Back to Blog
guidetroubleshooting

How to Cleanly Uninstall & Reinstall Snapzy

Snapzy Team

How to Cleanly Uninstall & Reinstall Snapzy

Some users have reported issues where macOS permissions (Screen Recording, Microphone, Accessibility) don't take effect even after toggling them on in System Settings. This usually happens when leftover app data, cached preferences, or stale TCC records are not fully cleared during a standard uninstall.

The solution? A clean uninstall using our official script, followed by a fresh reinstall.

Why a Clean Uninstall?

Simply dragging Snapzy to the Trash doesn't remove everything. Since Snapzy is a sandboxed macOS app, its data is spread across several locations:

  • Sandbox container — ~/Library/Containers/com.trongduong.snapzy (the main data container where the sandboxed app stores its preferences, caches, and files)
  • TCC permission records — the system still remembers old permission grants (or denials) in its internal database
  • App preferences — ~/Library/Preferences/com.trongduong.snapzy.plist
  • Cache files — ~/Library/Caches/com.trongduong.snapzy
  • Application support data — ~/Library/Application Support/Snapzy
  • Saved application state — ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.trongduong.snapzy.savedState
  • HTTP storage — ~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.trongduong.snapzy

If any of these become corrupted or out of sync, you may experience issues like permissions not being granted even though the toggle is on, or onboarding not detecting your settings correctly.

Step 1: Uninstall Snapzy Completely

Open Terminal (you can find it in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app or search for "Terminal" in Spotlight with ⌘ + Space) and run the following command:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/duongductrong/Snapzy/master/uninstall.sh | bash

If you cloned the Snapzy repository locally, you can also run ./uninstall.sh directly from the project root.

What the uninstall script does

This script performs a thorough cleanup:

  1. Kills the running app — stops Snapzy if it's currently open
  2. Removes Snapzy.app from /Applications
  3. Deletes Application Support data — removes ~/Library/Application Support/Snapzy (temporary captures/recordings)
  4. Deletes preferences — removes com.trongduong.snapzy defaults and plist files
  5. Clears caches — removes cached data from ~/Library/Caches and HTTP storages
  6. Removes saved application state — clears window state data
  7. Removes Sparkle update data — clears auto-updater cache and defaults
  8. Resets TCC permissions — clears Screen Recording, Microphone, Accessibility, and Input Monitoring entries for Snapzy
  9. Warns about sandbox container — the script detects ~/Library/Containers/com.trongduong.snapzy but prompts you to remove it manually with sudo if needed

Important: After the script finishes, you may need to log out or reboot your Mac for the TCC permission reset to fully take effect. This is a macOS requirement — the system needs to refresh its internal permission database.

Step 2: Reinstall Snapzy

After logging out/rebooting, choose one of the following methods to install Snapzy fresh:

Option A: Shell Script (Recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/duongductrong/Snapzy/v1.1.0/install.sh | bash

Replace v1.1.0 with the latest version number from the Releases page.

Option B: Homebrew

brew tap duongductrong/snapzy https://github.com/duongductrong/Snapzy
brew install --cask snapzy

Option C: Manual Download

  1. Go to the Releases page
  2. Download the latest Snapzy-v<version>.dmg
  3. Open the .dmg and drag Snapzy.app into /Applications

Step 3: Grant Permissions

When you launch Snapzy for the first time after a clean install:

  1. Screen Recording — macOS will prompt you to grant Screen Recording access. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording and enable Snapzy
  2. Microphone (optional) — If you want voice in your recordings, grant Microphone access when prompted
  3. Accessibility (optional) — Enable if prompted for advanced features

After granting Screen Recording permission, macOS may ask you to re-launch Snapzy — this is normal.

Troubleshooting Tips

  • Permissions still not working? — Make sure you've rebooted after running the uninstall script. macOS caches TCC permissions aggressively
  • "App is damaged" error? — This is macOS Gatekeeper. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click "Open Anyway" next to the Snapzy message
  • Homebrew version outdated? — Run brew update && brew upgrade snapzy to get the latest release

Quick Reference

Here's the complete flow in one place:

# Step 1: Uninstall
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/duongductrong/Snapzy/master/uninstall.sh | bash

# Step 2: Reboot your Mac, then reinstall
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/duongductrong/Snapzy/v1.1.0/install.sh | bash

If you continue to experience issues after a clean reinstall, please open an issue on GitHub — we're happy to help! 🙌