Dustling 0.1.1

A polish release: a proper install window, a Quit that always works, and fixes from a full pass over every screen.

Changed

• The disk image now opens a proper install window: drag Dustling onto Applications, with a hint for updating an older copy and for the first open. The disk shows Dustling's icon.

Fixed

• Quit works even when a confirmation or sheet is open. If Dustling is moving files, it asks before stopping.
• Loading placeholders now line up with the content that replaces them on every screen, show up on panels in light and dark, and fill the space without spilling over.
• On a first launch the sidebar opened too narrow, cutting off "Startup items" and the Full Disk Access line. It now always opens at its full width.
• Icons on buttons such as Move to Trash and Empty Trash stay visible in light mode when Dustling isn't the active app, and dim with their button when it can't be used.
• VoiceOver reads every line in a run's log in History, which it skipped before, and says whether each app in the Uninstaller was moved, left alone or is still waiting.
• The three tool cards on Home are the same height with their buttons in line, also in a narrow window where one caption takes two lines.
• Move to Trash in the Junk scan is off when nothing is selected to move, instead of only saying so after you click it.
• In the junk scan's "Close apps to include their files?" sheet, the "Clean without them" button was cut off. The sheet is wider and its buttons always show their full labels. The Uninstaller's "Quit … and move to Trash" button no longer gets cut off by a long app name.
• "Start scanning" at the end of the setup starts a new scan. Before, it showed the results of the scan from when Dustling opened, which could be minutes old.
• History lists the apps of a multi-app uninstall in the order they were removed. Runs that started within the same second used to appear in a random order.
• After putting an app back from the Uninstaller's summary, the "in the Trash" total no longer counts it.
• On macOS 26, the right edge of every screen was cut off by a few points when the window was at its smallest. The smallest window is now 8 points wider.

Install

1. Download Dustling.dmg below, open it and drag Dustling to Applications.
2. Open Dustling. It isn't signed with an Apple Developer ID yet, so the first time, macOS stops it and asks you to confirm:
   • macOS 15 Sequoia or later: click Done in the message. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to Security and click Open Anyway next to "Dustling was blocked". Enter your password, then click Open Anyway once more.
   • macOS 14 Sonoma: Control-click Dustling in Applications, choose Open, then click Open.
3. Follow Dustling's setup to give it Full Disk Access.

Updating from an earlier version? Quit Dustling and replace it in Applications. macOS may stop honoring the old Full Disk Access switch for the new version; Dustling says so if it happens. Remove Dustling from the Full Disk Access list with the − button, then add it again with +.

More help, including what to do if macOS says the app is damaged: Installing Dustling.

SHA-256 of Dustling.dmg: 56937a88609671900d7e5d4487eaa0e9cf068abe6e0e882c9e459cc5030f35e9

Dustling 0.1.0

The first release of Dustling: a free, open-source Mac cleaner that moves things to the Trash first and tells you what happened to every file.

Added

• Junk scan. Finds caches, logs, old installers, Xcode and package manager leftovers and more, grouped into categories with their sizes and shown as a mosaic of your storage. Safe-to-regenerate categories are ticked by default; personal files such as big old downloads are only listed for you to review.
• App uninstaller. Moves apps to the Trash together with their leftovers: caches, preferences, containers, launch agents and more. Leftovers that may hold your own data (saves, libraries, databases) are listed but left unticked. It also finds apps without a bundle ID, such as Steam games.
• Startup items. Lists login agents and background daemons, and turns user-level ones off and on again.
• History and Restore. Every run is recorded with the outcome of each file. Put a whole run back, or a single file, as long as it is still in the Trash.
• Empty Trash. Lists what is in the Trash before the one permanent delete, and always asks first.
• Health check. Checks Full Disk Access by actually reading a protected place, and shows free space the way the macOS updater counts it, including purgeable space.
• Guided setup for Full Disk Access. Without it, Dustling still works and says which places it couldn't read.
• Light and dark appearance, VoiceOver and keyboard support, and motion that respects Reduce Motion.
• Runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs with macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

Known limitations

• Dustling isn't signed with an Apple Developer ID or notarized yet, so macOS asks you to confirm the first time you open it. Installing Dustling shows how.
• Because of that, macOS may drop Full Disk Access when you update to a new version. Dustling tells you when this happens; turn it on again in System Settings.
• There is no admin helper yet. Items that need administrator rights (some system caches, launch daemons) are reported as "needs admin" and left alone.

Install

1. Download Dustling.dmg below, open it and drag Dustling to Applications.
2. Open Dustling. It isn't signed with an Apple Developer ID yet, so the first time, macOS stops it and asks you to confirm:
   • macOS 15 Sequoia or later: click Done in the message. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to Security and click Open Anyway next to "Dustling was blocked". Enter your password, then click Open Anyway once more.
   • macOS 14 Sonoma: Control-click Dustling in Applications, choose Open, then click Open.
3. Follow Dustling's setup to give it Full Disk Access.

Updating from an earlier version? Quit Dustling and replace it in Applications. macOS may stop honoring the old Full Disk Access switch for the new version; Dustling says so if it happens. Remove Dustling from the Full Disk Access list with the − button, then add it again with +.

More help, including what to do if macOS says the app is damaged: Installing Dustling.

SHA-256 of Dustling.dmg: f92ccf0e05aa1855af567c5102957c71f6c69b4700de70e7dc2b853e18731739