How to free up space on a Mac: 14 safe ways

Every step uses tools that macOS already includes and works on any MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini or Mac Studio. The menus below match macOS Ventura and later. On an older version, choose Apple menu, then About This Mac, then Storage, and click Manage.

The short answer

If you only have five minutes, do these five things to clear space on a Mac:

1. Empty the Trash and your Downloads folder.
2. Turn on Optimize Storage and Store in iCloud.
3. Delete large files and old iPhone backups.
4. Uninstall apps you no longer use.
5. Clear app caches, then restart your Mac.

All 14 methods at a glance

Pick the steps that suit your Mac. How much space each one frees depends on how you use your Mac, so treat the middle column as a rough guide.

Check what is using your Mac storage

Learning how to free up disk space on a Mac starts with one question: where did the space go? Choose Apple menu, then System Settings, then General, then Storage. macOS draws a bar for your disk and lists each category with its size.

Click the info button next to a category to see what it holds. The two or three largest categories tell you which of the steps below will help most.

What each storage category means

Quick wins: clear space on a Mac in minutes

1. Empty the Trash

Files in the Trash still use disk space. Control-click the Trash in the Dock and choose Empty Trash. Then check two bins people often forget: the Recently Deleted album in Photos, which keeps deleted pictures for 30 days, and deleted mail, which you clear in Mail by choosing Mailbox, then Erase Deleted Items.

2. Clear your Downloads folder

Downloads quietly collects installers, archives and videos. Open it in Finder, choose View, then as List, and click the Size column to put the largest files first. Old .dmg and .pkg installers are safe to remove once the app is installed.

3. Turn on Optimize Storage and Store in iCloud

Storage settings offers built-in helpers at the top of the page:

• Store in iCloud keeps older files and photos in iCloud and downloads them when you open them. It needs enough free room in your iCloud plan.
• Optimize Storage removes Apple TV films and shows you’ve watched, and keeps only recent email attachments.
• Empty Trash Automatically removes items that have sat in the Trash for 30 days.

Delete big files you no longer need

This is often the fastest way to clear disk space on a Mac, because a handful of big files can outweigh thousands of small ones.

4. Remove old videos, disk images and archives

In Storage settings, click the info button next to Documents and open the Large Files tab. Old video exports, disk images and virtual machines often top the list. For Finder searches, folder sizes and Terminal commands, read our guide on how to find large files on a Mac.

5. Delete old iPhone and iPad backups

Every time you back up an iPhone or iPad to your Mac, the backup lands on your startup disk. In Storage settings, click the info button next to iOS Files. Select backups of devices you no longer own, or ones you now back up to iCloud, and click Delete. A single backup can take tens of gigabytes.

6. Remove Messages and Mail attachments

In Storage settings, click the info button next to Messages. macOS lists photos, videos and files from your chats, largest first. Select the ones you no longer need and click Delete.

For Mail, open Mail, then Settings, then General, and set Remove unedited downloads to After Message is Deleted.

7. Clear out extra copies

Open Photos and choose Duplicates under Utilities in the sidebar, then merge each set. Copies of documents and downloads are harder to spot, because two copies often have different names. Our guide on how to find duplicate files on a Mac shows every method.

Free up storage on a Mac by removing apps

8. Uninstall apps you no longer use

In Storage settings, click the info button next to Applications. Sort by size, select the apps you don’t use and click Delete. Games, video editors and design suites often take tens of gigabytes each.

9. Remove files that deleted apps leave behind

Dragging an app to the Trash removes the app, but not its support files. In Finder, choose Go, then Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G), and check these folders for the names of apps you have removed:

• ~/Library/Application Support
• ~/Library/Containers
• ~/Library/Caches

Delete only folders that clearly belong to apps you have already uninstalled. When in doubt, leave it.

Shrink hidden system files

Caches, logs and Time Machine snapshots can quietly grow to tens of gigabytes, and macOS files them under System Data. These three steps cover the basics. For every fix, read our guide on how to reduce System Data on a Mac.

10. Clear app and browser caches

Apps store temporary files in ~/Library/Caches. Quit an app first, then delete the contents of its folder inside Caches. Leave the Caches folder itself in place.

Safari

Choose Safari, then Settings, then Advanced, and turn on Show features for web developers. Then choose Develop, then Empty Caches.

Chrome

Open Settings, then Privacy and security, then Delete browsing data. Select only Cached images and files so you stay signed in to your accounts.

11. Delete local Time Machine snapshots

If you use Time Machine, macOS keeps local snapshots on your disk and counts them under System Data. It removes them when space runs low, but you can clear them sooner. Open Terminal and run tmutil listlocalsnapshots / to see them, then sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2026-10-28-120000, using a date from the list.

12. Restart your Mac

A restart clears the temporary and swap files that macOS creates while it runs. If System Data still looks unusually large, restart before you hunt for anything else.

Clean up developer files

If you write code on your Mac, developer tools are often the biggest hidden user of space.

13. Delete build files and unused tool data

Xcode

Delete ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData. Xcode rebuilds it on the next build. Run xcrun simctl delete unavailable to remove simulators for iOS versions you no longer have installed.

Node.js

Every project keeps its own node_modules folder. Delete it in projects you aren’t working on. Running npm install brings it back when you need it.

Docker and Homebrew

Run docker system prune to remove stopped containers, unused networks and dangling images. Docker lists what it will delete and asks you to confirm first. Run brew cleanup to remove old package versions and cached downloads.

Move big libraries to an external drive

14. Move your Photos library

If your photos take up most of your disk, and iCloud isn’t an option, move the library. Quit Photos, then drag Photos Library from your Pictures folder to an external drive formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended. Hold the Option key as you open Photos and choose the library on the drive.

Once your photos open from the drive, delete the original library from your Mac. Keep the drive connected whenever you use Photos.

What not to delete on your Mac

When you clear disk space on a Mac, some files look like clutter but keep your Mac running. Leave these alone:

• The System and Library folders at the top of your disk. They hold files macOS needs to start up.
• The Caches folder itself. Clear the folders inside it, never the folder.
• Containers for apps you still use. They hold those apps’ data and settings.
• Anything a guide tells you to remove with sudo rm -rf. One typo can erase files you can’t get back.

Free up space faster with MyMacStorage

The steps above work, but they take time, and each one shows only part of your disk. MyMacStorage does all of it in one scan. It names everything inside System Data, lists your biggest files, finds duplicates byte for byte and groups caches, developer files and app leftovers so you can clear them in a click.

Nothing is deleted outright. Every cleanup goes to the Trash, and Undo puts it back. Learn more about MyMacStorage, the disk cleanup app for Mac. It costs $19.99 once, with no subscription.

Frequently asked questions