Information for:
Uninstalling ACE with Audio Hijack

Audio Hijack previously used the ACE component to capture audio. On MacOS 14.4 and higher, our modern ARK audio capture backend has replaced ACE.

Because ACE will have no impact on your system when not being used, it can simply be ignored. If you wish, however, you can uninstall ACE with any of the following options.

Option 1: Uninstall via the Debugging window

All versions of Audio Hijack have a Debugging window that provides a dedicated Uninstall ACE button if ACE is detected on your system.

To access the Debugging window, hold down the Option key while launching Audio Hijack. Alternately, if Audio Hijack is already running, click the Help menu, then hold down the Option key. This will cause the Contact Us option to change to Quit and Relaunch for Debugging. Select that to relaunch Audio Hijack directly to the Debugging window.

From the Debugging window, click on the Uninstall ACE button to remove ACE from your Mac.

Option 2: Manually delete ACE’s component files

If you wish to manually remove ACE via the Finder, quit any apps powered by ACE, then delete the following files:

  • /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/ACE.driver
  • /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rogueamoeba.aceagent.plist
  • /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rogueamoeba.acetool.plist

After those items have been placed in the Trash, restart your Mac. ACE will then be fully removed.

Option 3: Uninstall ACE from within Audio Hijack

Finally, if you’re still running a version of Audio Hijack powered by ACE, you can use the app’s Uninstall ACE command to remove ACE. This command can be found in the Audio Hijack menu in the top left corner of the screen, next to the Apple menu.

The Uninstall ACE commands in context in the Audio Hijack menu
The Uninstall ACE option in Audio Hijack

After you walk through the uninstall process, Audio Hijack will quit, and you can delete it from your Mac.

The impact of uninstalling ACE on other apps

Note that if you have other products powered by ACE on your Mac, you’ll receive a warning during the uninstallation process:

Uninstall Warning Message
Uninstaller warning message

If you see this warning, you may not want to remove ACE from your Mac after all, as it will prevent these other applications from capturing audio.

If you do wish to remove ACE anyway, complete the process by clicking the Uninstall Anyway button. Should you later run an application which requires ACE for audio capture, it will instruct you on reinstalling.


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