CleanApp, Takes Other Maintenance Apps to the Cleaners

excellent
key review info
application features
  • List with all applications on your hard drive
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For many people, the Mac platform is all about OS X, the operating system. While it is true that OS X is the foundation of the Mac experience, without which nothing would be possible, it is in fact the software that makes a platform great. Great software is just like OS X, once you use it, you will be amazed, wonder how you could have lived so long without it and be unable to imagine working with anything else. This is pretty much the way I look at CleanApp.

What it does CleanApp is an application maintenance program, of which there are tens if not hundreds. Some of these applications make it easy to remove extraneous files when deleting applications, others make it easy to remove system components, unnecessary localization and even application code from universal binaries, while others still let you clean caches and get rid of unused files that are just lying around. CleanApp is a bit different in that it does everything in that list and does it with style and grace.

Working with it CleanApp makes doing anything with it a breeze and is so intuitive it simply feels like a part of OS X itself. However, before you can make proper use of the application related functions, you have to prepare. As applications install themselves, they can throw files and folders around just about anywhere. While this does not happen very often, when it does happen those files are not going to be tied in any way with the application. In these circumstances, only a dedicated uninstaller application made specifically for that program will help and that needs to be provided by the developer. While there are applications such as AppZapper, which can search for files related to a program, they will not find files that are not directly related to that program and these can include documentation, templates, clipart and more. CleanApp does things differently, by installing a helper that constantly monitors activity and will log any application installations, knowing exactly what was created and where. As such, before you can properly use CleanApp, you need to have the helper active while installing program.

While that may sound counterintuitive and useless for people that don't plan to wipe their hard drive, CleanApp is also capable of performing the exact same function that AppZapper and many others do, so you will still be able to get use out of it for programs already installed, just not full use.

Working with CleanApp is very easy. Either drag an application or folder onto its target icon, or go into one of the tabs and select something from there. Once a selection has been made, it will present you with a list of files that you can tweak so there are no mistakes. At this point, all other applications give you the option to delete those files and CleanApp does this as well, but it also goes further. If you know that you're not going to be using an application, but also know that you might need it at some point, CleanApp gives you the wonderful option to simply archive that application and all its associated files. Everything is placed inside a compressed archive that often takes up only fractions of what the uncompressed files do. Also, everything is reduced to just one single file, that can be easily moved about and stored and when you need the application again, CleanApp will automatically put everything back in its right location after decompressing the archive. This might sound good, but it is fantastic. This feature is especially powerful as it lets you create snapshots of an application, which you can easily back up. You can thus experiment, try out new versions, or third party plug-ins without fear, as you can just restore the back-up and be ready to go within minutes.

Little touches While CleanApp may be impressive from a functionality point of view, it is also marvelous because of little details that make using it so much better. These little touches range from cosmetic ones such as the way the patch to the file in the list is always visible underneath its name and the way the colors of the background change as you scroll down long lists, without actually becoming hard to read, to shortcuts such as the upload to .Mac button in the archive screen.

Appropriately, it is also the little touches that make this program annoying in some respects. A good example is how the toolbar only ever shows four icons, irrespective of the fact that it could hold twice that. The fact that you always have to go into the drop down menu to access some of the basic functions is quite frustrating. Similarly annoying is how it won't let you tell it where to look, always defaulting to the system drive. Because of the way OS X applications are usually self contained, I always install them on my data partition, so CleanApp simply fails to locate the bulk of my applications, forming me to the Finder.

The Good Has the functionality of many apps merged into one and even throws something extra in the mix. Easy and elegant to use, it will make short work of anything you need to do.

The Bad Little design flaws can grow huge if you run into them enough and this might be the case with this program. They don't stop you in any way, but they just get in the way.

The Truth CleanApp is simply great software, on so many levels. Both in terms of functionality and user experience it blows the competition out of the water and make s you wonder how it could have been kept a secret for so long.

Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:

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user interface 5
features 5
ease of use 5
pricing / value 5


final rating 5
Editor's review
excellent
 
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