1. Give the app a folder to map
Macosome Cleaner maps the folders you give it access to — and only those. macOS enforces that, not the app: until you choose a folder, the app cannot read it.
The first time
Click Choose your Home folder… and a standard macOS folder panel opens at your Home folder; click Open to confirm. Home is enough for almost every cleanup: caches, Xcode DerivedData, node_modules and Downloads all live there.
Grant the whole startup disk… adds /Applications, /Library and other users' folders. Other disks are granted one at a time.
Later
Choose File ▸ Grant Access… (⌘G), or Grant more folders… in the banner above the map. Any folder or external disk can be granted. Each one you grant appears as a card; click it to scan.
The app remembers your folders between launches, and a grant follows its folder if you rename it. An external disk that isn't connected when the app starts drops out of the list and comes back the next time it is.
2. Take access back
Choose File ▸ Choose Scan Target… (⌘O) to see your granted folders, and click the × on a folder's card. The folder becomes unreadable to the app immediately, not at the next launch.
3. Space that isn't in the map
The strip above the map shows the whole disk. The band labelled not granted is space this scan did not reach, mostly folders you haven't granted. Granting more brings those into the map.
Some folders stay private even inside a folder you granted: macOS keeps other apps' data private from every app. They are counted as unreadable, and marked ⛔ in the Data List (⌘6). No grant can change that, and nothing is wrong with your Mac.
4. Why sizes differ from Finder
Physical and logical size. By default the app shows Size · physical: the space a file actually takes on disk, which is what deleting it frees. Finder shows file lengths, which the app calls Size · logical. Click the Size chip in the toolbar to switch. Both use decimal units (1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes), as Finder does.
"macOS can reclaim". Part of the disk is space macOS says it can free on its own when it runs short. The app shows it separately and never counts it into anything it offers to free. It is also why the free space in the app can read lower than Finder's for the same disk.
"other volumes". The system, Preboot and Recovery volumes share your drive. They are shown so the numbers add up, but they can't be scanned or cleaned.
5. Deleting, and getting things back
Nothing is deleted until you confirm it. Drag files or folders to the Collector at the bottom of the window (or right-click ▸ Add to Collector) to stage them, and review the list there.
Move to Trash… is the default. Items stay recoverable in the Trash until you empty it. To get one back, open the Trash in Finder and drag the item out to where you want it.
Finder's Put Back command isn't always offered for items the app moved to the Trash. Dragging the item out of the Trash works every time.
Delete immediately… skips the Trash and cannot be undone. To confirm, you type the exact total size the app shows (for example 4.20 GB), and the app checks it against the scan before deleting anything.
Some folders marked emptied are kept, and only what's inside them is removed, because macOS and apps expect those folders to exist.
Some locations can't be deleted at all: the disk itself, macOS system folders, /Library and ~/Library as a whole, the Users folder, a Home folder, and the app itself. The app says why when you try.
6. Insights and "Look it up"
Insights (⌘5) lists what is worth reviewing: developer build artifacts, caches and logs, large files, old downloads, and the Trash. It is computed from your scan, and nothing is deleted automatically. On a new Mac it is often empty, and that is expected.
Open an item's ? to see why it is listed. Look it up ↗ there opens a Google search in your browser for a second opinion. The search contains the item's path, with your account's folder (/Users/name) replaced by ~. It happens only when you press the button. See the privacy policy.
7. Keyboard shortcuts
| ⌘1–⌘4 | Mosaic, Flame, Orbit, Bubbles |
| ⌘5 | Insights |
| ⌘6 | Data List |
| ⌘R | Rescan |
| ⌘G | Grant Access… |
| ⌘O | Choose Scan Target… |
| ⏎ | Open the selected folder in the map |
| ⌘↑ or ⌫ | Go up a level |
| Space | Quick Look the selected file |
| ⇧⌘R | Reveal in Finder |
| ⇧⌘C | Copy Path |
8. Contact
Email apple@ai-bistro.com. It helps to include your macOS version and the app's version and build, from Macosome Cleaner ▸ About Macosome Cleaner. Please don't send file lists or screenshots showing anything you'd rather keep private; a description is usually enough.
What happens to your email is in the privacy policy.