Refresh

Why there are two versions

Every Mac App Store app runs in Apple's sandbox, which lets an app open only what it has been given. That is a good rule for most apps, and a hard one for a Mac cleaner: some of the space on a full Mac sits in places a sandboxed app is never allowed to open. So rather than ship one cleaner that quietly does less than it looks like it does, there are two, and each says what it is allowed to do.

What each one covers

Both find large files, duplicate files and duplicate pictures, measure app and browser caches, logs, Xcode Derived Data, device support files, SwiftUI previews and archives, and the Yarn, CocoaPods and Homebrew download caches. Both sort everything into Safe to Remove, Review, Move to Backup and Protected, let you drag a category to another level or add your own folders, and can clean the safe ones on a schedule.

Only the download reaches what a sandboxed app cannot: other apps' containers and support files, system caches and logs that need your administrator password, iOS simulators and runtimes through Xcode's own tool, Homebrew's brew cleanup, the maintenance jobs, uninstalling apps, and the list of what is using memory and CPU right now.

Neither can shrink the “System Data” figure in System Settings. No app can: most of it belongs to macOS itself.

You choose the folders

Refresh starts with your Downloads, Movies, Pictures and Music folders, which the App Store allows it to read. For the rest it asks, one folder at a time, and says what each is for before macOS shows its own window to confirm:

• Caches ~/Library/Caches
• Developer ~/Library/Developer
• Logs ~/Library/Logs
• Desktop ~/Desktop
• Documents ~/Documents

Allow a folder once and it is remembered; remove it in Settings → Folders and it stops being scanned straight away. It never asks for your whole home folder or disk.

Which to choose

Choose Refresh if you want it from the App Store, paid through your Apple Account, and your space is going on your own files, caches and Xcode. Choose the download if you want the whole Mac covered, including the places only an app with Full Disk Access can reach.

How it works

The same way RefreshYourMac does: it measures first, lists what it found with sizes, and removes nothing until you confirm. Duplicates always keep one copy. Caches and build data that rebuild themselves are deleted; your own files go to the Trash, so a mistake can be undone until you empty it, or you can move them to another drive instead.

Help and the small print

• Support — ask a question or report a problem
• Privacy policy for Refresh
• Terms of use — Apple's standard licence agreement for App Store apps