What RefreshYourMac measures
Everything RefreshYourMac measures By John Sheehy , Caddora · Updated 5 November 2026
60 categories, each rated for what removing it costs: Safe for auto removal, Review before deleting, Backup recommended or Protected. The download measures all of them; the Mac App Store edition measures 14.
The list is the app's own catalogue, in its own groups and words, so it says exactly what the app does. What each level allows .
Caches & Temporary Files Category Level What it is App Store edition Application Caches Temporary files created by apps. Safe to delete, but apps may recreate them later. Yes Command-Line Tool Cache Downloads cached by command-line tools (~/.cache). No Google Chrome Cache Web page cache for Chrome and other Google apps. Yes Google Chrome AI Model Turn off On-device AI in Chrome, quit Chrome, then Clean — or Chrome downloads the model again. No Adobe Camera Raw AI Models The AI models Lightroom and Photoshop download for Denoise, masking and other features. No Unused Aerial Videos Aerial wallpapers and screen savers you tried once and no longer use. No Google Updater Downloads Chrome update packages Google has already downloaded, and old updater logs. No Trash Files you have moved to the Trash. No Leftover Browser Copies Spare copies of Chrome left behind in the system's temporary folder. No Electron App Caches Web caches of desktop apps such as Claude, Figma, Slack and VS Code. No Sandboxed App Caches Caches inside App Store and other sandboxed apps' own folders. No macOS Temp Data System-managed temporary files (/var/folders). No
Logs Category Level What it is App Store edition System & App Logs Log files used for debugging and diagnostics. Yes
Developer Tools Category Level What it is App Store edition NPM Cache Cached Node.js packages. No Yarn & pnpm Caches Cached Yarn and pnpm packages. Yes CocoaPods Cache Cached CocoaPods dependencies. Yes Flutter SDK Downloads The engine, Dart SDK and platform tools Flutter downloads into its own folder. No Dart & Flutter Package Cache Packages downloaded from pub.dev for your Dart and Flutter projects. No Dart Analysis Cache What the Dart analysis server remembers about your code, for your editor. No Gradle Caches Cached dependencies and build outputs for Gradle. No Homebrew Downloads Old Homebrew bottles and downloads. Yes Project Build Output build, .build, .next, dist and target folders in projects you haven't built lately. No Project Build Folders node_modules, Pods and .dart_tool, plus build folders in projects you are working on. No Python User Packages Packages installed with pip --user (~/Library/Python). No
Xcode & Simulators Category Level What it is App Store edition Xcode Derived Data Intermediate build results and indexes generated by Xcode. Yes iOS Device Support Files used to debug apps on iOS devices. Yes iPhone Support Caches CoreDevice caches used when installing to and debugging on an iPhone. No SwiftUI Previews Preview simulators created by Xcode canvases. Yes Xcode Simulators Virtual devices used for testing iOS apps. No Simulator Runtimes iOS and watchOS system images for the simulator. No Xcode Archives Archived app builds for distribution. Yes
Android Category Level What it is App Store edition Android Emulators Virtual devices used for testing Android apps. No Android SDK Extras NDK, emulator and system images inside the Android SDK. No
AI Tools Category Level What it is App Store edition Claude Code Scratchpads Folders left behind by earlier Claude Code sessions (/private/tmp/claude-501). No Claude Code Session Logs Old Claude Code conversations in ~/.claude/projects, largest first. No Claude Code Build Folders Xcode build folders inside Claude Code scratchpads (dd, simdd, dd-release…). No Codex Updater Cache Downloaded Codex app updates. No Codex Runtimes Runtimes Codex downloads to run code. No Claude Desktop Builds & Updates Simulator builds and downloaded updates of the Claude app. No Old Claude Code Versions Earlier copies of Claude Code kept after it updated. No Codex Sessions & Plugins Your Codex chat history and plugins (~/.codex). No
Apps & App Data Category Level What it is App Store edition Unused Applications Apps you haven't opened recently, largest first. No Mail Downloads Attachment copies, originals stay in your mailbox No Message Attachments Photos and files received via iMessage. No Data Left by Removed Apps The data folders of apps that are no longer on this Mac. No Group Containers Shared data between related apps. No App Containers Sandboxed data for installed apps. No Google Chrome Passwords & Sign-ins Chrome's saved passwords, sign-in cookies, history, bookmarks and extensions. Never deleted here. No Application Support Core data and settings for user apps. Shown for its size only — RefreshYourMac never deletes it. No iOS Backups Local backups of your iPhone or iPad. No
Personal Files Category Level What it is App Store edition Old Codex Project Checkouts Dated project copies from past Codex sessions (~/Documents/Codex). No Installers & System Images macOS installers, iPhone and iPad restore images, and Xcode downloads. No Large Files Files over 200 MB in Downloads, Desktop, Documents and Movies. Yes Duplicate Files Identical copies, keeping one of each. Yes Duplicate Pictures The same picture saved again, keeping the best copy. Yes Downloads Folder Everything in ~/Downloads. Yes Photos Library Managed by the Photos app. Shown for its size only — RefreshYourMac never deletes it. No
System Category Level What it is App Store edition Simulator Shared Cache The simulator's shared library cache (/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Caches/dyld). No Downloaded macOS Updates Updates macOS has downloaded and is waiting to install. No Deleted User Account A leftover home folder from an old account. Shown for its size only — RefreshYourMac never deletes it. No
What to do next: see these numbers for your own Mac. Download RefreshYourMac free , or get it on the Mac App Store .
What it costs to have an app do this RefreshYourMac CleanMyMac MacKeeper Pay once $24.99 €119.95 on MacPaw’s store; $89.99 for CleanMyMac X on the Mac App Store subscription only Yearly $14.99 a year, first 7 days free $39.99/yr; €19.91/yr for the cleaning-only Essential Trio €71.40 for the first year, 1 Mac. Their page shows it against a €119.40 list price Monthly $1.99 a month $9.99/mo €10.95/mo Account needed No Yes Yes
Before you pay anything, both versions give you 3 free scans. CleanMyMac and MacKeeper prices read from their own pages and the Mac App Store on 27 October 2026; the full comparison is at RefreshYourMac vs CleanMyMac and MacKeeper .
Related reading Download RefreshYourMac free: 3 scans, no account.
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