Why I’m removing it#
The experience after installing it wasn’t great — I still prefer the native macOS way of typing, where what I’m thinking, typing, and seeing on screen all stay in sync in one smooth motion. I’d also started using voice dictation as a complement, so I decided to remove Rime.
On macOS, uninstalling Squirrel (Rime) by just deleting the app usually doesn’t clean it out completely. To avoid leftover processes auto-launching or config files interfering with the system’s input behavior afterward, it’s worth following a proper full removal process.
The steps#
1. Remove Squirrel from the system’s input methods
Open System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources, select Squirrel in the list, and click the “–” button to remove it. This stops the system from continuing to load the Squirrel input service in the background.
2. Restart
Once it’s removed from Input Sources, restart the computer once to make sure any related processes fully quit.
3. Delete the system-level input method app
Open Finder, press Command+Shift+G, and enter the path /Library/Input Methods. Find and delete Squirrel.app in that directory.
4. Delete the user-level Rime config
In Finder, press Command+Shift+G again and enter ~/Library. Find and delete the Rime config directory there — it holds the input schemas, dictionaries, and user configuration, and it’s worth clearing out along with everything else during a full uninstall.
5. Confirm after logging back in
Log out and back in (or restart again), then confirm that Squirrel no longer appears in the system’s input source list, and that no related process is still running.
