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Will it delete something I need?

Automated scans default to moving files into a 7-day quarantine, not deleting them. Manual selections hard-delete by default — you choose what to delete in those cases. We strongly recommend a recent Time Machine backup before any cleanup session.

Can the App Store version scan other users' files?

With Full Disk Access granted and a user-selected folder added (via the in-app "Add folder to scan" button), the App Store version can reach everything readable by your user account. That includes orphaned home directories from deleted user accounts, as long as their files' Unix permissions allow your account to read them.

If the deleted account's files are still owned by the old UID with restrictive perms (mode 0700), you'll need to take ownership first — see "Claiming files from a deleted user" below. Alternatively, the open-source direct-download build ships a privileged helper that bypasses Unix perms via Authorization Services.

Claiming files from a deleted user

macOS lets you delete a user account but keep their home folder. The kept folder stays owned by the deleted account's UID, so your account can't read those files even with Full Disk Access. To transfer ownership, run this one-liner in Terminal — it prompts for your admin password, lists every orphaned home directory under /Users, and lets you pick which to claim:

curl -fsSL https://mac-storage-clear.flek.ai/claim.sh | sudo bash

The script refuses to act outside /Users, refuses if a user with that name still exists in DirectoryService, and prompts before touching anything. Read it on GitHub before running.

If you already know the username and want to skip the picker:

sudo bash <(curl -fsSL https://mac-storage-clear.flek.ai/claim.sh) flek

We deliberately keep this as a separate script rather than building it into the app — ownership transfer is a one-shot operation that shouldn't live behind a permission prompt every time you launch the app.

Why does it want Full Disk Access?

macOS restricts access to several user-Library subdirectories (Mail, Messages, Safari) unless an app has been granted Full Disk Access. Without it, large categories of disk usage are invisible to the scanner. The grant happens once in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access.

My disk space didn't change after I deleted files.

APFS keeps local snapshots that hold deleted bytes for up to about 24 hours. The App surfaces these via Time Machine local-snapshot tools and offers to thin them. If you've also moved files to quarantine instead of hard-deleting, free space won't change until you empty quarantine.

How do I get a refund?

App Store refunds are handled by Apple. Visit reportaproblem.apple.com to request one.