I donât think Iâm going out on a limb when I say that not everyone agrees on the best way to handle their computerâs trash directory. Some folks like to let it go until their computer yells at them about storage, while others empty it every single day. Iâm somewhere in the middle, but I do try not to let it go too far. And I think I found the best tool for that job a couple of days ago: Bananabin.
Technology
This new Mac app uses animated flies to tell you when to take out the trash
I’ve never been so excited to have a full Trash directory.
When the data kept in your Trash folder passes a certain threshold, Bananabin surrounds with buzzing, animated flies that you can shoo away with your mouse. Thatâs it. Thatâs the app.
You can configure the fly threshold from the appâs icon in the menu bar; the three options are Janitor Mode (10MB), The Recycler (1GB), and Garbage Hoarder (10GB). The app free right now, while itâs in beta. Leon Schrijvers, one of Bananabinâs developers, told The Verge via email that they plan to charge a small, as-yet-undetermined one-time fee for the release version.
Schrijvers added that theyâre still working out some bugs (heh). The current version of the app ignores iCloud Drive trash folders, and âif you use an external drive, then the bin of this drive is also ignored,â Schrijvers wrote. Also, it only works for macOS Sonoma at the moment, though theyâre looking into adding support for macOS Ventura later.
Something to note: Bananabin requires accessibility and full disk access permissions to work. Schrijvers explained:
For BananaBin, we need accessibility permission to read out the position of the bin in the dock. As for the full disk access, we need this so that we can calculate the disk space that the bin is taking up. When this space is larger than the configured threshold, then the flies will appear.
If thatâs fine by you, you can try the app by heading to Bananabinâs website (hereâs the link one more time). You have to provide an email address to get a download link.
Update June 30th, 2024, 6:45PM ET: Added additional details provided by app developer Leon Schrijvers.