diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/.gitignore b/selfdrive/ui/.gitignore
index 104357f396..f9724816da 100644
--- a/selfdrive/ui/.gitignore
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/.gitignore
@@ -3,12 +3,13 @@ moc_*
 
 translations/main_test_en.*
 
+_text
+_spinner
+
 ui
 mui
 watch3
 installer/installers/*
-qt/text
-qt/spinner
 qt/setup/setup
 qt/setup/reset
 qt/setup/wifi
diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/SConscript b/selfdrive/ui/SConscript
index 92b43a82b0..ea5734fe6e 100644
--- a/selfdrive/ui/SConscript
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/SConscript
@@ -72,8 +72,8 @@ asset_obj = qt_env.Object("assets", assets)
 qt_env.SharedLibrary("qt/python_helpers", ["qt/qt_window.cc"], LIBS=qt_libs)
 
 # spinner and text window
-qt_env.Program("qt/text", ["qt/text.cc"], LIBS=qt_libs)
-qt_env.Program("qt/spinner", ["qt/spinner.cc"], LIBS=qt_libs)
+qt_env.Program("_text", ["qt/text.cc"], LIBS=qt_libs)
+qt_env.Program("_spinner", ["qt/spinner.cc"], LIBS=qt_libs)
 
 # build main UI
 qt_env.Program("ui", qt_src + [asset_obj], LIBS=qt_libs)
diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/spinner b/selfdrive/ui/spinner
index 35feab3f7e..965c8f581a 100755
--- a/selfdrive/ui/spinner
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/spinner
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-if [ -f /TICI ] && [ ! -f qt/spinner ]; then
-  cp qt/spinner_larch64 qt/spinner
+if [ -f /TICI ] && [ ! -f _spinner ]; then
+  cp qt/spinner_larch64 _spinner
 fi
 
-exec ./qt/spinner "$1"
+exec ./_spinner "$1"
diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/text b/selfdrive/ui/text
index b44bec42bd..b12235f4e6 100755
--- a/selfdrive/ui/text
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/text
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-if [ -f /TICI ] && [ ! -f qt/text ]; then
-  cp qt/text_larch64 qt/text
+if [ -f /TICI ] && [ ! -f _text ]; then
+  cp qt/text_larch64 _text
 fi
 
-exec ./qt/text "$1"
+exec ./_text "$1"