/Library/Caches on Mac: Can You Clear System Caches?
Medium riskSystem & external drivesUpdated
- Locations
/Library/Caches/Library/Logs
Only items directly inside these folders are eligible.
- Risk level
- Medium riskSafe to remove, but the tool that owns it re-downloads or rebuilds it on next use, which costs time and bandwidth. Listed, never pre-selected.
- Selected by default
- No — you choose whether to include it
- What Freshist does
- These folders are owned by macOS (root), so they can't go to your Trash: when you select them, Freshist's signed privileged helper deletes them permanently. Only items one level inside each folder are eligible, and caches belonging to endpoint security and MDM agents are always skipped.
- In the app
- Clean → System Caches (requires helper) — “System-wide caches under /Library — deleted permanently by the signed helper (not the Trash). Regenerated automatically.”
From Freshist's own cleaning rules — the same catalog the app uses.
The two folders in this group
macOS has three levels of Library folder: your own (~/Library), the computer-wide one (/Library), and the sealed system one (/System/Library). This guide covers two computer-wide folders:
- /Library/Caches: caches written by system daemons, background services and software installed for all users. Many entries are named after a bundle ID, such as
com.apple.iconservices.store, and are owned by system accounts like_iconservicesrather than by you. - /Library/Logs: logs from installers, system services and third-party daemons, including
DiagnosticReportsfor system processes.
Because these folders are shared, macOS restricts them. A normal ls /Library/Caches already returns "Operation not permitted" for some entries, because privacy protections and per-service ownership apply even to administrators.
How big they get
On most Macs these folders are small next to your personal caches. On the Mac used to check this guide, /Library/Caches was 12 MB and /Library/Logs 1.4 MB. They grow when a third-party installer or daemon leaves behind large caches or noisy logs, or after software that was installed for all users has been removed. For space that seems to vanish into "System Data", the System Data guide is a better starting point.
What happens if you remove them
| Item | After removal |
|---|---|
| Apple service caches (icons, fonts, metadata) | Rebuilt by the service; you may see a short delay or redrawn icons |
| Third-party app caches | Rebuilt by the app on next use |
| Installer and daemon logs | New logs start; old troubleshooting history is gone |
| Items still in use by a running service | May be recreated at once, or briefly confuse that service until it restarts |
Removing these files needs administrator privileges and doesn't go through the Trash, so there's no undo.
Inspect them (read-only)
sudo du -sh /Library/Caches /Library/Logs
sudo du -sh /Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -15
ls -l /Library/Logs
sudo asks for your password, and some entries still show "Operation not permitted". That's privacy protection at work and not an error.
Clearing them by hand
There's no Apple command that empties these folders, and Apple doesn't recommend routine cleaning. If you do want to remove something:
- Quit the app or uninstall the tool that owns the cache.
- In Finder, choose Go → Go to Folder… and enter
/Library/Cachesor/Library/Logs. - Delete only folders you can tie to a specific app, and confirm with your administrator password.
- Restart the Mac so system services rebuild anything they need.
Leave com.apple.* entries alone unless you're following specific troubleshooting steps, and never remove the /Library/Caches or /Library/Logs folders themselves.
When to keep them
If the folders are small, there's nothing to gain. Clearing them is worth it only when one item is clearly oversized or tied to software you've removed. The per-user counterparts are covered in App caches and Logs, and the safety page explains how Freshist limits what it touches.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Is /Library/Caches the same as ~/Library/Caches?
No. ~/Library/Caches (with the tilde) is in your home folder and belongs to you. /Library/Caches at the top of the startup disk is shared by every account on the Mac and written by system services and installers.
What about /System/Library/Caches?
That folder is part of the sealed, read-only system volume protected by System Integrity Protection. Nothing outside a macOS update can change it, and it shouldn't be touched.
Does restarting my Mac clear system caches?
Some services clear or rebuild their caches when they restart, so a restart helps with a misbehaving cache. It doesn't empty /Library/Caches as a whole, though.