SpacebackThe Spaceback blog
Where your space actually went.
Plain answers about Mac and iPhone storage from the person who builds Spaceback. Every number here was measured on a real Mac, every command was run before it went on the page, and when macOS changes, the posts change with it.
How to free up space on a Mac without deleting the wrong thing
The order I work through when my own Mac runs out of room: look first, empty the Trash, deal with a few big files, then apps, photos and developer folders. Caches come last.
Updated · 7 min readAbout SpacebackIs Spaceback safe? What it can see and what it never does
What the Mac and iPhone apps can access, how removal works, what the direct edition sends when you activate it, and how to check all of it yourself.
Updated · 5 min readmacOSmacOS 27 locks away some app data, and cleaners now see less
Apple's release notes say macOS 27 denies access to other developers' app data by default. What that looked like in testing, and why disk totals quietly shrank.
Updated · 4 min readDeveloper storageWhere Xcode's disk space goes, and how to get it back
Simulator runtimes, simulator devices, device support files and DerivedData added up to about 77 GB on my Mac. What each one is and the safe way to clean it.
Updated · 5 min readMac storageWhat purgeable space on a Mac is, and how to get it back
Why three tools report three different amounts of free space on the same Mac, what macOS is willing to purge on its own, and the commands that make snapshots let go.
Updated · 4 min readMac storageWhat is System Data on a Mac, and why is it so big?
It's the category that used to be called Other. What usually ends up in it, how to see inside it with a few read-only commands, and what you can safely shrink.
Updated · 5 min readMac storageHow to clear the cache on a Mac, and when it isn't worth it
Caches are safe to delete and pointless to delete on a schedule. How to find the one cache that's actually big, clear it properly, and leave the rest alone.
Updated · 5 min readFollow along with the Atom feed. Corrections are welcome at vlada@queazy.app.