🍀 MacOSCleaner 2.4.0 in development

[AlexTkDev]

We are actively working on MacOSCleaner 2.4.0.

Our primary focus for this release is maximum cleaning precision, uncompromising safety, technical honesty, and native next-generation macOS integration. Unlike traditional cleaners that run background daemons, inflate freed space metrics, or label basic heuristic checks as "antivirus engines", MacOSCleaner remains strictly on-demand, privacy-first, and transparent.

Here is what is planned and currently in development:

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1. Touch on Mac & Fluid Gestures (macOS 27+)

With the arrival of touchscreen MacBook Pro models, we are introducing native touch and gesture interactions tailored specifically for macOS:

• 36 pt Touch Target Standard: All clickable controls, category checkboxes, and action icons strictly adhere to Apple's HIG standard for Touch on Mac (minimum 36×36 pt interactive hitboxes). We achieve this via invisible hit-test insets (.contentShape), preserving the dense, elegant desktop layout for trackpad and mouse users without accidental mis-taps under touch.
• Dynamic Interactive Controls: Sliders (such as artifact age thresholds) and steppers dynamically expand on finger contact and seamlessly contract when reverting to mouse/pointer input.
• Modern Gesture Recognizers: Phased out legacy AppKit mouse-tracking (NSTrackingArea, raw mouseDown) in favor of modern SwiftUI Gesture and NSGestureRecognizer architectures.
• Row Swipe Actions (.swipeActions): Swipe left to safely move an item to Trash; swipe right to whitelist/exclude from future scans or reveal in Finder.
• Pull-to-Refresh: Pull down on the Dashboard, Cleanup categories, or Startup Services lists to instantly trigger a re-scan.
• Pinch-to-Zoom & Pan: Smooth multi-touch inspection of APFS disk storage charts and category breakdowns.
• Liquid Glass Touch Feedback: Tactile illumination and glass ripple highlights under your finger on interactive cards, fully integrated with macOS Liquid Glass.
• Sidecar-Tested: Developed and validated following Apple's recommended workflow using iPad via Sidecar.

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2. Zero Background Footprint & Honest APFS Metrics

• 0% background CPU and 0 MB background RAM: No tray agents, no background daemons, and no continuous polling. Every scan runs strictly on-demand when you open the window.
• Honest disk space delta: Space freed is measured using the real APFS filesystem delta (volumeAvailableCapacityForImportantUsage), accounting for APFS clones and purgeable space, instead of displaying artificial sums of raw file sizes.
• Trash-first safety by default: Items move to the macOS Trash via trashItem(at:). For users who enable direct deletion via the unified bypassTrashOnUninstall toggle, clear audit logging and destructive warning badges are enforced.

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3. Startup Services Audit (Factual Verification, Not Fake Antivirus)

• We explicitly reject marketing gimmicks like "built-in antivirus" without a threat signature database.
• Instead, the Startup Services screen provides verifiable facts about every LaunchAgent, LaunchDaemon, and Login Item:
  • Code signature & notarization: Verifies whether binaries are properly signed and notarized using Apple's security framework (SecStaticCodeCheckValidity).
  • Orphaned items detection: Identifies launch services whose target binaries no longer exist on disk.
  • Execution location audit: Highlights services executing from suspicious temporary directories (/tmp, /private/var/tmp).
  • Modern Login Items (macOS 26+): Migrated from legacy AppleScript to native Background Task Management (SMAppService / BTM).
  • "Needs Attention" Filter: Quick triage for unsigned binaries, missing files, or items requiring root permissions.

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4. Expanded Developer Toolchains & Local AI Caches (305 Apps, 105 Toolchains, 2,427 Paths)

We have significantly broadened our coverage of modern programming runtimes and local AI stacks:

• Python & AI: uv (both standard ~/Library/Caches/uv and XDG), pipx, pdm, ruff, PyTorch compilation kernels & Inductor, Hugging Face assets/modules, OpenAI Triton JIT cache, LiteLLM, Fabric CLI, vLLM.
• JS / TS / Web: Bun (~/.bun/install/cache, tmp), Turborepo build cache, Deno dependency caches.
• Rust, C, C++, Zig: Cargo registry and git DBs (~/.cargo/registry/cache, ~/.cargo/git/db), sccache (Mozilla compilation cache), ccache, Zig compiler & ZLS caches.
• JVM & Scala: Gradle (~/.gradle/caches, daemon, wrapper/dists), Coursier (~/Library/Caches/Coursier/v1), sbt boot artifacts.
• Go, PHP, .NET, Ruby, Haskell, Elixir: go mod cache, Composer, NuGet v3 cache, Bundler specs, Cabal, Stack snapshots, Hex & Rebar3.
• AI Coding Agents & IDEs: Claude Code session logs & telemetry, Continue.dev indexes, Cline & Roo Code extension caches, Cursor, Windsurf, Figma, Postman.
• Apple Intelligence Info Card: Safe informational breakdown in Settings (calculating measurable local caches like Photos Magic Cleanup and providing estimated ~10–13 GB system model footprints) with one-click links to System Settings, rejecting destructive SIP-bypass removal scripts.

