.v4.KSShareExtension
The recorded 7.0.1 app still used app.kaleidoscope.v4; the current cask quits app.kaleidoscope.v7 and zaps several generations. Confirm your copy’s identifier in its Contents/Info.plist before using another generation’s paths. Skip missing leaves, stop on permission errors, and keep older com.blackpixel.kaleidoscope data or another installed version’s data unless you separately intend to remove it. Parent folders remain.
For other generations, the current cask declares these patterns. Open each parent folder in Finder and select only existing names matching the identifier you verified in your own app's Info.plist. The * is a pattern, not a folder name to open, and does not authorize deleting another installed generation:
~/Library/Application Scripts/app.kaleidoscope.v*.KaleidoscopePrism~/Library/Application Scripts/app.kaleidoscope.v*.KSShareExtension~/Library/Application Support/app.kaleidoscope.v*~/Library/Caches/app.kaleidoscope.v*~/Library/Containers/app.kaleidoscope.v*.KaleidoscopePrism~/Library/Containers/app.kaleidoscope.v*.KSShareExtension~/Library/HTTPStorages/app.kaleidoscope.v*~/Library/Preferences/app.kaleidoscope.v*.plist~/Library/Saved Application State/app.kaleidoscope.v*.savedState~/Library/WebKit/app.kaleidoscope.v*
The shared display-name folder ~/Library/Application Support/Kaleidoscope also needs a check for retained copies. Only if you used the older Black Pixel version, inspect ~/Library/Application Support/com.blackpixel.kaleidoscope, ~/Library/Caches/com.blackpixel.kaleidoscope, ~/Library/Caches/com.plausiblelabs.crashreporter.data/com.blackpixel.kaleidoscope, ~/Library/Preferences/com.blackpixel.kaleidoscope.plist and ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.blackpixel.kaleidoscope.savedState; back up wanted settings and remove only that older version's unwanted items.
Kaleidoscope: Prism · Kaleidoscope: ksdiff
Check the result
These commands read the current state without removing anything:
pgrep -il Kaleidoscope
pgrep -il Prism
command -v ksdiff
No pgrep result means no matching process is running; a listed process should be identified and quit before removing data. command -v, where shown, checks only the current shell's PATH: no result does not prove every installed copy is gone, and a result needs its target checked. Do not treat a surviving remote file, project or deliberately retained preference as an uninstall failure.
If you installed it with Homebrew
The Kaleidoscope cask includes Prism and share-extension containers, older app identifiers, support folders and a ksdiff integration step. Its manual --zap can touch those historical paths regardless of Mole selections. Use brew uninstall --cask kaleidoscope when you want to inspect them first. Mole skips --zap for unchecked, shared, out-of-boundary or unverifiable entries and treats selected remnants separately.
brew uninstall --cask kaleidoscope
Removing the application does not cancel a purchase or delete a remote account.
What Mole lists
Exact app-ID support, caches and preferences can be selected by default. With Remove data and settings with apps off, a display-name support folder is an unticked review row. With it on, an eligible unshared row can be preselected; back up wanted settings and uncheck it to keep them. An embedded Prism login item is for confirmation, not a license to remove another container or edit macOS background-task databases.
What this test covered
Kaleidoscope 7.0.1 from its official package was removed on September 20, 2026, with review items selected. A Prism Container of about 32 KB remained after a macOS Trash permission error. The Prism login item was observed before removal and pruned afterward. No separate ksdiff integration removal or Homebrew uninstall was verified.