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The Mac Apps Most Likely to Be Eating Your Storage Right Now

The exact apps that quietly eat 20-100 GB on Macs. Real folder paths, real numbers, and how to clean each one without breaking the app.

10 min read

Run the storage chart in System Settings, General, Storage, and you’ll see the categories — Apps, Documents, System Data, Mail. What you won’t see is which apps are doing the damage. The categories lie. A “5 GB” app can have 60 GB hidden across ~/Library. Here are the worst offenders, what they’re hiding, and how to deflate them safely.

Xcode

Damage: 30-150 GB. The single biggest storage hog on any developer’s Mac.

The Xcode app itself is around 10 GB. The damage comes from:

  • ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData — build caches, often 40-80 GB
  • ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupport — debug symbols for every iOS version, 5 GB+ each
  • ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives — old app archives, can hit 30 GB
  • ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices — simulator data, 20-60 GB

Safe to delete: All of DerivedData. Old DeviceSupport folders for iOS versions you don’t test against. Old Simulators via xcrun simctl delete unavailable.

Photos

Damage: 50-500 GB depending on library size.

~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary holds your full-resolution photos. Even with iCloud Photos and “Optimize Mac Storage” on, the cache plus thumbnails plus database plus generated edit derivatives can stay massive.

Safe to clean: Photos, Settings, iCloud, “Optimize Mac Storage.” Delete photos from the Recently Deleted album (they sit there for 30 days). Use File, Show Package Contents on the library and look at originals and resources to spot the actual size.

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Adobe Creative Cloud

Damage: 40-100 GB across the suite.

The headline number is the apps themselves. The hidden number is:

  • ~/Library/Caches/Adobe — render caches, 10-30 GB
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/Media Cache Files — Premiere/After Effects cache, can hit 50 GB
  • ~/Documents/Adobe — auto-recovery files
  • Old Creative Cloud installer downloads in /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Desktop Common/

Safe to clean: All of Media Cache Files (Premiere will rebuild on next render). Caches folder. Uninstall apps you don’t use through the Creative Cloud app, not by dragging to Trash.

Slack

Damage: 5-25 GB.

Slack stores message history, file caches, and image previews per workspace. Five workspaces times 4 GB each adds up.

~/Library/Application Support/Slack/Cache/ and ~/Library/Application Support/Slack/Service Worker/CacheStorage/ are the worst offenders.

Safe to clean: In Slack, click your profile icon, Preferences, Advanced, Reset Cache. Or quit Slack and delete the cache folders directly.

Google Chrome

Damage: 5-20 GB.

Chrome’s profile folder at ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/ holds:

  • Cache (often 5 GB+)
  • IndexedDB and Local Storage (web app data)
  • GPU cache
  • Service worker scripts
  • Per-profile data multiplied across each Google account

Safe to clean: Chrome menu, Clear Browsing Data, “All time,” Cached images and files. Quit Chrome, then delete ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Cache/.

Docker Desktop

Damage: 30-200 GB.

Docker stores images, containers, and volumes in a virtual disk at ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/vms/0/data/Docker.raw. This file expands and rarely contracts.

Safe to clean: docker system prune -a --volumes removes unused images, containers, and volumes. Then in Docker Desktop, Settings, Resources, Advanced, “Clean / Purge data.”

iOS Simulator (separate from Xcode)

Damage: 20-60 GB.

Each simulator runtime is 4-7 GB. If you have iOS 14 through iOS 18 simulators installed, that alone is 30 GB.

Safe to clean: xcrun simctl delete unavailable removes simulators for SDKs you no longer have. Manually delete folders inside ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/.

Tip: The fastest way to find storage hogs is Disk Inventory X or DaisyDisk — both show a treemap. But the fastest way to fix them is letting an automated cleaner detect and offer them in one pass.

Spotify

Damage: 5-30 GB if you use offline mode.

~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client and ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify/PersistentCache hold your downloaded music plus a long cache history.

Safe to clean: Spotify, Settings, Storage, “Clear cache.” For offline music, manage which playlists are downloaded.

Mail

Damage: 10-80 GB.

Apple Mail downloads every attachment in every email by default. ~/Library/Mail grows forever.

Safe to clean: Mail, Settings, Accounts, your account, Account Information, “Download Attachments” — set to “Recent” or “None.” Then Mailbox, Erase Junk Mail, Erase Deleted Items in All Accounts.

Steam, Epic Games, Battle.net

Damage: 50-300 GB.

Each modern game is 50-150 GB. Three games is half a terabyte.

Safe to clean: Inside Steam, right-click any game, Manage, Uninstall. Steam stores in ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/. Epic stores in /Users/Shared/Epic Games/. Battle.net stores in /Applications/.

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Final Cut Pro / iMovie

Damage: 50-500 GB.

Render files and optimized media live in your Library file. A 1-hour 4K project can have 100 GB of render files alone.

Safe to clean: File, Delete Generated Library Files. Choose “Delete Render Files” — they’ll regenerate next time you preview. Optimized media (ProRes versions of original H.264 footage) is rebuildable too.

Microsoft Office

Damage: 5-15 GB.

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook each install around 2 GB. Outlook’s database in ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile/Data/ can hit 30 GB if you’ve connected a large Exchange account.

Safe to clean: Outlook menu, Preferences, General, “Empty Folder On Quit.” For unused apps, uninstall through /Applications plus the leftover Group Container.

Time Machine local snapshots

Damage: Up to 80% of your free disk space (yes, really).

macOS keeps local Time Machine snapshots even if your backup drive isn’t connected. They’re labeled “Purgeable” in storage but show up as missing space.

Safe to clean: They auto-delete when you need the space. To force delete:

tmutil listlocalsnapshots /
tmutil deletelocalsnapshots <snapshot-name>

How to actually find what’s eating your drive

The list above is the usual suspects. For your specific Mac, the workflow is:

  1. Open Storage Settings (Apple menu, About This Mac, More Info, Storage Settings)
  2. Click each category for the recommendations
  3. Scan with a treemap tool like Disk Inventory X for visual confirmation
  4. Or use a maintenance app that knows where every popular Mac app hides its caches

The manual approach takes 2-4 hours and you’ll miss things. The visual treemap takes 20 minutes but doesn’t tell you what’s safe to delete. A Mac-specific cleaner knows that DerivedData is regenerable but ~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary is not — and offers the right action for each.

Most Macs that come in for “I’m out of space” complaints have 60-200 GB sitting in 4-6 of the apps above. Cleaning them gets you back to a comfortable buffer without uninstalling anything you actually use.

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