Guide · 25 October 2026
Is it safe to delete? Plain answers for 40 Mac folders
Most “can I delete this?” questions about a Mac come down to one thing: does it come back? A cache comes back on its own. An installer comes back if you download it again. Your iPhone backup doesn’t come back at all. Here are 40 folders people ask about most, each with one of four answers:
- Safe Nothing is lost. Whatever needs it makes a fresh copy.
- Rebuilds Comes back, but has to be downloaded or rebuilt again, which takes time.
- You decide Can’t be brought back once deleted, or only part of it is safe. Your call.
- Leave alone macOS or your apps need it. Deleting it causes trouble, or doesn’t stick.
Paths starting with ~ are in your home folder. To open one, use Finder › Go › Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) and paste the path. Quit an app before you clear anything of its, and empty the Trash afterwards to get the space back.
Jump to
Caches, logs and temporary files
| Folder | What it is | Delete it? |
|---|---|---|
~/Library/Caches | One folder per app with files it keeps to load faster. | Safe With the app quit, clear what’s inside each app’s folder. The app rebuilds it. |
/Library/Caches | Caches shared by all users and system services. | Leave alone Unless a folder clearly belongs to one app you know. |
~/Library/Logs | Logs and crash reports from your apps. | Safe Old ones. Apps write new logs as they run. |
/Library/Logs, /private/var/log | System and installer logs. | Leave alone macOS rotates them, and they’re rarely big. |
/private/var/folders | Temporary files and caches macOS keeps per user. | Leave alone A restart clears what’s stale. Deleting by hand can confuse running apps. |
Downloads, apps and leftovers
| Folder | What it is | Delete it? |
|---|---|---|
~/Downloads: .dmg, .pkg, .zip | Installers and archives you’ve already opened. | Rebuilds Once the app is installed, if you can download it again. |
/Applications/Install macOS … | A full macOS installer, over 12 GB. | Rebuilds If you already run that version. Keep one for a newer macOS until you upgrade. |
~/Library/Application Support | Apps’ own data: libraries, projects, chats, settings. | You decide Leave folders of apps you use. Folders of apps you’ve deleted are leftovers, safe to remove. |
~/Library/Containers | All the data of App Store and other sandboxed apps, one folder each. | You decide Deleting one resets that app and can lose its data. Fine for apps you’ve deleted. |
~/Library/Group Containers | Data shared by apps from one maker, such as Microsoft Office or Apple’s own apps. | Leave alone |
~/Library/Preferences | Each app’s settings, in .plist files. | Leave alone Deleting one resets that app’s settings. They’re tiny anyway. |
~/Library/LaunchAgents | Helpers that start when you log in. | You decide Only ones left by apps you’ve deleted. Check System Settings › General › Login Items first. |
iPhone, iPad, Mail and Messages
| Folder | What it is | Delete it? |
|---|---|---|
~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup | Backups of your iPhone and iPad, often tens of GB each. | You decide Keep the newest of each device you use. Delete from Storage settings › iOS Files › ⓘ, or Finder › your device › Manage Backups. |
~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates | iOS downloads Finder used to update or restore a device (.ipsw). | Rebuilds Finder downloads it again when it needs one. |
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads | Copies of attachments you opened from Mail. | Safe The attachments stay in your mail. |
~/Library/Mail | Your mail, mailboxes and attachments. | Leave alone Delete mail in Mail, not in Finder. |
~/Library/Messages/Attachments | Photos, videos and files from your conversations. | You decide Delete them from Messages, or System Settings › General › Storage › Messages, so conversations don’t show broken files. |
macOS and the system
| Folder | What it is | Delete it? |
|---|---|---|
| Time Machine local snapshots | Hourly snapshots kept on the Mac itself, for about 24 hours. Part of “purgeable” space. | Leave alone macOS frees them when it needs room. If an installer insists: sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots / |
/private/var/vm | Swap files and the sleep image. | Leave alone macOS manages them; a restart clears swap. |
/System, /usr, /bin, /sbin | macOS itself. | Leave alone Protected by System Integrity Protection anyway. |
/System/Volumes/Data/.Spotlight-V100 | Spotlight’s search index. | Leave alone If it’s huge, rebuild it with sudo mdutil -E / instead. |
/Library/Updates | macOS updates waiting to install. | Leave alone macOS removes them after installing. |
~/Library/Mobile Documents | Your iCloud Drive. | Leave alone Deleting here deletes from iCloud on every device. |
~/Library/Keychains | Your saved passwords and certificates. | Leave alone |
~/.Trash | The Trash. | You decide Empty it from Finder once you’re sure. |
Developer files
| Folder | What it is | Delete it? |
|---|---|---|
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData | Xcode’s build output and indexes. | Rebuilds With Xcode quit. The next build takes longer. |
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives | Builds you exported or uploaded, with their debug symbols. | You decide Keep archives of versions people still use: you need them to read crash reports. |
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupport | Debug symbols copied from each iOS version you connected. | Rebuilds Old versions. Xcode copies them again when you plug a device in. |
~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices | Simulators, with their apps and data. | You decide Remove ones you don’t use with xcrun simctl delete unavailable, or in Xcode. |
~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Caches | Simulator caches. | Safe |
node_modules | A JavaScript project’s installed packages. | Rebuilds In projects you’re not working on. npm install brings them back. |
~/.npm | npm’s download cache. | Rebuilds Clear it with npm cache clean --force. |
~/Library/Caches/Homebrew | Homebrew’s downloads. | Safe Clear it with brew cleanup. |
~/Library/Caches/pip, ~/.cache/uv | Python package downloads. | Rebuilds pip cache purge or uv cache clean. |
~/.gradle/caches | Gradle’s downloaded dependencies and build cache. | Rebuilds Stop Gradle first (gradle --stop). The next build downloads again. |
Docker.raw | Docker Desktop’s whole disk: images, containers and volumes. | Leave alone Never delete the file. Free space inside it with docker system prune. |
More on each, with commands: Xcode DerivedData, node_modules and Docker: what’s safe to delete.
AI tools
| Folder | What it is | Delete it? |
|---|---|---|
~/.claude/projects | Claude Code’s session transcripts, one folder per project. | You decide Old sessions you won’t resume. Keep each project’s memory folder. |
~/.claude/debug | Claude Code’s debug logs. | Safe |
~/.ollama/models | Ollama’s downloaded models, often 4–40 GB each. | Rebuilds Remove with ollama rm <model>, not in Finder: models share pieces. |
~/.cache/huggingface/hub | Models and datasets downloaded from Hugging Face. | Rebuilds Pick what to remove with huggingface-cli delete-cache. |
Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI and LM Studio too: What AI tools leave on your Mac.
Not on the list?
Find what’s big first, then decide. This lists the 15 biggest folders in your Library, biggest last:
du -sh ~/Library/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -15If you can’t tell what a folder is for, leave it. Most of the space on a full Mac is in a few big, nameable places, and the System Data guide walks through them.
This is what SiftMac does for every item it finds. Each one gets a verdict, Safe, Rebuilds or You decide, with the reason in plain words. Anything an open app is using is skipped. Caches go straight away because they rebuild; downloads, apps, duplicates, backups and the Trash wait 7 days on the Undo Shelf so you can put them back. Nothing leaves your Mac.
Download SiftMac · scanning is free, and so is your first 2 GB of cleaning · See how it works