# Updating and uninstalling

How to get new versions, and how to remove ASIST.

## Updating

ASIST checks the GitHub Releases for a new version when it opens, and every 6 hours while it is open. If there is one, it downloads it in the background and installs it the next time you quit ASIST. It never restarts on its own while you are talking or while a job is running. This is the same on a Mac and on Windows.

To install the update right away, click "Restart now" under "About" in the settings. The current version and the update status also appear there.

On Windows, closing the window does not quit ASIST. When you right-click the ASIST icon in the notification area of the taskbar and click "Quit", the installer installs the new version without showing a window. When you click "Restart now", ASIST opens again once the new version is installed. Your settings and data in `%APPDATA%\asist` stay as they are.

If a released version has a problem, a fixed version with a higher number is released. There is no way to go back to an earlier version.

If "Couldn't start ASIST" appears while ASIST starts, ASIST checks for a new version after you close the message. If there is one, it downloads and installs it and opens ASIST. While it downloads, ASIST shows no window, and a notification tells you what it is doing; opening ASIST again meanwhile shows the notification again. If there is none, or the check fails, ASIST quits. If the download fails, ASIST shows why and quits. When ASIST fails to start with any other error, it does not update itself; install the new version from the [Releases page](https://github.com/nyosegawa/asist/releases).

### Preparing the voice models

An update can change the files of the models for speech recognition and for reading aloud (Irodori-TTS and Qwen3-TTS). A model you prepared before then needs preparing again. ASIST does not download it on its own. The first time you open ASIST after such an update, a notice at the top right of the screen tells you once about each model you use that needs preparing, with the model's name and the size of its files. The button in the notice starts the download and opens "Voice" in the settings, where the progress shows in the row of that model. If you close the notice, prepare the model under "Voice" in the settings.

Until the model is prepared, replies are read with the system's voice. Until the speech recognition model is prepared, you can't talk to ASIST through the microphone, unless in-browser Whisper is on, which then does the listening.

After an update from 0.7.0 or an earlier version, the files of Qwen3-ASR for speech recognition and of Irodori-TTS and Qwen3-TTS for reading aloud have all changed, so the ones you use need preparing again. Speech recognition downloads about 2.2 GB for 1.7B and about 0.8 GB for 0.6B.

The files of the models an earlier version used are no longer needed, and ASIST removes them when it opens.

## Uninstalling

If you are signed in to Google Calendar, click "Sign out" under "Calendar and mail" in the settings before you uninstall. This withdraws the permission you gave ASIST in Google.

**macOS**

1. Quit ASIST.
2. Move ASIST from the Applications folder to the Trash.
3. To remove your settings and data as well, move the following folders to the Trash. This also removes your memory, notes, tasks, conversation history and fetched mail.
   - `~/Library/Application Support/asist/`
   - `~/Library/Logs/asist/`
   - `~/Library/Caches/asist-updater/` (the files of new versions that the automatic update downloaded)
4. To remove the key used to encrypt your saved API keys and mail passwords, find "asist Safe Storage" in Keychain Access and delete it.
5. To remove the microphone permission as well, run the following in Terminal. If you used the calendar with an earlier Mac version, the second line removes its calendar permission too.

   ```bash
   tccutil reset Microphone com.nyosegawa.asist
   tccutil reset Calendar com.nyosegawa.asist
   ```

**Windows**

1. Right-click the ASIST icon in the notification area of the taskbar and click "Quit".
2. In Settings > Apps > Installed apps, click "…" next to ASIST, then "Uninstall".
3. To remove your settings and data as well, delete the `%APPDATA%\asist` folder. This also removes your memory, notes, tasks, conversation history, fetched mail and app logs. The key used to encrypt your saved API keys and mail passwords is in this folder too, so it goes with it.
4. The files of new versions that the automatic update downloaded, and its copy of the installer, are in `%LOCALAPPDATA%\asist-updater`, which uninstalling does not remove. To remove them too, delete that folder.

The models for speech recognition and for reading aloud (Irodori-TTS and Qwen3-TTS) are kept in `speech-models/` in the settings and data folder, and go with your settings and data. Models that earlier versions of ASIST downloaded into the Hugging Face cache are not removed by the steps above. The full list of where your data and the models are kept is in [Where your data is kept](https://asist-agent.com/en/docs/privacy/).