Is CleanMyMac X safe

No. Absolutely not.

The best way to free up space is to move content you don't need immediate access to to external storage or delete it if you don't need it at all any more.

Never install any app that claims to "clean", "speed up" or "tune up" your Mac. They are all junk ware at best, and in inexperienced hands risk significant dataloss.

Various cleaning apps and various versions have had a history of causing corruptions, and more than a few related discussions posted around the forums.

Security tools and security add-ons and removal tools are an increasingly scammy and malware-infested market, unfortunately.

The controversy around cleaning apps goes back many years.

As for notarization, that’s a signing and app-tracking process and a malware scan. That’s what gets an app past Gatekeeper, now.

“Notarization gives users more confidence that the Developer ID-signed software you distribute has been checked by Apple for malicious components. Notarization is not App Review. The Apple notary service is an automated system that scans your software for malicious content, checks for code-signing issues, and returns the results to you quickly. If there are no issues, the notary service generates a ticket for you to staple to your software; the notary service also publishes that ticket online where Gatekeeper can find it.” Highlights added.

That doesn’t mean the code works, and that doesn’t mean the code even works.

The App Review process—which is not part of notarization—is what checks that the app plays well with others, and a cleaner app almost by definition has to rummage in parts of the system and delete stuff that an app should not be deleting.

It’s a lucrative market too, judging solely by all the advertising.

paulgraneck wrote:

I've been using this app for years and it's actually quite good — as long as you know what you're deleting. CleanMyMac X has been notarized by Apple as safe. Just saying.

Actually quite good... for what?

You particularly want to avoid that one.

...Or you could upgrade your storage to meet your current requirements.

paulgraneck wrote:

CleanMyMac X has been notarized by Apple as safe. Just saying.

Can you point us to where you saw this?

CleanMyMac X has been notarized by Apple as safe.

That is a flat out lie. Apple does not publicly endorse any third party software. Ever.

Terence Devlin wrote:

Actually quite good... for what?

Making money for its developers, of course.

;)

Don't even think about it!

How to free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

I've been using this app for years and it's actually quite good — as long as you know what you're deleting. CleanMyMac X has been notarized by Apple as safe. Just saying.