🔒 Strict Configuration Safety Invariant:
Cleanup only removes caches and rebuildable binary artifacts. Configuration files (gradle.properties, settings.xml, config.toml, .env, API tokens, SSH/GPG keys, .vscode/settings.json, .claude.json) are strictly protected and never touched in Cleanup. Application preferences and data can only be removed in the Uninstaller under an explicit, optional checkbox confirmed by the user.

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5. Smart Project Build Artifacts Purge

• Scans user project directories (Developer, Projects, repos, src, Documents, code) for heavy rebuildable folders (node_modules, target, .build, venv, .next, .turbo, .zig-cache, .bloop, .metals, .gradle/build-cache).
• Sibling-file validation: Confirms context (package.json, Cargo.toml, go.mod, pyproject.toml) so innocent user folders are never touched.
• Configurable age limit: Built-in threshold options (30, 60, 90, 180 days; 60 days default) to automatically protect projects under active development.
• Safe deletion: Items are moved to the Trash (trashItem(at:)), never wiped irrevocably.

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6. Forgotten Installers Hunter

• Dedicated review scan for forgotten .dmg, .pkg, .iso images and large archive installers (.zip > 50 MB with .app/.pkg in central catalog).
• Scans Downloads, Desktop, Documents, messenger download caches (Telegram, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp), and Homebrew download caches.
• Displays download dates, source locations, and indicates whether the application inside the installer is already present in /Applications (without mounting DMGs).

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7. Transparency & Privacy (TCC + Network Sockets)

• TCC Privacy Manager: Read-only inspection of macOS app permissions with standard tccutil reset functionality.
• On-Demand Network Snapshot: Instant snapshot of open process sockets and remote addresses using libproc (no packet sniffing, no network extension, no background daemon).
• Browser Extensions Inspector: Read-only manifest and permissions inspection for Safari, Chrome, Brave, Arc, Edge, and Firefox.

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8. Core Bugfixes & Technical Debt

• Code signature check fix: Fixed a critical bug where unsigned binaries without a Team ID were incorrectly treated as Apple-signed; moved to async SecStaticCodeCheckValidity.
• macOS 26+ service lifecycle: Fully migrated from obsolete launchctl load/unload -w to modern bootout/bootstrap.
• Root launch daemon permissions: Replaced silent osascript administrator prompts with clear UI permission badges.
• Safe Siri / Shortcuts intent: CleanDeveloperCachesIntent (.all) cleans strictly regenerable developer caches while protecting heavy Android SDKs and iOS simulator runtimes from accidental voice deletion.

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Roadmap & Next Steps

1. Stage 0: Core bugfixes, dead code removal, and async code signature corrections.
2. Stage 1: Deep toolchain cleanup, installer hunter & Apple Intelligence safe info review.
3. Stage 2: Honest APFS delta measurement & verified category reporting.
4. Stage 3: Startup services audit (signatures, orphaned items, BTM login items).
5. Stage 4: Privacy manager (TCC reset, read-only network sockets snapshot, browser extensions preview).
6. Stage 5: Documentation, comprehensive localization check (14 languages), and CI control.
7. Stage 6: Native Touch on Mac adaptations (36 pt touch targets, gesture recognizers, swipe actions, Sidecar validation).

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💬 We’d love your feedback!

Touch on Mac & Gestures:

• For those testing on touchscreen hardware or via iPad Sidecar: how do the hit-target sizes and swipe interactions feel?
• Any specific gestures you’d love to see on the dashboard or cleanup tables?

Background services & daemons:

• Are there specific background agents or launch daemons that cause issues on your Mac?
• Any edge cases when disabling or removing startup items?

Localization & RTL:

• If you are a native Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Korean, or Polish speaker, we would appreciate help reviewing terminology and layout fit once the new locale builds drop.

Leftover paths & developer caches:

• Notice an application or CLI tool leaving large residual files that we didn't pick up? Let us know the tool name, bundle ID, and paths so we can add them to our test suite.

Drop your thoughts, bug reports, and suggestions below. Every comment helps us build a cleaner you can trust.