How to free up disk space on a Mac, and where it actually hides

On most Macs: start here

If you don't write software, the big ones are usually your own files and the places apps keep copies of them. Start with Storage settings (System Settings › General › Storage) and click ⓘ next to each category, then check these:

If your Mac has already said its disk is full, see what to do when Mac storage is full first.

First: why the numbers disagree

Finder, Storage settings and Terminal often report different free space, and deleting a big file sometimes frees nothing. Five reasons, all in how macOS and APFS count:

On a developer's Mac: where the space was, and how to clear each

Sorted by size on the Mac we measured. "Comes back" says what happens after you delete it, which decides whether clearing it is worth it.

Things this Mac didn't have but many do: node_modules spread across old projects, often hundreds of MB each; old Xcode archives in ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives; second copies of Xcode itself in Applications; and "Install macOS …" apps left in Applications after an upgrade, over 10 GB each.

Each folder has its own page in the Mac folder guide, with more detail on what it holds and how to clear it.

Measure your own Mac

This prints the size of every folder above that exists on your Mac, largest first. It only reads; it deletes nothing. For simulator runtimes, use xcrun simctl runtime list -v instead, for the reason above.

for p in ~/.android/avd \
  ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/{"iOS DeviceSupport",DerivedData,Archives} \
  ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices ~/Library/Caches \
  ~/Library/Caches/JetBrains ~/.gradle ~/Library/Android/sdk \
  ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker ~/.ollama ~/.cache/huggingface \
  ~/.npm ~/Library/Caches/org.swift.swiftpm ~/.yarn ~/Library/pnpm \
  "$HOME/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup" ~/Downloads; do
  [ -e "$p" ] && du -sh "$p" 2>/dev/null
done | sort -hr

Folders such as iPhone backups need Full Disk Access for Terminal (System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access) or du reports them as smaller than they are. To find what this list misses, go a level at a time from your home folder: du -hd 1 ~ 2>/dev/null | sort -hr | head -20. For single big files rather than folders, see how to find large files on a Mac.

What isn't worth clearing

• Caches in general. They come back within days and make apps slower meanwhile. "Cleaner" apps that report 10 GB freed mostly clear these.
• Swap and the sleep image in /System/Volumes/VM and /private/var/vm (the sleep image was 2.0 GB here). macOS manages them; a restart shrinks swap.
• Anything in /System, which is read-only, and folders in ~/Library/Containers or ~/Library/Group Containers you don't recognise: they hold apps' data, sometimes your documents.

Move to the Trash, don't delete for good. Most of the folders above are safe to remove, but "safe" depends on what you still work on. The Trash lets you take it back. For System Data in particular, see What is System Data on a Mac.

Questions

How Scrubs helps

Scrubs maps the whole disk, so folders like the ones above show up as the biggest rectangles without knowing their paths. Its Quick Wins find old installers, Mail's attachment copies, caches and, on a developer's Mac, DerivedData, simulators and old node_modules; iPhone backups and old downloads show under Worth a look, for you to check. Everything you delete goes to the Trash first, with ⌘Z to undo. Scanning is free.

Download for MacSee pricing

Measured on 1 November 2026 with du on one Mac running macOS 27 with Xcode, Android Studio, JetBrains IDEs and Docker installed. Your sizes will differ; the folders and commands are the same on macOS 15 and later.

About the author: Parsa Nasirimehr is a mobile app developer who builds Scrubs, a disk map for the Mac. Spotted something wrong? Write to support@getscrubs.app.