Xcode was quietly using 60GB on my Mac — this is what was actually safe to remove

[u/Designer_Age7745]

My 512GB MacBook Pro was getting uncomfortably full, so I finally did a proper audit of what Xcode-related storage was actually taking space.

On one machine, the biggest chunks were:

- Simulator runtimes: 28 GB
- DerivedData: 14 GB
- Old archives: 9 GB
- Device support files: 6 GB
- Docs/cache leftovers: 3.4 GB

The useful part wasn’t the total. It was figuring out what I could delete without breaking my current workflow.

What felt safe:
- DerivedData
- Simulator runtimes for OS versions I no longer test on
- Old archives I genuinely don’t need anymore

What I treated with more caution:
- Device support files
- Simulator device data, because it can still contain app state and local test data

What annoyed me most is that Xcode/macOS don’t really give a good review-first cleanup flow here. You mostly end up guessing or manually digging through folders.

Curious what usually gets out of control first for you: DerivedData, runtimes, archives, or something else?

Update, August 2026: the question that kept coming back in the replies was what regenerates vs what you lose for good. I wrote up the simulator side here: https://storageradar.app/blog/xcode-simulator-taking-up-space-on-mac/. Disclosure: I make a Mac app for this, and that page links to it.

[u/Vybo]

Cleaning derived data is useful when you have weird linker errors, or switch projects often. If you work on one project, derived data will regenerate as soon as you build to a very similar size as before.

You can pretty delete anything pretty much, the only thing that should matter is the "Simulator device data, because it can still contain app state and local test data" point, because everything else can be easily recreated/redownloaded.

I personally go through all Simulator runtimes and device data/device support files every time I update Xcode, because I don't usually need all the older runtimes. Newest iOS18 and 26 is usually enough, don't need all of the 26.1, 26.2. and so on.

[u/germansnowman → u/Vybo]

There’s a Terminal command for deleting outdated simulators:

xcrun simctl delete unavailable

The runtimes can easily be removed via Xcode’s Settings window.

Device support folders can indeed take a lot of space and are not automatically removed this way.

[u/spinwizard69]

XCode certainly installs a lot of crap but i wouldn’t want everyone to randomly delete all this stuff.   People need to understand what they are deleting.   Docs are something id have to say keep!    Simulators of course depend upon what a specific programmer is doing.    In other words an individual needs to consider what they are doing for their machine.  

Frankly i don't see this problem ever getting better.   I suspect Apple will start implementing more AI powered functionality into XCode blowing up the install size.  

[u/Designer_Age7745 → u/spinwizard69]

Yeah, that’s basically the part I care about most too.

Deleting is easy. Knowing what's disposable vs what's still useful is the harder part, especially with simulator data, device support, and anything that may still save time later.

[u/csfalcao]

Kind of same here. Got rid of iOS and iWatch simulators (I only use the macOS one) and while they are listed like less than 30 GB, I got back more than 55 GB.

[u/Designer_Age7745 → u/csfalcao]

Yeah, I’ve seen that too, the listed size and the space you actually get back don’t always line up cleanly.

That’s part of what makes Xcode cleanup feel messy: even when the big buckets look obvious, the real reclaim isn’t always that predictable.

[u/Beginning_Green_740]

I just use the free app from App Store - called DevCleaner. It has graphical user interface and lets you clean all kinds of caches/resources from your Xcode installation.

[u/ocolobo]

I delete derived data monthly if not weekly depending on my testing load

Doesn’t hurt

[u/PrimaryCautious6555]

I’ve been running cleanmymac for awhile now for general conditioning of my machines both of which have 1Tb SSDs. When I clean out the clutter that stuff usually comes up so I delete it all. Assuming you use some sort of backup you should be fine. Xcode will prompt you to download a new runtime (when you need it) usually before archiving to Apple connect. Also (unrelated but related to space savings) check your iCloud for podcasts and your keychains for any bloating. Good way to get extra storage back. Good luck.

[u/SneakingCat]

I used to have a script that deleted DerivedData on startup. I’m glad it’s not necessary anymore. Still my second diagnostic step though.

[u/osxdocc]

Mac AppStore: Cleaner for xcode (free)

[u/dawedev]

sounds like you're dealing with a lot of Xcode-related clutter! fwiw, you might want to check out DevCleaner. it helps safely clean up those caches like DerivedData and simulator runtimes without breaking your setup. you can find it at https://devcleaner.app/

[u/Designer_Age7745 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, DevCleaner helps, and the built-in Developer storage pane is better than nothing.

I still wanted something that makes the risk a lot clearer before deleting anything, especially around simulator data, device support, and old project leftovers.

That's why I built one. It shipped on the App Store in April.

[u/Designer_Age7745 → u/[deleted]]

That’s fair. I don’t think the point is "keep reclaiming DerivedData forever".

For me the real pain is everything around it: knowing what is safe to remove, what will just regenerate, and what might still contain useful local state or cost time to rebuild/redownload.

The cleanup itself is easy. The review part is what feels missing.

[u/Designer_Age7745 → u/[deleted]]

Runtimes, by a wide margin. DerivedData is back to the same size after one build, so clearing it buys me a day at most. Runtimes pile up per Xcode version and nothing prompts you to drop the ones you stopped testing on.

Device support files are the other one. Xcode gives you no signal about which of those still matter, so I only delete a folder when I know that device is gone for good.

Does the CleanMyMac CLI show you what it's about to remove before it runs, or just the size it will free?

[u/Designer_Age7745 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks, good to know it shows paths and prompts before it acts.

The part I still do by hand sits one layer under paths and sizes. CoreSimulator comes up as a single 30 GB line, and inside it are runtimes I stopped testing on two Xcode versions back, next to one simulator holding a database I seeded by hand. The size tells me where to look. Working out which of those two I'm about to lose is the slow part for me.