Every AskClean for Mac release, newest first — what was added, improved and fixed.
3.8.2
Current version
Uninstalling App Store apps works again with a single authorization, Disk Cleanup adds system caches and logs, and developer caches are selected more carefully.
System caches and logs: System Cache & Logs now includes system caches, system logs and crash reports, system service logs, and the unified system log. These items are unchecked by default. When you select them, AskClean asks for administrator authorization only once per cleanup, and canceling doesn’t stop the other items from being cleaned.
Broken launch items: AskClean now finds launch items that point to programs that no longer exist. An item only counts as broken when its program is definitely gone. Broken items under /Library need administrator authorization to remove.
Remove system-level launch items when uninstalling: an app’s system-level launch items under /Library can now be removed together with the app, after their background services are stopped. Items whose program lives inside the app are recognized even when their names don’t match; items with only a similar name stay unchecked.
More Xcode cleanup: SwiftUI preview simulators, idle XcodeBuildMCP build caches, the Clang module cache, and unavailable simulators. The newest simulator runtime for each platform is now listed too, unchecked by default. DeviceSupport is listed per OS version, keeping the newest one for each kind of device.
Improved
Developer caches are selected more carefully: while Xcode or a related command-line tool is running, its caches are listed but unchecked, along with what’s using them. Project build output is only listed when the project type is recognized, and projects changed in the last 7 days stay unchecked. Unrecognized cache folders are listed but unchecked, so the default amount to free may be smaller than before.
Caches and logs keep their folders: only the contents are deleted, and the folder itself stays. Caches from more developer tools are now covered, including pip, Poetry, Yarn, pnpm, bun, Cargo, Maven, NuGet, and Android.
Faster folder cleanup with more honest progress: with “Permanently delete originals after video compression” turned on, validation now runs alongside compression, and in our tests a whole batch on a USB drive finished about twice as fast. Overall progress is based on video length and shows the estimated time remaining. A video being checked after compression shows “Validating” instead of sitting at 100%.
Clear explanations before you authorize: the uninstall review page marks which items need administrator authorization and which sandboxed data can’t be removed this time, and explains that the script safety warning in the authorization dialog is a standard message macOS shows for every administrator script. While the dialog is open, AskClean shows “Waiting for administrator authorization”. Disk Cleanup shows the same explanation when you select system-level items.
Uninstall Apps no longer asks for folder access: opening it no longer requests access to your Desktop, Documents, or Downloads folders. Apps kept in those three folders are no longer listed; you can drag them to the Trash. The permission descriptions for these folders are now more accurate too.
Fixed
Apps installed from the App Store or an installer package can be uninstalled again: authorize once to remove the app itself and its system-level launch items. Version 3.8.1 couldn’t remove these apps, yet still deleted their settings and caches.
Other files are kept when the app can’t be removed: if the app itself can’t be removed, AskClean now keeps all of its other files and explains why on the results page, for example because authorization was canceled or the app was updated after the scan. Items that weren’t removed show their full path.
Clear reasons when sandboxed data can’t be deleted: when macOS privacy protection blocks deleting an app’s sandboxed data, the results page now explains why, and you can show it in Finder or open Full Disk Access settings right away. Previously it only said the files might lack permission or still be in use.
Caches that an app is still writing to are no longer reported as a permission problem: AskClean waits briefly and tries again, and if the item still can’t be deleted, it reports it as in use instead of sending you to grant Full Disk Access.
Language file cleanup keeps the languages you use: the languages set in your system and each app’s development language are kept, and English.lproj is no longer removed as a foreign language.
3.8.1
Running cleanup, compression, uninstalling or AI analysis now requires Pro, and Xcode build caches are easier to review.
Scanning, previewing results, and reviewing cleanup plans remain free. Running cleanup, compression, uninstall, or AI analysis now requires Pro.
Xcode build caches now list older projects first within the cache group, then sort by size. Their dates are labeled as last modified rather than last used.
3.8
Quick Clean is now free, and every Mac gets a free AI trial: one deep report with five follow-up questions.
Quick Scan and Quick Clean are now free. They find known disposable caches locally and permanently remove only the items you confirm.
Each Mac gets a free AI trial: one deep report and five successful follow-up questions. The saved report stays available for review and cleanup after the trial questions are used.
