Uninstall Signal on Mac

Back up wanted conversations and attachments before removing Signal Desktop or its local data. Current releases offer optional backup features, so check the capabilities of your installed version rather than assuming this Mac holds the only recoverable copy. These steps cover the official Signal.org download and the Homebrew cask signal, which install the same app.

Check your backup before removing anything

On a version with Signal Desktop Backups, open Settings › Backups › Other ways to back up › Set up. Choose a destination outside the app-data folder, securely save and confirm the recovery key, and complete setup and backup creation. Check the completed backup and key before removing local data; do not rename the backup folder. If your version lacks this route or you cannot establish a usable backup, keep the local data. Save wanted attachments separately and open the files to check them.

Signal's September 28, 2026 announcement adds desktop on-device and cross-platform backups, while the Desktop Backups help page still describes restoring to Android only. Follow the restore instructions for your installed versions and verify wanted history is available before deleting its local copy; relinking alone is not a guarantee that every conversation and attachment returns.

Quit Signal and remove the app

Quit Signal from its app menu, then move Signal from Applications to the Trash; if macOS says it is still running, check Activity Monitor before trying again. Signal's Homebrew cask declares no separate login item to turn off, so there is nothing beyond quitting the app itself before you remove it. Moving the app to the Trash does not remove its local data folder on its own. A long-standing report on Signal's own GitHub repository describes exactly this: after moving Signal.app to the Trash and reinstalling, old messages still loaded, because nothing had touched the data folder below.

Where Signal keeps its data

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal:

pgrep -il signal
ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/Signal

If pgrep completes without an error, no output means no process name matched signal; confirm the executable owner of a match before stopping it. A printed ls -d path proves only that the data folder exists, not that conversations or attachments are intact. Check the contents and any wanted backup separately. "No such file or directory" covers only this path; reading errors leave its state unknown.

If you installed it with Homebrew

Mole skips --zap when its list reaches unchecked or shared data, or cannot be fully checked, and still cleans the leftovers you selected.

The signal cask's zap list includes ~/Library/Application Support/Signal (your entire local message history and attachments) along with the app's preferences and saved window state. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap signal yourself moves all of that to the Trash whatever you have selected in Mole. Back up what you need first, or skip zap to keep your data and remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask signal

Account and subscription

Signal is free to use, but Signal Secure Backups offers an optional paid plan. Removing the Mac app does not delete your account or cancel that plan. Cancel through the platform where you subscribed: Google Play › profile › Payments & subscriptions › Subscriptions on Android, or Settings › your name › Subscriptions on iOS, then select Signal Secure Backups. Keep any backup and its recovery key you need; turning off and deleting Secure Backups erases that archive. Reinstallation and relinking do not by themselves guarantee history restoration.

What Mole lists

For both the official installer and a Homebrew install:

• ~/Library/Application Support/Signal is listed as user data for review and stays unselected while Remove data and settings with apps is off, the default. Enabling that option can preselect eligible app-owned data, including this folder; untick it before removal if you want to keep this Mac's chat history. The cache and log folders inside it, such as Cache, GPUCache and logs, are separate rows selected by default.
• ~/Library/Preferences/org.whispersystems.signal-desktop.plist, the helper preferences file, and the saved window state are selected by default.
• For a Homebrew install, the zap list includes that folder, so while it stays unselected Mole skips --zap and removes only the rows you selected.

What this test covered

Signal was installed through the Homebrew cask and uninstalled on September 17, 2026, with a development build of Mole. That test build predated the review-only rule above, so on that run ~/Library/Application Support/Signal was selected by default; the folder held only empty first-run data at the time, not real chat history. On September 26, 2026, Signal 8.28.0 from Signal.org was installed, opened once and removed with a development build of Mole with every row ticked. ~/Library/Application Support/Signal appeared as an unselected row, with the cache folders inside it as selected rows; ticked for the test, all 14 items went to the Trash and none of them was left. Neither test had real message history on the Mac, and signing in, linking a phone and receiving real messages were not tested.