How to Delete Time Machine Local Snapshots on Mac

What Local Snapshots Are

According to Apple, Time Machine saves a snapshot of your startup disk approximately every hour and keeps it for 24 hours. It also keeps an additional snapshot of your last successful Time Machine backup until space is needed. Snapshots are stored only on disks that use Apple File System (APFS), and only when Back Up Automatically is turned on.

A snapshot is not a full copy of your disk. It records the state of your files at a moment in time, so it mainly uses space for files that have changed or been deleted since it was taken. That is why deleting a large folder may not free space straight away: the latest snapshot still references it.

Do You Need to Delete Them?

Usually not. Apple says Time Machine automatically removes local snapshots when space is needed on the disk or when they are older than 24 hours, and your Mac counts the space they use as available storage. This is part of what macOS shows as purgeable space.

Deleting them by hand makes sense when an app or installer refuses to run because it checks free space differently, when you need room for a large macOS update right now, or when you suspect an old snapshot is stuck, for example after backups have been failing.

Method 1: Pause Automatic Backups (Apple's Method)

This is the approach Apple describes, and it does not require Terminal.

1. Open System Settings > General > Time Machine.
2. Turn off automatic backups. On recent macOS versions, click Options and set Back Up Frequency to Manually.
3. Wait a few minutes for local snapshots to be deleted.
4. Turn automatic backups back on so your Mac stays protected.

Remember to switch backups back on. Leaving Time Machine set to manual means your Mac is not being backed up.

Method 2: Use Terminal (Advanced)

macOS includes a command-line tool called tmutil that can list and delete local snapshots. Use it only if you are comfortable with Terminal, and type the commands exactly.

1. Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities.
2. Type tmutil listlocalsnapshots / and press Return to list snapshots on the startup disk.
3. Each snapshot name ends with a date such as 2026-11-02-091530.
4. To delete one, type tmutil deletelocalsnapshots followed by that date, for example tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2026-11-02-091530, and press Return.
5. Run the list command again to confirm it is gone.

Deleting snapshots removes those restore points from your Mac. Your backups on the external Time Machine drive are not affected.

If Space Still Looks Low

Snapshots are only one part of purgeable space. iCloud Drive files that macOS can re-download, caches and other system-managed data also count. If your disk is still nearly full after snapshots are gone, look for large files and folders you control.

Smart Cleaner AI - Disk Clean shows what is taking up space, including large files, downloads, caches and app leftovers, and moves items to the Trash only after you review them. It does not list or delete Time Machine snapshots; use the methods above for those. Scanning and storage analysis are free; removing files requires Pro.