Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, CleanYourMac Space is engineered with strict defensive safety principles. All file deletions use macOS Trash-first semantics (via FileManager.trashItem), meaning files are never permanently unlinked directly. If you delete something by mistake, you can open macOS Trash in Finder and click "Put Back" to restore it to its exact original location. The app also enforces pre-flight validation to permanently protect macOS system directories (/System, /usr, /bin, /sbin).

Never. CleanYourMac Space operates 100% locally and offline on your Mac processor. We do not upload file paths, directory structures, repository code, or personal documents to remote servers. There is zero behavioral telemetry or tracking.

No. The app runs completely within standard user permissions and will never ask for your Mac administrator password or run background root daemons. It cannot modify or damage protected macOS operating system files.

Zero personal data. Only anonymized macOS system architecture strings (e.g., Apple Silicon arm64 macOS 15.0) and call stack memory addresses are collected to diagnose crashes, ensuring absolute confidentiality.

CleanYourMac Space inspects ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData and breaks down storage by individual project workspaces. Unlike a blind command-line rm -rf that wipes all your project indexes, CleanYourMac Space lets you target stale, old branches while keeping your currently active projects intact. Build intermediates cleanly regenerate whenever a project is re-compiled.

Docker Desktop on macOS runs inside a Linux virtual machine backed by a single disk image (Docker.raw) in ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data. It grows as you pull images and build containers, and deleting containers does not always shrink it. CleanYourMac Space shows exactly how large the Docker VM disk is, warns you if Docker is running, and walks you through the safe fix (docker system prune, then Docker Desktop’s disk-size setting) instead of deleting the VM file and wiping your containers.

Yes. Modern open-weights models (Llama 3, DeepSeek, Mistral, Qwen) take between 4 GB and 50 GB per GGUF file. CleanYourMac Space scans ~/.ollama/models, ~/.cache/lm-studio, and ~/.cache/huggingface, visualizing each model checkpoint with its exact size so you can delete unused weights with one click.

CleanYourMac Space identifies forgotten node_modules in inactive git repositories, global npm tarball caches (~/.npm/_cacache), pnpm content-addressable stores, yarn cache, and Rust Cargo target directories without disturbing your global developer tooling.

Dragging an app from /Applications to Trash leaves behind 80% of its data in ~/Library/Application Support, ~/Library/Caches, ~/Library/Preferences, and ~/Library/Containers. CleanYourMac Space matches application bundle identifiers across the filesystem to find every related preference file, cache container, and launch agent for a complete cleanup.

CleanYourMac Space has zero recurring subscriptions. Pro is a single one-time payment of $19.99 for a perpetual lifetime license. You own your license forever with free software updates.

A single Pro Lifetime license allows activation on up to three (3) personal Macs simultaneously (e.g., your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini). You can also deactivate an old Mac and transfer the seat to a new machine at any time.

License delivery is instantaneous. As soon as payment completes through our secure Merchant of Record (Dodo Payments), your unique license key is displayed on the confirmation screen and immediately emailed to your billing address.

We offer an unconditional 30-day money-back guarantee. If CleanYourMac Space does not reclaim significant storage or you are unsatisfied for any reason, simply email support@cleanyourmac.space within 30 days for a prompt, hassle-free full refund.

The Free version is free forever and includes full disk scanning, squarified treemap visualization, large & stale file finding, and live CPU/RAM system monitoring. Pro ($19.99) unlocks in-app safe deletion, the App Uninstaller & leftover hunter, one-click Xcode/Docker/Ollama purge, and 3 personal Mac activations.

This is macOS Gatekeeper: CleanYourMac Space is distributed directly rather than through the App Store, so macOS asks you to approve it once. Click Done on the warning, then open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway (confirm with Touch ID or your password). On macOS 14 Sonoma you can also Control-click the app and choose Open. Terminal alternative: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CleanYourMac.app

CleanYourMac Space is compiled natively for Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4, and newer) as well as Intel (x86_64) Macs running macOS 14.0 Sonoma, macOS 15.0 Sequoia, and future macOS versions.

In macOS Storage Settings, Apple categorizes any file that is not an Application, Photo, or Document under "System Data". This typically consists of invisible local APFS Time Machine snapshots, sleepimage memory dumps, dynamic paging swap, and ~/Library developer caches. CleanYourMac Space visualizes exactly what files make up this category.

The scanner is written in native Swift 6 and utilizes multi-threaded POSIX directory streams directly via macOS Mach kernel system calls. It traverses over 500,000 files in under 30 seconds with minimal memory overhead and zero UI stutter.

No. Unlike traditional bloated cleaning software that keeps persistent background agents, helper daemons, and tracking processes running in your menu bar, CleanYourMac Space runs strictly when you launch it and closes cleanly when you quit.