Complete uninstall of 1Password (including app startup)

Tonetony
Tonetony
Community Member

I've read the very good instructions for complete Mac uninstall at https://support.1password.com/uninstall-1password/.

And I congratulate you for being one of a handful of 3rd party Mac app developers that provides much in the way of assistance.

But doesn't 1Password start automatically when you sign in to Mac? I'm not 100% sure, because I admit I have so far only been experimenting in a Windows VM, but actually the main reason I haven't been testing in Mojave is precisely because most Mac applications, once installed, leave pieces of themselves behind forever. Very often tons of pieces. Most harmless, but messy. And some of them leaving some components permanently running - even if you run their provided "uninstaller." So I almost never install anything without a very good reason.

So my question is, if it starts up automatically, I don't see anything in the uninstall steps that would remove it from whichever of the many plists Mac uses to launch programs at startup. It doesn't seem likely to me that macOS would hunt through the various ~/Library folders to see if it should launch something.

Maybe it just doesn't matter? Maybe if Mac can't start a program, it just ignores it? Or even (if it's a good idea) permanently remove it from whatever plist the program is configured in?

If 1Password just inserts itself as a user "Login item", I can erase that easily enough from System Preferences > Users & Groups. Most of my automatically starting apps don't launch from there, but it's true they have to start earlier (A/V, firewall, online backup).

I read in some thread here at the forum that 1Password is launched when you start Safari - so it would be the extension that starts it up. But that thread is old. Could a Mac app extension also do that? But then when would the 1Password mini button get into the menubar? And what if I just wanted to consult any Secure Notes or IDs etc. without launching my browser? Hanging startup off the browser sounds like it would apply to1Password X, which probably isn't compatible with Safari.

Thanks for reading my essay!


1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 10.14.6
Sync Type: 1Password sync

Comments

  • @Tonetony,

    1Password makes use of an API called SMSetLoginItemEnabled(), which does not show up in the Users & Groups Preference Pane, but rather launchctl's job list. You can view that list using: launchctl print-disabled user/$UID, as for removing the stale entries, you might look at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31206756/launchctl-remove-enabled-disabled-override

  • Tonetony
    Tonetony
    Community Member

    Thanks, Rudy - that's a very interesting discussion and I'll check into it further. (If upon uninstall 1Password ends up on the disabled list, that would be an utterly benign situation.)

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni

    On behalf of Rudy, you are welcome! If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out anytime :)

  • Tonetony
    Tonetony
    Community Member

    Would turning off "Always keep mini running" in Preferences, before uninstalling 1Password, remove, or at least set to a formally disabled state, any automatic launching?

    Reading the stackoverflow article Rudy linked to, there are different "theories" expressed whether a launch would happen from some launchd database, or from something placed in the ~/Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchAgents, or /Library/LaunchDaemons.

    But the internal details wouldn't matter, as long as the "Always" options was turned off. MacOS would simply disable or remove it, and things would be left in a known and benign state without worrying about removing anything.

    It's less clear what would happen if OS tried to launch some executable that was no longer present, though that probably fails gracefully and, hopefully, with no time lost.

    If this is true, then a takeaway might be that it's best to turn off that Preference before following the rest of the uninstall steps. At least can't hurt!

  • Would turning off "Always keep mini running" in Preferences, before uninstalling 1Password, remove, or at least set to a formally disabled state, any automatic launching?

    It seems it would, yes.

    It's less clear what would happen if OS tried to launch some executable that was no longer present, though that probably fails gracefully and, hopefully, with no time lost.

    It happens all the time and for the most part nobody notices. In my experience deleting an app/file doesn't remove it from startup, even if you've manually added it via the Users & Groups preferences. macOS will go on trying to launch it even though it doesn't exist. I would wager that most folks aren't diligent in cleaning this up on any sort of regular basis.

    If this is true, then a takeaway might be that it's best to turn off that Preference before following the rest of the uninstall steps. At least can't hurt!

    It wouldn't, but in the vast majority of cases it isn't going to make any real difference and gives people another step to do when they just want to uninstall the app. As such we probably wouldn't add it to the list of steps we recommend for removing 1Password. Now that we've had this discussion hopefully people who are looking for a more complete process will be able to find it here. :+1:

    Ben

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