Improved
Deep reports can inspect a large directory, show its biggest subfolders, and keep AI suggestions within the folder you selected. Reports, selections, follow-up history and retry state now survive relaunches, and cleanup plans show the exact scope and impact before removal.
Fixed
Application-leftover detection and Full Disk Access rescans are more reliable. Photo, video and folder cleanup also improves duplicate verification, long-video progress, failure states and localized copy.
3.7
Your favorites and Portrait shots are now left out of every cleanup suggestion, and long video compressions finally show real progress.
Photos you marked as favorites, and shots taken in Portrait mode, are now left out of every cleanup category. Until now they were only skipped when looking for blurry photos — a favorite could still turn up among duplicates or similar shots, even though AskClean was set to leave favorites alone.
The video quality you pick in Settings now also shapes what a scan finds. The scan used to estimate savings at 720p no matter what you had chosen, so picking a lower quality showed you smaller savings than you would actually get — and some videos were left out of the list entirely for “not saving enough”.
Improved
Compressing a long video no longer looks stuck. There is now a second progress bar for the video being worked on, with its own percentage — a one-hour video takes minutes to convert, and the overall bar barely moves during that time.
Settings gains two switches: skip favorites, and skip Portrait mode photos. Both are on by default. Turn one off if you do want to clean up duplicates among your favorites.
After recovering a damaged video, AskClean now reports how many frames it actually kept, out of the total. It used to report only the frames it discarded, which read as “everything else was kept” — frames that depend on a lost keyframe cannot be recovered either, so the real figure is lower.
3.6
AskClean can now update itself, and everything on screen follows the language you picked inside the app.
Automatic updates — from this version on, AskClean checks for a new release once a day and shows you what changed. Nothing is downloaded or installed until you confirm, so a scan in progress is never interrupted. Check manually, or turn the daily check off, in Settings.
AskClean now tells you when the AI is still analyzing a folder. That wait can take half a minute, and until now the rows showed only local details in the meantime — it looked like the AI had never run.
Improved
Switching the language inside AskClean now re-translates a finished scan on the spot — item names, details, dates, month groups and the current step all follow, and your selections and answers are kept.
Dates, numbers and sizes now follow the language you picked inside AskClean rather than the macOS system language.
Long translations on the home screen are no longer cut off.
Fixed
The size filter for large files compared in binary units but was labeled in decimal ones, so a 50 MiB threshold appeared as 52 MB. The menu now reads MiB. File sizes elsewhere remain decimal, matching Finder.
Large downloads were described as being over 500 MB, while the scan has always used a 100 MiB threshold. The wording is corrected; the scan itself is unchanged.
The uninstall summary now picks the right plural form for the number of items that could not be removed — languages with more than one plural rule were getting the wrong one.
Apps with no version string no longer show an empty version tag in the uninstall list.
The uninstall finish screen could report a reclaimed total that did not match what was actually removed.
3.5
The largest release so far: clean up any folder, reclaim space from messaging apps, and uninstall apps far more thoroughly.
Folder Cleanup — point AskClean at any folder and it finds duplicate photos, near-identical shots and oversized videos, then cleans them in place.
Messaging app cleanup — 14 chat apps, split into cache, media and files so you decide what actually goes.
Smarter uninstall — AskClean now spots a vendor’s own uninstaller, finds related components, and leaves shared data alone when another installed app still needs it.
Empty the Trash for good — clear what is already sitting in the Trash straight from the finish screen.
Two new scan groups: device backups (iPhone and iPad) and mail attachments.
Full Disk Access guidance — when macOS blocks a folder, AskClean links straight to the right System Settings pane.
Improved
Redesigned home screen — disk cleanup and photo & video cleanup are now equal entry points.
Faster full scan: 58–66 seconds down to 34 seconds on our test Mac.
Photo compression and video transcoding now run in parallel — 41% less time in our tests.
Similar-photo detection runs 3.4× faster in our tests.
Sizes are now shown in decimal units, matching what Finder reports.
Fixed
hev1-tagged HEVC videos are now repackaged losslessly instead of failing with a decoder error.
Read-only volumes are detected when you pick the folder, instead of failing item by item.
Apps that are still installed are no longer listed as uninstall leftovers.
Reclaimable size for photos now estimates what compression actually saves, instead of counting the whole file.
3.3
Photo and video cleanup arrives — AskClean is no longer only a disk cleaner.
