Two copies of Hailo

Recognise when an older copy of Hailo is still on your Mac, read the one-time message Hailo shows, and remove the old copy by hand.

Updated September 2, 2026

After an early update, some Macs ended up with two copies of Hailo: one in the main Applications folder and one in the user's own Applications folder. Opening the older one runs old code, and the bugs it has were fixed in the copy you are not using. Hailo now finds and removes the older copy for you, and this article covers the rest.

The symptom

  • Two Hailo icons in the Dock or in Launchpad.
  • Features from the release notes are missing, or a bug that was fixed is back.
  • The version in More is older than the one on hailo.studio/download, but no Update tile appears.
  • An update seems to install and then the old version opens again.

What Hailo does about it

Every time Hailo opens, it checks the two standard places (/Applications/Hailo.app and ~/Applications/Hailo.app). If the other one is strictly older than the copy you opened, Hailo asks Finder to move it to the Trash. macOS shows a permission prompt the first time, asking whether Hailo may control Finder. Allow it and the old copy is trashed.

Hailo never trashes the copy you are running, never trashes a newer copy, and never runs this check when it was opened from a disk image or from Downloads, so it cannot remove your real install by mistake.

The one-time message

If you decline the Finder permission, Hailo shows this once for that copy:

"An older copy of Hailo is still on this Mac, and opening it will run an out-of-date version. Finder will now show it. Drag that one to the Trash. The copy you are using right now is the current one."

Click Show me. Finder opens with the older copy selected.

  1. Drag that copy to the Trash.
  2. Empty the Trash.
  3. Keep using the Hailo that is open.

The message does not repeat for the same copy. If a different leftover appears later, you get one message for that one too.

Remove an old copy by hand

If you dismissed the message, or you want to check for yourself:

  1. Quit Hailo.
  2. In Finder, open Applications and look for Hailo.
  3. Choose Go > Go to Folder, paste ~/Applications, and look there too.
  4. For each copy, select it and press ⌘I (Get Info). Compare the Version lines.
  5. Drag the copy with the lower version to the Trash. Keep the one in the main Applications folder if the versions match.
  6. Empty the Trash.
  7. Open Hailo from the main Applications folder. If a Dock icon points at the trashed copy, remove it from the Dock and drag the remaining Hailo there.

If it didn't work

Finder says the old copy is in use. The old copy is still running. Quit both Hailo windows, and choose Quit Time Agent from the menu bar icon, then try again.

Hailo keeps reporting an older copy after you trashed it. Empty the Trash; Finder still counts a trashed app as present until then.

Both copies have the same version. Keep the one in the main Applications folder and trash the other. Hailo keeps itself in the main folder from then on.

See also Two copies of Hailo in Troubleshooting.

  • UpdatesInstall a new version of Hailo from the Update tile in one click, with no password and no download to drag, and know what to do if an update fails.
  • Install and first launchWhat happens the first time Hailo opens, and why opening it a second time brings the running copy forward instead of starting another.
  • VersionsFind which version of Hailo you are running, understand why Manage and Deliver can be newer than it, and read the release notes.
  • Two copies of Hailo are on this MacSpot an older copy of Hailo still on your Mac, let Hailo trash it, or remove it by hand.
Still stuck? Send a note from the contact page and a real person at Hailo answers. Include the studio name you signed up with and, if it is about a specific screen, what you clicked.
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