How to clean up your Mac: delete junk files safely
To clean up your Mac, you rarely need to dig through folders: most of the junk is caches, logs, old installers and files deleted apps left behind. This guide explains what that junk is and shows how to find and remove it with MacWashing’s System Junk in a few clicks. Your documents, photos and the data of installed apps stay where they are.
What junk files a Mac collects
- App Caches and In-App Caches. Files apps keep to start faster. They grow to gigabytes, and apps create them again.
- Installers. Disk images and installer packages left in Downloads and on the desktop.
- Xcode Junk and Editor Junk. Build files, old iOS debugging data and simulators, render files and media caches of video and photo editors.
- App Logs, System Logs and System Cache. Records and caches apps and macOS start anew by themselves.
- App Leftovers and Left After Removal. Settings, data and system files of apps that are no longer on the Mac.
- Broken Login Items. Background items of deleted apps macOS still tries to start.
- Project Dependencies. Folders such as
node_modulesin projects you haven’t opened for 90 days. They can be downloaded again, so they are offered unchecked.
How to clean junk files on Mac
- Open MacWashing. System Junk opens first. Click Start Scan.
- After the scan, the results show junk by category, the biggest first, with what each takes. Click a category to see its items. Uncheck anything you want to keep.
- Click Clean at the bottom and confirm. MacWashing says the size and whether the files go to the Trash or are deleted right away.
- If some files belong to apps that are open, MacWashing lists those apps under Apps to Quit. Click Close next to an app, or Quit All, and cleaning goes on by itself. Leave Them keeps their files.
- At the end, MacWashing shows how much space was freed. Why skipped lists anything it couldn’t remove and why.
Items marked Caution and unchecked items
- Caution marks large data folders of deleted apps: your own documents may be there. They are unchecked: expand one and look at what is inside before you decide.
- Project Dependencies and some developer caches are unchecked too: they come back only with an internet connection and time.
- An app’s data is never offered while the app is installed: only its caches and logs. To remove an app with all its files, use the Uninstaller. See the Mac uninstaller guide.
Delete right away or move to the Trash
By default System Junk deletes files right away: caches and logs are recreated, and in the Trash they would still take space until you empty it.
- To keep a way back, open Settings › General in MacWashing and under Removal, next to System Junk, choose To Trash.
Try it on your Mac
System Junk checks every file against MacWashing’s rules database before offering it, so it finds more than folder names would tell and leaves alone what it can’t explain.
Free trial · macOS 14 or later
Questions and answers
Is it safe to clean up my Mac?
Yes, if you remove caches, logs and leftovers of deleted apps: macOS and your apps create what they need again. MacWashing checks every file against its rules, protects system files and the data of installed apps, and leaves debatable items unchecked.
Why does my Mac have so many junk files?
Every app writes caches and logs, browsers and editors especially. Installers stay in Downloads, and dragging an app to the Trash leaves its settings and data in ~/Library. Over a year or two this adds up to tens of gigabytes.
Is System Junk free?
Without a license, System Junk and the Uninstaller together free up to 25 GB. Scanning and seeing what was found have no limit.