CleanMyMac X Download Free For Mac 5.0.5 (macOS)

CONS

• No lab test results available
• No protection against malicious or fraudulent websites
• Our hands-on tests not applicable

Like Bitdefender, Malwarebytes for Mac Premium, and others, CleanMyMac X 2025 requires a macOS version of at least Yosemite (10.10). That should be an easy requirement to meet, given how simple Apple makes staying up to date. Some competing products require even more recent versions. Norton 360 Deluxe for Mac, for example, supports the current version and the two previous, meaning Monterey (12), Big Sur (11), and Catalina (10.15).

Some Mac users are stuck using an old macOS version, perhaps due to antiquated hardware. Don’t worry; protection is still available. For example, ProtectWorks AntiVirus for Mac supports version back to Mountain Lion (10.8), and Intego Mac Internet Security works with Mavericks (10.9) or later.

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Getting Started

CleanMyMac X 5.0.5 uses the super-simple type of Mac app installation; you just drag its icon to Applications. I finished the process by activating with my installation code.

CleanMyMac doesn’t have the typical off-white or dark gray background. Rather, its various pages use gradient-fill backgrounds of many bold colors. The main page has a lavender background with a welcome message and a cartoon cat. I get the impression that the main page changes seasonally. Currently it shows what seem to be holiday gifts, with animated snow falling.

Down the left you find a list of all the feature pages, organized into categories: Cleanup, Protection, Speed, Applications, and Files. Clicking the Scan button on this page runs a Smart Scan, meaning it scans for junk files, takes a quick look for malware, and checks for ways to speed up your Mac. That scan finished in just over a minute. I took the program’s advice and ran a Deep Scan, but even that scan took no longer than two minutes.

For my Windows antivirus reviews I closely track the regular reports from four antivirus testing labs around the world: AV-Comparatives, AV-Test, MRG-Effitas, and SE Labs. Two of these (AV-Test Institute and AV-Comparatives) also put macOS antivirus tools to the test. When I first started reporting on macOS antivirus, I selected only products that appeared in results from at least one lab. At present, almost half the macOS products I track don’t show up in test results from either lab. CleanMyMac is one of those.

At the other end of the spectrum, both labs report on about one in six products. Avast One for Mac and Bitdefender earned perfect scores from both labs. Several others, including Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac and Norton, earned a perfect score from the one lab that tested them.

CleanMyMac X Download Free

Most macOS antivirus products include the ability to detect Windows malware, not because it could run on a Mac, but to be sure the Mac doesn’t serve as a carrier. Some of them are quite successful. Webroot detected and cleared 97% of my Windows malware samples, while Avira Free Antivirus for Mac and Sophos Home Premium for Mac managed 90%. CleanMyMac doesn’t attempt to remove Windows malware. Just to check, I copied six dozen Windows samples to a folder on a USB drive, transferred the folder to my test Mac’s desktop, and ran a scan. The scan came up clean.

To be fair, detecting Windows malware is not a central feature for a Mac antivirus utility. I don’t zing a product that lacks this ability. But I can’t help noticing that almost every other competing product does have this ability, to one extent or another.

Another feature found in many macOS antivirus products is the ability to steer the user’s browser away from malware-hosting websites. Most of them accomplish this using browser extensions, though a few do their work below the browser level. This feature almost always includes detection of phishing sites, fraudulent sites that try to steal your passwords. I don’t have the resources to find websites specifically hosting macOS malware, but phishing is platform-agnostic, as is my phishing protection test. Once again, though, it isn’t a feature that CleanMyMac offers.

In my phishing detection test, some Mac-centric products have performed very well indeed. McAfee, Norton, and Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus for Mac all managed a perfect 100% score.

The lack of any browser-level protection is a more serious flaw. All the best macOS antivirus tools include this ability, and, as noted, some are very, very good.

With no results from the labs and none of my own hands-on tests workable, I have no way to verify that CleanMyMac does anything at all to remove malware. Its deep scan runs extremely quickly, finished in less than two minutes. Is it really scanning? How could I confirm that?

