Questions and answers

TrailSift finds where your Mac keeps a record of where you've been, and clears it, keeping your Mac clean and tidy: the download log, history kept in odd places, old iPhone and iPad backups, cookies, remembered Wi-Fi networks, learned typing and what deleted apps leave behind. It covers the places other cleaners leave alone. Every place it looks is listed on What TrailSift checks.

The audit is free: every place macOS lets an app read, with the size of each and how to clear it by hand, plus what changed since your last audit and the leftovers of deleted apps. Pro clears what you choose, shows the places macOS protects in full, and adds the Clean Up Wizard, Word Search, scheduled clean-ups and PDF reports. It's a one-time purchase; see TrailSift Pro.

Any Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel.

No. The audit, the clean-ups and their records stay on your Mac. The only thing it asks the internet is whether a newer version is out. The privacy policy has the detail.

Yes. The audit only reads. Databases are copied to a private temporary folder before they're read, and nothing changes until you choose something to clear and confirm it. The audit script is open source, so anyone can check what it reads.

macOS protects some places, such as Safari, Messages, the Trash and iPhone backups, until you allow an app to read them. Choose Help > Set Up Full Disk Access in TrailSift, or open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access and turn on TrailSift. Then run the audit again.

Quit TrailSift and open it again: macOS applies the change when the app starts. If they're still blocked, remove TrailSift from the Full Disk Access list with the minus button, add it again, and reopen it.

Mostly, yes. Files go to the Trash, so you can put them back until you empty it. Before entries are removed from a database, such as a browser's history, TrailSift keeps a copy in ~/Library/Application Support/TrailSift/Backups for a week. A few things can't be undone, such as emptying the Trash or deleting local Time Machine snapshots; the review marks them plainly before anything happens.

TrailSift only changes an app's data while that app is closed, so nothing is changed under it. Quit the app it names, then click Check Again. A scheduled clean-up skips that app and tries again next time.

Files moved to the Trash still take up space until the Trash is emptied. Clean Up shows how much is waiting there, with an Empty Trash button.

Some traces can only be cleared safely by the app that keeps them. Safari, for one, syncs its history through iCloud, so it would bring back anything deleted behind its back. For those, By Hand gives the steps and a button to open the right place.

If Chrome is signed in and syncing, your history is also kept in your Google Account. Clear it in Chrome as well, which removes it from the account and your other devices.

No. Your own documents and photos are never touched. Word Search shows where a file is, and you decide what to do with it in Finder.

A few things are kept by macOS itself and need an administrator: forgetting Wi-Fi networks, showing when each network was last used, clearing finished print jobs, deleting local snapshots, and removing startup items that serve every account on the Mac. The window that asks is macOS's own, and TrailSift never sees what's typed into it.

Everything else works as normal. For the steps above, ask whoever administers the Mac to type their name and password when macOS asks.

It lists data named for an app that isn't installed, and leaves out Apple's own and anything from a company that still has an app on your Mac. Names come from a list of well-known apps, then from the download log; a name made from the app's ID says so. Check each one before clearing it.

No. Photo Locations makes new copies without the location, in a folder you choose, and leaves your originals exactly as they were. Clean Up never touches your documents or photos.

Yes: iCloud Keychain removes it from your other Apple devices too. You'll need the password to join it again.

macOS may ask you to allow it: open System Settings > General > Login Items and turn on TrailSift. Each run is recorded in ~/Library/Logs/TrailSift/cleanup.log, and the Schedule page shows when it last ran and what it did. Scheduled clean-ups need Pro.

It was emailed to the address you bought with, from licences@trailsift.com. Check your junk mail, or have it sent again. Then choose TrailSift > Enter Licence and paste the whole key.

Yes. Your licence works on each of your own Macs: download TrailSift there and enter the same key. It's checked on the Mac, without going online.

Payments are handled by Stripe, through Link, which acts as the seller and handles the tax. Your receipt comes from them, for TrailSift Pro.

Yes, within 14 days of buying: email us from the address you bought with. See the terms of sale.

TrailSift checks for a new version when it opens, at most once a day, and you can check any time with TrailSift > Check for Updates. With Pro, one click installs it; the free version links to the download page. Every update is checked to be signed by Itch Studio and accepted by macOS before it's installed.

Some network filters block new websites, trailsift.com among them. TrailSift tries a second address when that happens. If it still can't check, download the latest version from the download page on another network.

Turn off any scheduled clean-up first, on the Schedule page. Then quit TrailSift and move it to the Trash, along with ~/Library/Application Support/TrailSift, ~/Library/Logs/TrailSift and ~/Library/Preferences/studio.itch.trailsift.plist. TrailSift itself lists none of these as leftovers.