Ask HN: Can you uninstall Notion from macOS? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Can you uninstall Notion from macOS?

2 pointswatanob9 comments

I know this is a weird "please fix my computer" post for HN but it's rather bizzarre.

Removing it from Finder's Applications doesn't work. The app is still around even if it's no longer in Finder's Applications.

It keeps popping up in the launcher, sometimes after reboot or after clicking on a deeplink.

Deleting `/Users/$USER/Applications/Notion.app` is not enough either and it keeps reappearing there somehow.

I couldn't find anything online or with the help of LLMs. Notion docs say nothing about this. For all intent and purposes I'm considering it a malware now.

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On macos, when I'm uninstalling apps, here's what I do:

1. Open AppCleaner[0], select app, then select all the files associated. Don't use AppCleaner yet (especially to uninstall). Keep the window and the files selected open

2. Using Finder, move the app from Applications folder to the trash (so the application removal scripts run smoothly)

3. Switch back to the AppCleaner app, and click remove to remove all the associated files.

4. Empty trash

5. Open "Find Any File"[1] app. Then search for the app name (ie: Notion). Remove all the results. Warning: Be careful when removing files of certain apps with generic names that might exist within the system files (for example, when removing GeforceNow, don't try to delete the MacOS system files named as Nvidia). Usually anything in the /Users/$USERNAME folder is safe to delete. 6. Empty the trash again 7. Restart the computer

Edge cases:

1. If the app is not installed or uninstalled correctly, before all these steps, first re-install the app again, then try uninstalling.

2. If a system service (extensions) cannot be deleted, first follow the steps above and then login to safe mode and delete the system extension files manually.

[0]: https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

[1]: https://findanyfile.app

One technique I occasionally use is to look at the “zap” stanza of an app’s homebrew cask formula:

https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask/blob/f44500902e420...

Based on the “notion-updater” I’m guessing there’s also a launchagent/launchdaemon that is “updating” (read: reinstalling) it whenever you manually delete it.

Look through ~/Library, particularly in

  ~/Library/Application Support
  ~/Library/Caches
  ~/Library/Containers

Applications are stored in /Applications and not Users/USER/Applications I though?

Should be! But htop is pointing to that path when I get Notion to start and indeed there's an executable appearing there, which I deleted multiple times by now.

Looks like an updater or something like that.

Try AppCleaner

I did, and Notion keeps appearing.

Talk to Notion.

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