Is CleanMyMac actually legit or snake oil?

[MacMan988]

I keep seeing CleanMyMac X (or just CleanMyMac now?) getting featured on the Mac App Store and it’s always hovering near the top of the charts. Apple seems to push it quite a bit.

I've been tempted to grab it just to clear out some system junk (and free up space), but I’ve always had this impression from years ago that it was basically "snake oil" or that it does more harm than good (like over-cleaning caches that actually slow things down while they rebuild, or messing with system files).

Is that still the consensus here? Does anyone actually use it long-term without issues? I don't mind paying for convenience if it actually works, but I don't want to install something that’s going to make my machine buggy.

Thanks!

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Snake Oil

 

[!!!]

There's some benefit to clearing out caches: when they get very large. This normally shouldn't happen but it can happen from time to time thanks to poorly coded apps not cleaning stuff up.

There's not really "system junk", temp files should be deleted by macOS automatically and log files have a size limit. I think it does clean up Xcode files, because Xcode loves leaving gigabytes worth of stuff laying around, but if you're a developer I'll assume you are capable of doing this yourself.

The "maintenance" tasks of CMM and Onyx are often reductive, don't reset your LaunchServices or Spotlight database unless there's specifically something wrong with it. No reason to reset your DNS caches unless you are messing with your DNS server, they only persist for a few minutes anyways.

Uninstalling apps can be done with a free utility like AppCleaner. Large files & duplicates likewise are their own category of applications more suited for the job.

And, to me, the app seems to be one of those that will collect tons of "telemetry" and push you into subscribing to services.

 

[MacMorrison]

I think OnyX and AppCleaner are more legit. You don't need that much advertising for a maintenance tool.

 

[Bazza1]

Its legit. Is it necessary? And at that price? Debate there - probably as vociferous as the 'Do Macs need an AV app?'.

Plenty of gunge that Macs accumulate (because, god forbid, Nanny Apple should let users control how their Macs behave) can be cleared / controlled with the product, and its interface is certainly more friendly to those who may be nervous about such things than, say, the free Onyx, PearCleaner or the Terminal-run Mole Cleaner - or the app updater, Latest.

Entirely a 'user call'. Heck, I know of Mac users who do nothing in the way of maintenance with their Macs - and only turn them off when an update goes through the reboot process. Relying entirely on Nanny Apple to do the right thing in the interim. Are they always happy with the result? Kinda 'Meh'.

I have an older (standalone - not subscription) version of CleanMyMac X on my old 2017 MacBook Air, which I may run once a month or so. On my 'daily driver' - a M2 Mini - I do a regime that doesn't use it. No cost.

 

[Basic75]

I think OnyX and AppCleaner are more legit. You don't need that much advertising for a maintenance tool.

And more often than not you don't need any maintenance tool at all. But yes, if you believe you need one Onyx is a good choice. I don't know AppCleaner.

 

[chmania]

If you want to brick your Mac...

 

[nebojsak]

I have an older (standalone - not subscription) version of CleanMyMac X on my old 2017 MacBook Air, which I may run once a month or so. On my 'daily driver' - a M2 Mini - I do a regime that doesn't use it. No cost.

I used to have an older version too. Some useful stuff, if you know what you're doing, and some gimmicks. I think it was slightly better than AppCleaner in thoroughly uninstalling apps and their leftovers in some cases.

Other than that, I'm using Onyx for two decades, once in a blue moon.

 

[JSDK]

CleanMyMac X worked pretty well. The new version is too cluttered, and several features have been removed. I've spoken highly of CMM before, and yes, what it does, it does quite well. But as someone also mentions - is it necessary? Definitely not. But it's very nice that you can remove unnecessary files with one click.

Today I don't use CMM anymore. Partly because of the new update, which I thought was horrible, and partly because I'd rather have control myself. I use DaisyDisk to quickly find out what's taking up space so I can remove it manually, and then I use Find Any File to find leftover files after I've uninstalled a program. It works great, and the program just finds EVERYTHING.

If you want a One-Click solution to remove leftover files from uninstalled programs, I've tested a few of the uninstallers, and have come to the conclusion that PearCleaner finds the most files.

As for cache files, they can just as easily be deleted here ~/Library/Caches and here /Library/Caches.

But Snake Oil isn't fair. Clean My Mac works, but you can do it yourself for free, and most of what Clean My Mac does is unnecessary.

 

[maflynn]

IT can work, but it does things that you can do manually.

I've used it to remove some pesky apps and the cruft it left behind. IT does what its advertised, so I don't think its snake oil or a scam

 

[thebart]

I'm annoyed that there are apps I've uninstalled but still hang around in the log in items and the service and context menu. And that's just the stuff I can see. There's a bunch of cruff hanging around that I don't see.

I use appcleaner but when I tried clean my Mac it proposed to delete stuff that clearly shouldn't be deleted, so I noped out. Like somehow it thought my entire music collection is a Spotify's cache

MacOS needs a proper uninstall structure. "Just drag it to the trash can" works most of the time. Most.

 

[benwiggy]

MacPaw has been guilty of some very aggressive marketing tactics, which speaks to their motivations.

Macs don't generally need routine maintenance. It's not a '67 Chevy. Some people will swear that by performing certain tasks regularly, it stops elephants from stepping on their Macs.

Modern sandboxed apps keep all their data and config files within their own "Container" folder, in user/Library/Containers. Non-sandboxed apps are likely to leave a handful of files scattered around, but usually measurable in KILObytes.

There is no point in emptying caches to save space, as the OS will just fill them again.

Use an app like OmniDiskSweeper (free) to sort your disk by size and show you where all the big stuff is.

 

[SDAVE]

I usually clean up by hand by using DaisyDisk (totally worth the small purchase) and then look at largest files on the system either back them up to my NAS if needed, or delete them if not needed. macOS is pretty good at cleaning up logs and stuff so I ignore those, they don't take too much space.

Make sure to get the website version of DaisyDisk vs the App Store (they are interchangeable for the license) because the website version can look deeper into the OS since it doesn't have to follow the App Store rules for scanning your drive deeper.

 

[donawalt]

MacPaw has been guilty of some very aggressive marketing tactics, which speaks to their motivations.

Macs don't generally need routine maintenance. It's not a '67 Chevy. Some people will swear that by performing certain tasks regularly, it stops elephants from stepping on their Macs.

Modern sandboxed apps keep all their data and config files within their own "Container" folder, in user/Library/Containers. Non-sandboxed apps are likely to leave a handful of files scattered around, but usually measurable in KILObytes.

There is no point in emptying caches to save space, as the OS will just fill them again.

Use an app like OmniDiskSweeper (free) to sort your disk by size and show you where all the big stuff is.

And as Howard Hoakley wrote on his excellent site eclecticlight.co, do not delete log files either - Mac does it fine and there are some disadvantages to the user doing it:

Please don’t delete your logs

Why do some Macs apparently not have Unified log files? Maybe it’s because they’re being deleted by a misguided housekeeping app. Here’s what is going wrong, and what you should d…

eclecticlight.co