Where apps hide your files

Balatro's save folder, settings and profiles

Updated 2026-10-28 · 5 min read

Balatro keeps its settings and all three profiles in one small folder inside your Library, as .jkr files. Here is the path, what each file is, how to back it up without Steam Cloud undoing it, and how the Apple Arcade version differs.

The location

For the Steam build of Balatro on a Mac:

~/Library/Application Support/Balatro/

That folder holds your settings and all three profile slots. Balatro is built on the LÖVE engine and its data files end in .jkr. PCGamingWiki lists this folder for both saves and settings (settings.jkr), and Steam's own cloud configuration for the game maps its macOS rule to the same folder, syncing every *.jkr file in it and in its sub-folders.

Open it in Finder with Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), paste the path and press Return. From Terminal:

open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Balatro

To list what is in it without opening anything:

ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/Balatro

What the files are

Balatro has three profiles (the 1, 2 and 3 tabs on the Profile screen), and settings apply across all of them. On disk that looks like this:

Item	What it is
settings.jkr	Settings shared by every profile
1, 2, 3	One folder per profile slot
profile.jkr (in a slot)	That profile's progress: collection, stakes won, stats
meta.jkr (in a slot)	More data for that profile
save.jkr (in a slot)	The run in progress, if there is one
Mods	Only if you use a mod loader (see below)

The slot layout and file names come from community guides and save editors rather than from the developer, so list your own folder before relying on them. Players report that deleting save.jkr clears a broken run in progress, but at least one player also lost deck progress and stats doing it, so copy the slot folder before you try. The .jkr files are not meant to be edited by hand.

Steam build or Balatro+ on Apple Arcade

Balatro came to the Mac on Steam on 1 March 2024. The App Store version is a separate app, Balatro+, included with Apple Arcade; its App Store record dates it to 26 September 2024 and gives the bundle identifier com.playstack.balatroarcade.

App Store apps are sandboxed, so Balatro+ keeps its data inside its own container under ~/Library/Containers/, not in Application Support/Balatro. Nobody publishes the layout inside that container, so check that it exists before you go looking:

ls ~/Library/Containers | grep -i balatro

If that prints nothing, Balatro+ has not run on this Mac. The two versions keep separate saves, and neither developer nor Apple documents a way to move progress from one to the other.

Backing up your progress

Quit Balatro first, then copy the whole folder rather than a single file, so the settings and all three slots stay together. In Finder, hold ⌥ and drag the folder to your Desktop to copy it. In Terminal:

cp -R ~/Library/Application\ Support/Balatro ~/Desktop/Balatro-backup

That only reads the original and writes a copy to your Desktop. To restore, quit the game, move the current Balatro folder to the Trash in Finder, and copy your backup back into Application Support under the name Balatro.

Steam Cloud can undo a restore

Steam Cloud covers the Mac build. A Steam forum thread from launch week in March 2024 said Mac sync was not set up yet, but the game's current cloud configuration includes the macOS rule described above, so treat sync as on unless you have turned it off.

That matters when you restore a backup: the next time Steam syncs, it can replace your restored files with the cloud copy. Before restoring, right-click Balatro in Steam, choose Properties, and turn off Steam Cloud for the game on the General page. Restore the folder, launch the game, check that the progress you expect is there, and only then turn cloud sync back on.

Moving to a new Mac, or from Windows

With Steam Cloud on, installing the game on the new Mac and launching it once is usually enough to bring the saves down. To do it by hand, install the game, start it once so the folder exists, quit, then copy your Balatro folder over the new one.

The Windows folder is %AppData%\Balatro, and Steam's cloud rules sync the same *.jkr files on both systems, which is why people move saves between Windows and Mac by copying them. Keep a copy of the new Mac's folder before you overwrite it, so you can go back.

Mods

Mods are community made, and the Mac steps come from the loaders, not from the developer. The Lovely injector's own instructions for the Mac are:

1. Copy liblovely.dylib and run_lovely_macos.sh into the game's folder (in Steam, right-click Balatro, choose Manage, then Browse local files).
2. Put mods in ~/Library/Application Support/Balatro/Mods, which you may need to create.
3. Start the game with run_lovely_macos.sh, not from Steam: the Lovely instructions say a Steam client bug stops it loading on a Mac when started from Steam.

Steamodded installs as a mod in that same Mods folder. Back up the whole save folder before your first modded run. If the game misbehaves with mods, move the Mods folder to your Desktop and relaunch.

Why Spotlight and Finder miss it

Everything above is inside ~/Library, which Finder hides and which Finder and Spotlight searches leave out. A search for "Balatro" in Finder finds the game itself, but not the save folder or the .jkr files.

Finding it again

Type save.jkr or settings.jkr into Everywhere to see each profile's files with the folder beside them, along with any backup copy you made and the Mods folder. Press ⌘↵ to reveal one in Finder. The Steam build's folder is covered without extra permissions; Balatro+ data inside ~/Library/Containers shows up once Everywhere has Full Disk Access. It matches file names only, not what is inside a save.

Common questions

Where are Balatro saves on Mac?

For the Steam build, in ~/Library/Application Support/Balatro/. settings.jkr sits at the top, and each profile has a numbered folder (1, 2, 3) holding files such as profile.jkr and save.jkr.

How do I back up my Balatro save on Mac?

Quit the game, then copy the whole Balatro folder from ~/Library/Application Support to somewhere safe, such as your Desktop or an external drive. Turn off Steam Cloud for the game before you restore it.

Is Balatro+ on Apple Arcade saved in the same place?

No. Balatro+ is a sandboxed App Store app (bundle identifier com.playstack.balatroarcade), so its data lives in its container under ~/Library/Containers. Its saves are separate from the Steam build's.

Does Balatro use Steam Cloud on Mac?

Yes. The game's Steam cloud configuration includes a macOS rule that syncs the .jkr files in ~/Library/Application Support/Balatro, so a restored backup can be overwritten unless you pause cloud sync first.