As it turns out, there’s a solution. The EICAR test file is a small, simple, harmless file that almost every antivirus company has agreed to detect as malware. It’s at the core of many of the feature check pages provided by AMTSO, the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization. I downloaded this file (dodging other antivirus and browser attempts to block the download), copied it to the Mac, and ran a scan. Success! CleanMyMac detected and removed the file.

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Privacy Protection

Under the Protection category in the left-rail menu you find Malware Removal and Privacy. The latter doesn’t reference any strong protection against attacks on your privacy and personal information, though. It doesn’t actively block advertising trackers and other trackers, it doesn’t seek your personal information on the Dark Web, and it doesn’t remove your personal data from data aggregator websites.

Just what does CleanMyMac do for your privacy? For one, it clears traces of your browsing history from popular browsers, among them Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Admittedly, it does a thorough job. In addition to the expected clearing of history and cookies, it sweeps clean such items as Autofill data, saved passwords, and download history. It can also clear recently used file lists from Finder and Wi-Fi networks that your Mac remembers. The privacy scan simply reports these findings; it’s up to you to choose which ones actually get wiped.

There’s one more category of privacy data that’s not quite like the rest. CleanMyMac scans for apps that have specific permissions such as access to the camera, documents folder, and microphone. Many apps, including CleanMyMac itself, legitimately need these permissions to function, so you shouldn’t just wildly delete permissions. On the other hand, if you revoke something that an app requires to function, it will simply ask you again to grant that permission when needed.

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Application Features

CleanMyMac X application features don’t all relate directly to security, but the Updater is definitely important. Malicious coders pore over popular applications, seeking security holes that they can exploit. The creators of those applications work hard to patch those security holes and push out updated software. But if you fail to install those security updates, your Mac remains vulnerable. It’s true that macOS defaults to a rather robust automated update system. This scan didn’t find any unpatched apps on my test system.

Uninstalling applications doesn’t improve your security, but decluttering is smart. CleanMyMac X promises to perform a thorough uninstall of any apps you choose for removal, without any leftovers. Speaking of leftovers, it also finds bits and pieces left over from imperfect uninstalls. My test Mac had a dozen or so of them, including files from Avast, McAfee AntiVirus Plus for Mac, and an unspecified VPN. Crusty old antivirus files can interfere with installing other antivirus products, so getting rid of them is a big plus.

That leaves the Extensions scanner. As you use your Mac, you can wind up installing all kinds of widgets, plug-ins, and other extensions. CleanMyMac scans for and reports on extensions to Spotlight, Safari, and Preferences, as well as internet plug-ins. Have a look at the list, and feel free to remove any that you’re not actually using.

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CleanMyMac X Assistant

This product has so many features, you might not even get around to using them all. That’s where the Assistant comes in. Each time you finish a process such as clearing up uninstall leftovers or scanning for malware, the Assistant slides in suggesting three more actions you could take, things like uninstalling unused apps, running an optimization scan, or performing maintenance tasks. It reminds me, to an extent, of the AutoPilot feature in Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac. In both cases, the app prompts you to make full use of its features.

You can click to fully open the Assistant. In this mode, it shows six suggestions and also displays stats about the app’s successes across the bottom. At any time, you can bring up the Assistant (or dismiss it) by clicking a link at top right.

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Cleanup and Speedup Features

This product’s name is CleanMyMac X  and indeed it does more than clean away malware. A full collection of cleanup and speedup features should expand your free disk space and get your Mac running at its most efficient.

In the Cleanup category, it cleans System Junk and Mail Attachments and empties the Trash. The System Junk scan is self-explanatory; it also runs as part of the recommended Smart Scan. By default, it performs “smart selection,” choosing which items can be deleted without consequences. You can also dig into its findings and mark more items for deletion, things like downloaded files (all of them or just some), unused disk image files, and file versions saved by data editing programs.