How to free up space on a Mac

First, see where the space went

Don't start deleting blind. System Settings › General › Storage gives you rough categories; a disk space analyzer like Broom gives you actual folders. Five minutes of looking usually points straight at one or two folders holding most of the waste.

See how to check Mac storage for every way to measure it, including Terminal.

The checklist

1. Empty the TrashFiles in the Trash still use space. Right-click the Trash in the Dock › Empty Trash.
2. Clear app and developer caches~/Library/Caches, Homebrew, npm, pip and Cargo caches rebuild themselves. Often 5–30 GB. How to clear cache on Mac.
3. Clear Xcode dataDerivedData, old device support and simulators regularly reach 50 GB. Clear Xcode DerivedData.
4. Delete old build foldersnode_modules, target and .venv in projects you're not working on. Find them all.
5. Remove old iPhone backupsEach one can be the size of the phone. Delete iPhone backups.
6. Uninstall apps you don't useWith their leftovers, not just the .app. Uninstall apps completely.
7. Clear DownloadsSort ~/Downloads by size. Installers (.dmg, .pkg) and .zip files you've already opened can go.
8. Find duplicatesPhotos and videos copied twice. Find duplicate files.
9. Check System Data and snapshotsIf the numbers still don't add up. Clear System Data and purgeable space.

Things that free less than you'd think

• Clearing browser history. The cache is the part that's big; history is megabytes.
• Deleting system languages. Modern macOS keeps these on the sealed, read-only system volume. They aren't on your data volume and can't be removed.
• Repeating cleanups daily. Caches grow back to their working size within days. Clear them when you need room, not on a schedule.

Doing it with Broom

Broom does steps 2 to 9 from one scan. Cleanup preselects only what rebuilds on its own; backups, simulators, duplicates and old big files sit under Worth a look for you to tick. Everything goes to the Trash with its original path recorded, so Put back works if you change your mind.

Keep at least 10–15% of your disk free. macOS needs room for swap, updates and snapshots, and gets noticeably slower when it runs out.