Looking for a cleaner for MacBook

I second jeffreythefrog's advice. Apple neither provides nor recommends such apps. They are unnecessary and sometimes actually harmful.

There's a section in this article specifically about such applications:

Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community

There are a few apps that will scan your computer and sort files by size. If you are careful and you know what you're doing and only remove things you understand that are safe to use. I believe I've heard some folks talk about DaisyDisk. Note that this kind of app deletes nothing automatically. It just gives you information.

I have not used DaisyDisk personally.

If you go to the Menu, About this Mac, then More Info and click on Storage it will scan your drive and list all folders and their sizes (sorted by size), then tap on any folder and it will list all files in it, sorted by size. So you can easily find the largest contributors to storage usage. The actual path to Storage varies with Mac OS version, but it will be there.

There is also the free app OmniDiskSweeper that has a similar capability. Both of these are entirely under your control, unlike CleanMyMac (aka CrashMyMac).

You can do that yourself simply by viewing these folder in List Mode and sorting by Date:

• Applications
• Documents
• Download
• Desktop

Only you know which files are valuable to you and removing anything from your System Folders is risky and may corrupt your computer so it no longer starts up or renders some apps that you want useless. Those so called cleaner apps have a long history of causing problems and may lead to you having to perform a Clean Install where your computer will be wiped. The most famous one is CleanMyMac, which is known as BrickMyMac on this Support Site due to users who have tried it and have caused their computer to become useless.

Jane_star15 wrote:

Could you recommend a cleaner app to clear out unnecessary files from my Mac? I’m looking for something that can scan and find old files that haven’t been used in a long time but are still taking up space.

macOS already provides what you're looking for: Optimize storage space on your Mac - Apple Support.

sorry, but many of us here, including me, DO NOT recommend any such apps. apps like those are well known to cause serious issues within macOS while providing no benefit or protection. and they are also know to remove things needed by macOS that would require an erase and reinstall of macOS to put back right. you would do well to avoid any such apps.

Jane_star15 wrote:

wow, really?

yes, 100%

Maybe there are some alternatives specifically from Apple?

none that I know of. macOS is cat like. it keeps itself clean. if you want to remove redundant files, or no longer needed files, your best bet is to move them to the trash by yourself one at a time. yes, that could take a while, but, IMHO, is better than the aftermath of dealing with the damage that so-called "cleaner" apps can cause.

Jane_star15 wrote:

I've heard a lot about CleanMyMac

Unfortunately we have too. So many users have lost their data thinking they were "cleaning" their computer.

Hello~

jeffreythefrog wrote:

macOS is cat like. it keeps itself clean. if you want to remove redundant files, or no longer needed files, your best bet is to move them to the trash by yourself one at a time.

Beautifully put!!

~Katana-San~

you're welcome. :)

One of the worst possible choices.

TY. :)