Is Spaceback safe? What it can see and what it never does

On this page

1. What the Mac app can see
2. What it removes, and how
3. What leaves your Mac
4. The iPhone and iPad app
5. The direct-download Pro edition
6. What Spaceback never does
7. Who makes it

Short answer: yes, and you don't have to take my word for it. Spaceback only looks where you let it, never removes anything you haven't reviewed, sends nothing about your files anywhere, and moves what you pick to the Trash (or, on iPhone, to Recently Deleted) so you can change your mind.

This page describes Spaceback 2.2 for Mac and 1.2 for iPhone and iPad, the versions on the App Store as I write this. When a version changes what the app can access, this page changes with it. The privacy policy has the same facts in more formal language.

What the Mac app can see

The Mac App Store version runs in Apple's App Sandbox. It can read your Downloads folder and the folders you choose to grant it through macOS, and nothing else. It can't read system folders, and it can't read what macOS protects from other apps, such as Mail, Messages and, on macOS 27, several browsers' profile folders.

When macOS refuses a folder, Spaceback tells you which one. It doesn't count it as empty, which is how some disk tools end up showing totals that look better than the truth. More on why that matters on macOS 27.

What it removes, and how

• Nothing without your review. Scans find things; you decide. Scheduled scans, if you turn them on, also only find.
• Everything goes to the Trash. Spaceback asks macOS to move the files you confirmed to the Trash and tells you about anything that didn't get there. Until you empty the Trash, you can put things back.
• Some data is never offered at all. Spaceback doesn't reach inside your Photos, Music or TV libraries, or Final Cut and Lightroom libraries, so it can't offer a file from inside them. Its junk rules also skip Mail, Messages, Safari, Wallet and Home data by name.

What leaves your Mac

Nothing about your files. The Mac App Store version doesn't have Apple's permission to use the network at all, so it couldn't send your file names or scan results anywhere even if it wanted to. There's no account, no analytics and no advertising code. Purchases go through Apple, and Spaceback never sees your payment details.

You can check the network part yourself. This shows the permissions Apple signed into the copy of the app you have:

codesign -d --entitlements - /Applications/Spaceback.app

For version 2.2 you'll see com.apple.security.app-sandbox, access to Downloads and to folders you select, and no com.apple.security.network.client. If a future version needs the network, for example to connect to your own iPhone, this page will be updated to say exactly what it sends and to whom.

The iPhone and iPad app

• It works only with your photo library, through Apple's Photos framework, after you grant access. If you choose Select Photos, it measures only those.
• Every measurement and comparison runs on the device. The app contains no networking code of ours: no account, no analytics, no crash reporter.
• When it measures and compares your library, it never downloads originals from iCloud. Items stored only in iCloud are reported as unavailable instead.
• Removing photos moves them to Recently Deleted, where they stay for 30 days. The space isn't released until that album is emptied, which only you can do, and the app says so instead of claiming it freed anything.
• The vault encrypts items on the device with AES-GCM, using a key derived from your PIN. There's no recovery: I never receive your PIN or your photos, so nobody can reset it.

The direct-download Pro edition

The edition sold outside the App Store isn't sandboxed, because its whole point is to reach system-wide caches the App Store version can't. It's signed with my Developer ID and notarised by Apple, and it uses the network in three ways:

• Licence activation sends a one-way hash of your licence key, an installation ID derived from your Mac's hardware UUID, and the app version, once, when you activate. It's used to catch refunded licences. The server stores nothing about the check. No file names, paths or scan results are ever sent.
• Update checks are off unless you turn them on. When they're on, the update server sees your IP address and app version.
• Usage statistics, from version 2.3.1, are off unless you turn them on. If you do, it sends which screens and tools you use and how far scans and purchases get, with every total rounded into a range and tied to a random ID you can ask me to delete. It never sends file names, paths, file contents or anything you type. The privacy policy lists every field.

What Spaceback never does

• It never tells you your Mac is infected, at risk or slow. Its Security Check looks at code signatures and Apple notarisation for your apps and startup items. That's a review tool, not antivirus: it has no malware database and doesn't claim to find malware.
• It never shows a number it didn't measure, and it never says it freed space. It moves files; macOS releases the space when you empty the Trash.
• It doesn't "clean" memory, promise speed-ups, or run in the background removing things.
• It never sells or shares your data, and it never collects the names or contents of your files or photos.

Who makes it

Spaceback is made by Queazy, and I'm its developer. If something on this page is wrong, or the app ever does something this page says it doesn't, email vlada@queazy.app. Whichever is wrong, the app or this page, gets fixed.

Vlada Misici builds Spaceback, a storage cleaner for Mac and iPhone. Every number in these posts was measured on a real Mac, and every command was run before it went on the page. Found a mistake? Email vlada@queazy.app and it gets fixed.