Safe, Review and Caution

Every item Roomy finds gets a safety rating: Safe, Review or Caution. The rating, together with what kind of data the item is, decides whether Roomy ever selects it for you.

The three ratings

Rating	What it means	Selected for you?
Safe	Apps and macOS recreate this automatically. Nothing you made is lost.	Yes, if it's rebuildable data (see below)
Review	Usually fine to remove, but take a look first.	Never
Caution	May contain data you want to keep. Only remove it if you're sure.	Never

What gets selected automatically

Only items that are rated Safe and are rebuildable are ever selected for you, and only these are included when you click Clean Safe Items on the Overview. Rebuildable kinds are:

• Cache: files apps save to load things faster.
• Logs: files written for troubleshooting, including crash reports.
• Temporary: temporary files nothing has touched for 3 days or more.
• Build data: for example Xcode DerivedData, which Xcode rebuilds on the next build.
• Downloads cache: package caches from npm, Homebrew, pip and similar tools, which download again when needed.

The other kinds, App data, Download, Your files and Backup, are never selected automatically, whatever their rating. App data includes documents, settings and logins. Browsers lose only their web cache: bookmarks, passwords, history, open tabs and logins stay.

Why something is Review instead of Safe

• The app is open. Quit it first so it lets go of its cache, then press ⌘ R to scan again.
• It's a macOS cache. Your data stays, but macOS takes a moment to rebuild it.
• It's an unknown cache over 1 GB. Some apps keep real downloads in their cache folder, such as offline files or browser engines.
• It's app data, such as saved window states or Mail attachment copies.
• It couldn't be read completely, often because Full Disk Access is off.
• It's a download, an installer or the Trash. Emptying the Trash is permanent.

Caution marks backups and archives, such as local iPhone and iPad backups and Xcode archives of builds you shipped.

Check before you clean

1. Click the ⓘ button on any row. It shows what is removed, what stays, the exact location, size, file count, and whether the item is deleted or moved to the Trash.
2. Tick or untick items to change your selection.
3. When you clean, a confirmation sheet lists every item. If anything isn't a cache, you must also tick I checked these and want to remove them.

Caches and logs are deleted because they rebuild. Everything else goes to the Trash so you can put it back. See Undo a clean.

Tips

• Right-click any item and choose Never Clean This to exclude it for good. Manage exclusions in Settings → Exclusions.
• Every path is checked again right before removal. Protected places such as macOS system folders, iCloud Drive and Keychains are always refused.

If that didn't work

If an item you expected to be Safe shows Review, check whether its app is open or whether Full Disk Access is off (see Full Disk Access). For the full list of locations, read What Roomy removes.