PosCleaner Support

macOS app · v1.0

Contact

Email: aposnovdev@gmail.com. Response window: typically within 2 business days.

When reporting a bug, include:

• macOS version (Apple menu → About This Mac)
• PosCleaner build number (bottom-left of the app window)
• What you did, what you expected, what happened
• If reproducible: contents of the debug log, zipped

Right-click the PosCleaner app menu → Help → Reveal Debug Log in Finder for the fastest path.

Common questions

Are my photos safe? Can PosCleaner delete them by accident?

PosCleaner is non-destructive by default. The "Move to Trash" button uses NSWorkspace.recycle, which moves files to your Mac's Trash — recoverable from Finder. PosCleaner never bypasses the Trash and never deletes anything inside your Apple Photos library.

What's the difference between Copy and Move when adding to Photos?

• Copy — Apple Photos imports a duplicate. Source stays on disk. Uses 2× the space until you manually delete the source.
• Move — Apple Photos imports and deletes the source on success. Reclaims disk space immediately. If Apple Photos rejects the file (corrupt video, unsupported codec), the source stays — nothing is lost.

Why didn't PosCleaner match a photo I'm sure is in my Photos library?

A few causes can prevent a match:

• The asset is iCloud-only and hasn't downloaded the original — PosCleaner skips files it can't see.
• Aggressive re-encoding by Google Photos can push the visual distance above the matching threshold (rare).
• Extreme EXIF/PHAsset date drift refuses a match. PosCleaner tolerates the common 1–3 hour timezone offsets but very large drift can refuse.

Right-click a row → Compare with Photos original to see what PosCleaner found. Send the debug log + the file path to support if it looks wrong.

Can PosCleaner match videos?

No. The matcher is image-only. Videos are listed but always shown as "Not in Photos" — they cannot be visually compared. You can still use Add to Photos to import videos manually; Apple Photos accepts .mov / .mp4 / .m4v.

Where does PosCleaner store its caches?

~/Library/Containers/dev.aposnov.poscleaner/Data/Library/Application Support/PosCleaner/ — about 350 MB for a 65,000-photo library. Settings → Reset → Clear all app data wipes everything.

Will PosCleaner work on Intel Macs?

Yes — runs on macOS 14 (Sonoma) and later, Intel or Apple silicon. On Apple silicon the matcher uses the Neural Engine and is ~10× faster.

I imported a giant folder. Can I stop midway?

Yes. The header has a red Stop button while an import is in flight. Files already imported stay in Apple Photos; the in-flight file's transaction rolls back. Re-scan before resuming so PosCleaner re-classifies the already-imported files as In Photos.

Why did my scan return 0 results after a rebuild?

macOS sandbox invalidates security-scoped bookmarks when the app's signing identity changes. Click Change… next to the source folder path in the "Already in Photos" view and re-pick the folder. A fresh bookmark is saved automatically.

System requirements

• macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
• ~500 MB free disk for the image-match cache on a 65k-photo library
• Apple Photos library access (read-write) — granted via macOS's standard permission prompt
• Apple silicon recommended for performance (works on Intel, slower)