How ClearMac keeps you safe

A storage app is only useful if you can trust it with your files. These are the rules ClearMac follows, and they're built into the app so they can't be switched off by accident.

1. Every item is labeled before you choose it

ClearMac's rules give each item one of four labels, and a line on what happens if it's removed:

• Rebuilds automatically The app that made it recreates it when needed. These are the only items ClearMac pre-selects.
• Re-downloads when needed Can be fetched again, but that costs time and data.
• Your data May be the only copy of something you care about.
• Protected Managed by another app or synced across your devices. ClearMac won't remove it, and tells you where to manage it instead.

You can look up any of them in Is it safe to delete…?, which is generated from the same rules the app uses.

2. Everything goes to the Trash

Every cleanup moves items to the Trash, so you can undo it, or put items back from History. Emptying the Trash is the only permanent step, and ClearMac asks you first, every time.

The one exception is a developer tool's own cleanup command, such as xcrun simctl delete or brew cleanup. ClearMac shows what the tool will remove, labels it “Can't be undone”, and only offers it for things the tool downloads again by itself.

3. You always review before anything moves

Every cleanup, from one file to a whole plan, opens the same review sheet. It lists each item with its label and size, and nothing moves until you confirm.

4. Checks before every cleanup

Just before acting, ClearMac checks each item again and skips it, with a reason, if:

• it's on a disk without a Trash, such as a network drive;
• it's locked;
• the app or tool that owns it is running, like Xcode, a Gradle daemon or a running simulator;
• it's cloud-only, or inside a protected location.

Projects with uncommitted or unpushed work in git are flagged when you look at them, before you choose anything.

5. Some things are never removed

System folders, your Photos library, Messages, Mail, iCloud Drive and other cloud folders are off limits, whatever you select. See the full list.

6. Cloud files stay in the cloud

ClearMac never opens or downloads cloud-only files to measure them, and counts them as taking no space on your Mac, because they don't.

7. Honest numbers

On APFS, copies of a file can share the same space, and local snapshots can keep deleted files around. So ClearMac:

• says “up to” wherever the real saving may be smaller;
• doesn't count shared copies as space you'll get back;
• measures free space before and after every cleanup, and shows the result in History, including what comes back later when you empty the Trash or a snapshot expires.

8. The AI explains, it never decides

On Macs with Apple Intelligence, ClearMac can use Apple's on-device model to explain an item or answer a question. It only sees names, sizes and dates, never file contents. ClearMac's rules decide what's safe: the model can never select an item for removal or make an item look safer than the rules say.