Free up disk space on your Mac, methodically

Step 1: measure before you delete

Open Apple menu > System Settings > General > Storage. The colored bar at the top breaks space down by category (Applications, Documents, Photos, System Data and so on). Give it a minute: the calculation is gradual.

Below the bar, macOS offers recommendations (Store in iCloud, Optimize Storage, Empty Trash Automatically). Further down, each category has an (i) button that opens a detailed file list you can sort by size.

What should you aim for? Keep at least 10 to 15% of the disk free, which is 25 to 40 GB on a 256 GB drive. Below that, macOS runs short of room for swap, snapshots and updates, which often need 15 to 25 GB of temporary space.

Understanding “System Data”

The System Data category puzzles people because it can exceed 50 or 80 GB with no explanation. It collects whatever macOS does not file anywhere else:

• app and system caches (~/Library/Caches);
• local Time Machine snapshots;
• swap files and the sleep image;
• logs, temporary files and some app data;
• virtual machine and Docker files;
• Apple Intelligence resources and downloaded voices.

Part of it shrinks on its own: macOS purges local snapshots when space runs low, and a restart clears swap. To list snapshots, open Terminal and type tmutil listlocalsnapshots /. Never delete folders inside /System or /private/var by hand: you risk making the Mac unstable.

Step 2: target the big items

On most full Macs, five or six items account for nearly all the reclaimable space. Typical sizes:

For iPhone backups, keep only the most recent one for each device you still use. For Xcode, DerivedData is rebuilt at the next build, so deleting it is safe. The command xcrun simctl delete unavailable removes simulators for iOS versions you no longer have.

For AI models, remove them from the tool itself (ollama rm model-name, for example) rather than in the Finder, otherwise the tool may keep broken references.

Step 3: sort through your own files

Next comes what belongs to you, which calls for your judgment:

1. Large files: in the Finder, press Cmd + F, choose the File Size > is greater than 1 GB criterion and search “This Mac”.
2. Downloads: sort by size and date. Disk images (.dmg) and installer archives are useless once the app is installed.
3. Duplicates: the same photo folder copied three times, videos exported twice. macOS has no tool to find them outside the Photos app (which detects its own duplicates in the Duplicates album).
4. Old video or audio projects: Final Cut Pro, iMovie or Logic libraries can weigh tens of GB; archive them on an external drive.

For duplicate songs in Music, follow our dedicated Apple Music duplicates guide instead: deleting files in the Finder breaks the library.

Step 4: let iCloud lighten the disk

If you pay for iCloud+, two settings automatically offload rarely used files:

• System Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Drive: turn on Optimize Mac Storage. Older files stay visible in the Finder, but their content is downloaded only when you open them.
• Photos > Settings > iCloud: choose Optimize Mac Storage. Originals stay in iCloud and the Mac keeps lighter versions.

For a specific file, Control-click it in the Finder and choose Remove Download: it stays in iCloud but no longer takes local space. Be aware that these files are unavailable offline, and deleting a file from iCloud Drive deletes it from all your devices.

What MacNeat does for you

MacNeat follows the same method and makes it faster, while always leaving the final say to you:

• Clarté finds system and user caches, logs, Xcode data, package manager caches, orphaned builds, unneeded AI files, local Mail attachments and trash folders, category by category.
• Archipel lists large files, exact duplicates (compared by content), near-identical images and forgotten downloads.
• Panorama shows the disk or any folder as proportional bubbles, so you see at a glance where the space goes.
• Nimbus spots large files and duplicates in iCloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox, and helps make them online-only.

Everything you delete goes through the Trash, every operation is logged and undoable, and the scan runs entirely on your Mac. Scanning is free; actions require a license.

Keep headroom over time

Once space is reclaimed, a few habits save you from starting again every three months:

• turn on automatic removal of items in the Trash after 30 days (see emptying the Trash safely);
• clear the Downloads folder once a month;
• delete old device backups after each phone upgrade;
• uninstall unused apps cleanly, support files included (see uninstalling apps cleanly);
• keep an external drive for archives: old photos, finished projects, virtual machines.

Finally, check the Storage panel once a month. Catching a sudden jump early (a 30 GB backup, a runaway cache, a forgotten virtual machine) is far easier than hunting through a disk that is already full and has started to slow everything down.