CleanMachine uses full MD5 comparison — not just file names — to find byte-for-byte identical duplicates. It also uses Apple's Vision AI to find near-duplicate photos. The average Mac has hundreds of duplicates hiding in plain sight.
macOS 13+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · Scanning always free
Every Mac accumulates duplicates over time through normal use. Here's where they come from.
Many duplicate finders match only file names — so they miss "photo.jpg" and "photo(2).jpg" even though they're identical, while also flagging false positives like two different files named "readme.txt". CleanMachine uses full MD5 hash comparison — it reads the entire file and generates a fingerprint. If two files have the same fingerprint, they are byte-for-byte identical, regardless of name or location.
The scan process is optimized: files are first grouped by size (a fast pre-filter), then only same-size files undergo the full MD5 comparison. This makes the scan fast even on large file collections.
MD5 only finds exact copies. But most photo duplicates are near-duplicates — burst shots, slightly different crops, or the same scene shot twice. CleanMachine uses Apple's Vision framework (VNGenerateImageFeaturePrintRequest) to compute perceptual similarity scores and groups photos that look nearly identical — even if the files are not byte-for-byte the same.
Full MD5 comparison across Documents, Downloads, Desktop, Movies, Pictures, and Music. Groups identical files, shows path and size per copy, auto-selects oldest for removal.
Vision AI perceptual similarity scans ~/Pictures for near-duplicate photos — burst shots, slight variations, same-scene pairs. Threshold-tuned to minimize false positives.
Duplicates are moved to CleanMachine Trash — fully recoverable. Review the list after cleaning and restore anything you want to keep. Nothing is permanently gone until you confirm.
Pair the duplicate finder with the Large Files scan to find big duplicates first — where recovering 2 copies of a 4 GB video immediately frees 4 GB.
Download CleanMachine and run the duplicate finder — completely free. See exactly how many duplicates you have and how much space they're taking. Only $19.99 once to remove them.
macOS 13+ · No subscription · 30-day money-back guarantee
No. CleanMachine deliberately never modifies the .photoslibrary bundle. Moving files in or out of a Photos library corrupts its SQLite database and can cause data loss on the next iCloud sync. The Duplicate Photos feature only scans loose files in ~/Pictures — not inside any .photoslibrary bundle.
Within each duplicate group, CleanMachine auto-selects all but the most recently modified copy for removal — so you keep your newest version. You can change any selection before confirming. Nothing is removed until you explicitly approve it.
Removed files go to CleanMachine Trash — a dedicated holding area in ~/.cleanmachine_trash/. You can restore any file from there at any time. Files are only permanently deleted when you explicitly choose "Empty CleanMachine Trash."
The current version scans your home directory (Documents, Downloads, Desktop, Movies, Pictures, Music). External drive scanning is planned for a future release.