I’ve Used Macs For 15 Years – Is CleanMyMac Actually Worth It?

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I’ve been using Macs long enough to know that most of the time, they look after themselves. That’s why many of us are so devoted to them; software runs smoothly, there’s built-in malware protection and macOS feels far less cluttered than Windows. Ok, that last point is personal preference, but I was once a Windows user so I feel qualified to make that statement!

In the heads of Mac users, updates roll in, Spotlight reindexes itself, and somewhere deep in the operating system, a bunch of processes quietly tidy things up.

So why does a product like CleanMyMac exist, and why has it been around for so long (17 years to be exact)? The answer is that, while macOS is pretty good at self-maintenance, it isn’t great at showing you what it’s doing, nor does it make manual file and data management particularly user friendly.

CleanMyMac promises to make that process simple, obvious, and, dare I say it, satisfying. But is it actually worth installing?

What CleanMyMac is designed to do

CleanMyMac’s pitch is straightforward: Macs collect clutter. Caches, logs, leftover app files, old software updates, and so on. It’s the stuff you never see but which, over time, can eat into your storage and occasionally slow things down.

Yes, you can dig into Finder and the macOS storage management tools to sort it out yourself, but Apple’s approach feels, to me at least, buried and fragmented. There is no incentive for you to sit down and trawl through your old files and clear them out. That process feels incredibly boring and tedious.

CleanMyMac aims to simplify this by putting all of these storage management processes, plus malware detection and removal, all in one much more approachable place.

As a demonstration of this, one of their main features is Smart Scan, which rolls three key jobs into one function: cleaning junk files, running basic maintenance scripts, and checking for malware. But how was it to actually use?

My experience with CleanMyMac

I’ve dipped in and out of CleanMyMac for years. It’s not something I run daily, but when I notice my Mac starting to feel stodgy and the fans come on for no obvious reason, CleanMyMac is where I head.

The app scans quickly, explains where the biggest storage drains are, and makes it clear what’s safe to remove and what you might want to check first. This is done largely through the age of a file, how recently/regularly you open it and whether it’s integral to the software. The last time I ran it, it flagged nearly 10GB of redundant files. That’s not nothing, especially if you’re on a smaller SSD space or working with large video files all the time (like myself!).

One of their newest features is Space Lens, which epitomises CleanMyMac’s approach. Space Lens scans your storage and then represents where the biggest hoarders are located on your device via a bubble system. The bigger the bubble, the more space those files are taking up. Again, it’s a handy way to visualise where your unwanted stuff is without digging through macOS’s filing system.

It’s not perfect. The “junk” list will occasionally include files you might actually want to keep, so it’s always worth reviewing before hitting “clean”. But in my years using it, I’ve yet to have it remove anything I didn’t authorise.

The most visible part of CleanMyMac is its System Junk tool. This digs into caches, log files, broken app data, and temporary files macOS doesn’t get around to clearing out. It’ll even identify old, unused language packs lurking in your apps, which sounds trivial, but on a storage-constrained MacBook, it can add up.

There’s also Protection Module, which feels less like a gimmick than it used to. Even though Macs are less targeted than Windows PCs, they’re far from immune to adware, dodgy browser extensions, and other small-scale nasties. The old adage that Macs can’t get viruses is certainly not true. This tool scans for known threats and quarantines malware, ransomware, and other macOS-specific nasties. I’ve never had it find anything disastrous on my own machines, but it’s better to have it there than not!

Privacy is another major area it covers. This isn’t about blocking trackers at the network level, but about cleaning traces of your activity from browsers and apps: browsing history, autofill forms, saved cookies, recent item lists. Again, this is stuff you can do yourself manually, but CleanMyMac puts it all into one place.

The app maintenance side

One of my favourite features is actually the Uninstaller, which you might never have touched if you’ve used CleanMyMac before. Dragging an app to the bin in macOS doesn’t necessarily remove everything it installed, preference files and caches often linger. CleanMyMac’s Uninstaller finds those leftovers and wipes them out alongside the main app.

Then there’s the Applications Module, which takes charge of all your installed apps, searching for updates whilst letting you install them in one go. If you’ve ever found yourself launching an app you rarely use and sitting through three consecutive update prompts, you’ll appreciate this one.

The Performance Module section is where it gets a bit more “under the hood.” Here, you can run tasks like freeing up RAM, repairing disk permissions, reindexing Spotlight, flushing DNS caches, and speeding up Mail. Most of these are things macOS can do, but you’d normally have to dive into Terminal or Disk Utility to trigger them which even I, a seasoned Apple user, don’t have the know-how to execute. Having them in one place makes it much easier to remember they exist.

Does it actually improve performance?

If you’re expecting CleanMyMac to transform a struggling, decade-old Mac into something that feels brand new, you’ll be disappointed. This isn’t that kind of software. To be honest, I don’t think that kind of software exists. If you need that service, a human who knows what they’re doing would be more appropriate.

Where it does help is in noticeable, day-to-day, tangible ways: freeing up RAM so apps respond more quickly, clearing out background processes that don’t need to be running, and reclaiming gigabytes of space without the manual trawl through Finder.

For me, the storage wins are more important than any speed bump. A quick clean can be the difference between getting a project out the door and staring at a “disk full” warning. It is pure convenience, which is something Apple people should appreciate.

Is it essential?

The answer to this is, inevitably, no. As I said above, it’s about convenience and therefore no convenience is ever essential. But does it make your on-device life easier? Absolutely.

For heavier users, video editors, photographers, developers, CleanMyMac makes a lot of sense. If your Mac is central to your work, you will value the speed, clarity, and convenience it offers over doing it all manually. If you rely on a device to get important work done, you want it to be running as smoothly as possible

Even for light users, CleanMyMac still has value. No matter what you do on a Mac, it will eventually get cluttered and features like the uninstaller help those less tech savvy amongst us to truly get rid of all the unwanted stuff.

One other thing I think CleanMyMac has added recently that really bolsters its offering is Cloud Cleanup. This feature, which, you guessed it, sorts through your files on the cloud for you, brings the app up to date. How many times do you get told your iCloud or Google Drive storage is full? Well, now there’s a tool for that too!

The criticism

There’s a common argument that apps like CleanMyMac are unnecessary, even redundant. In part, that’s true: much of what it does can be replicated manually with built-in utilities if you have the time, patience or attention span to do it yourself.

The difference is that CleanMyMac packages those capabilities into one polished interface and keeps them accessible. Seriously, check out their website and you’ll see how nice it is to look at. That might sound like an irrelevant point, but making this boring stuff more user friendly is exactly the point. 

You’re paying for convenience, not magic. And while convenience might sound like a luxury, it can save a surprising amount of time and hassle if you work on your Mac all day.

I would also counter much of the criticism with the point that it really is affordable. If you just want the basic cleaning tools and a few extra features, the cheapest tier is £2.45 per month. Plus you can trial it for seven days for free.

Final thoughts

CleanMyMac is a genuinely useful asset for your Mac. It covers so much as an all-in-one tool that you’ll be finding stuff out about your device that you never knew. If you’d rather not think about all the clutter and want a single tool to do the heavy lifting, it more than earns its place. It will save you time and keep things running smoothly without you having to dig through endless folders. It’s worth a try!

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