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“Your disk is almost full”: how to free up space on a Mac safely

Mac storage full? Free up space safely: find what’s using it, empty the Trash, remove old installers, apps, backups and caches, and keep it from refilling.

8 min readUpdated By the TidyMac team
Short answer

Check System Settings › General › Storage to see which category is biggest. Then empty the Trash, delete old installers, uninstall apps you don’t use along with their leftovers, thin Time Machine local snapshots, remove old iPhone backups, and clear caches of closed apps. Restart when you’re done.

The steps
  1. Open System Settings › General › Storage and note the biggest category.
  2. Empty the Trash.
  3. Delete old .dmg and .pkg installers from Downloads, and old “Install macOS” apps.
  4. Uninstall apps you no longer use, including their leftover folders.
  5. Thin Time Machine local snapshots with tmutil.
  6. Remove iPhone and iPad backups you don’t need from Finder › Manage Backups.
  7. Clear caches of closed apps in ~/Library/Caches.
  8. Restart your Mac.

First, see what's actually full

Open System Settings › General › Storage. The bar splits your disk into Applications, Documents, Photos, iCloud Drive, macOS and System Data. Whichever is biggest decides where to start:

  • Documents or Downloads: big files you can see. Find large files
  • Applications: apps you don't use, plus what they leave behind. Uninstall apps completely
  • Photos: turn on Optimize Mac Storage in Photos › Settings › iCloud if you use iCloud Photos.
  • System Data: snapshots, backups, caches and developer files. What System Data is

Prefer Terminal? df -h / shows free space, and du shows folder sizes. 8 useful commands

Quick wins, safest first

  1. Empty the Trash. Deleted files use space until you do. Emptying the Trash
  2. Old installers. A .dmg is useless once the app is installed, and an old "Install macOS" app is 12–15 GB. Find them
  3. Apps you don't use, with their leftovers. Dragging an app to the Trash leaves its data in ~/Library. How to remove everything
  4. Time Machine local snapshots. Often the biggest hidden item, and safe to thin. How
  5. Old iPhone and iPad backups. 5–60 GB per device. Check first
  6. Caches of closed apps. Rebuilt automatically. How to clear cache on Mac

Let TidyMac do this for you

See every part of your storage explained, and clean only what’s safe after you confirm twice. $9.99, one time.

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Developer Mac?

Xcode, simulators, Docker and package caches can take 50 GB or more. Clean them with their own tools. Developer cleanup

What not to delete

Never delete anything in /System, /Library or /private, your Photos library, or ~/Library/Messages directly. Use each app's own settings to keep less.

How much free space to keep

Leave room for updates and for macOS to work: a major macOS update needs 20–40 GB free. Not enough space to update?

Keep it from filling up again

Storage fills gradually: caches regrow, snapshots return while Time Machine is on, and chat apps keep every video. TidyMac keeps a storage history, tells you when your disk will fill in N days at the current rate, and lets you know when there's safe space to free, before macOS warns you.

Keep reading

How to clear System Data on macOS 27 without breaking anythingUninstall apps completelyMac cleaner
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