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How to free up space on your Mac

Find out what's filling your Mac's storage and safely reclaim space: the Trash, Downloads, large files, caches, developer files, iPhone backups, and apps you don't use.

By Ballmac · Updated

A full disk slows down updates, backups, and everyday work. The good news: most Macs have gigabytes of space that can be reclaimed safely. Start by finding out what's actually using it, then work through the steps below from safest to most involved.

1. See what's using your storage

Open Apple menu › System Settings › General › Storage. The bar at the top shows how much space each category uses, and Recommendations offers quick wins such as storing files in iCloud, optimizing storage for the TV app, and emptying the Trash automatically after 30 days. Click the ⓘ button next to a category, such as Documents, to review its largest files.

2. Empty the Trash

Files in the Trash still take up space. In Finder, choose Finder › Empty Trash. Some apps keep their own trash: Photos keeps deleted items in Recently Deleted for up to 30 days, and Mail keeps a Trash mailbox for each account.

3. Clean out Downloads and large files

Downloads tends to collect installers, disk images, and archives you no longer need. In Finder, open Downloads, choose View › as List, then click the Size column to sort the biggest files to the top. To find large files anywhere, press ⌘F in a Finder window, choose File Size as the search attribute (under “Other…” if you don't see it), and look for files larger than, say, 500 MB.

4. Remove apps you don't use

Large apps and games you've forgotten about can take tens of gigabytes. Dragging an app to the Trash doesn't remove everything, though. See how to completely uninstall apps on a Mac to also clear their support files.

5. Clear app caches

Apps store temporary data in caches to load faster. In Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder… and enter ~/Library/Caches. You can delete the contents of folders for apps you've quit; they rebuild what they need. Keep in mind:

  • Quit the app first, and delete folders' contents rather than system folders.
  • Caches grow back as you use apps, so this frees space temporarily.
  • Don't delete anything in /System; macOS protects it for a reason.

6. Developer files (if you code)

Developer tools are often the single biggest source of reclaimable space:

  • Xcode build data: ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData is safe to empty; Xcode rebuilds it.
  • Old simulators: run xcrun simctl delete unavailable in Terminal to remove simulators for runtimes you no longer have.
  • Device support files: old folders in ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupport for iOS versions you no longer test on.
  • Homebrew: brew cleanup removes old versions and downloads.
  • Project dependencies: node_modules and build folders in old projects can be deleted and reinstalled later.

7. Old iPhone and iPad backups

Local device backups can be many gigabytes each. In System Settings › General › Storage, click the ⓘ button next to iOS Files to review and delete backups you no longer need. Keep at least one recent backup of each device you care about.

8. About “purgeable” space and snapshots

Some space is marked purgeable, for example local Time Machine snapshots and files already stored in iCloud. macOS frees it automatically when it needs room, so you usually don't need to remove it yourself.

Do it faster with Binzide

Binzide brings these steps into one app. Its Cleanup workspace scans caches, logs, installers, developer files, and app leftovers; risky items start unchecked, and removed files go to the Trash so you can restore them. The Storage workspace shows which folders use the most space. Binzide runs entirely on your Mac, with no account or analytics. It's free to download, and Binzide Free cleans up to 500 MB at a time.