Standing out in the Mac optimizer market is never an easy thing, especially if rogue advertisers have been trying to forcefully sell your product for years – leaving you with a bad reputation. MacKeeper, originally created by Dubai-based Kromtech in 2010, has had to revamp its image completely since its acquisition by Clario in 2019. So while many may know the name MacKeeper from a wave of aggressive online advertising campaigns, the company now says that these tactics are a thing of the past. MacKeeper is instead focusing on the product by adding extra features like the StopAd web extension and a free VPN to its list of system scans and utilities. Depending how long you want the service, MacKeeper can be quite affordable with prices starting from $6.21 per month paid annually.
MacKeeper has one of the more user-friendly interfaces when compared to other Mac optimizers. After opening the application, you can immediately run a full system scan. The scan is neatly divided into four quarters: cleaning, performance, security, privacy. On the left menu each feature is divided into those four categories, making it easier to find which utility you need. A mini version of MacKeeper also lives in your Mac’s menu bar. From there you’re able to run antivirus scans, clean up files, and turn on the free VPN service.
Speaking of MacKeeper’s VPN service, for a free extra we were impressed by the large number of servers and locations available. MacKeeper’s VPN covers locations all over the world, including China, South Africa, the UK, and a large number of U.S. options. On top of that, MacKeeper offers the StopAd browser extension for Chrome and Safari. StopAd is designed to prevent any online advertisements and stop any trackers – which should increase your browsing speed.
There’s also the ID Guard, a 24/7 data breach scanner – a useful way of making sure your password doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. MacKeeper takes your email address and continuously scans the internet to see if your details have been leaked, and if so will immediately send you a notification. Another addition to MacKeeper is the Track My Mac feature, which works very similarly to Apple’s own Find My app. On top of location tracking, MacKeeper’s version will access your Mac’s camera to take pictures of anyone who unsuccessfully attempts to log in to your system.
| System cleanup | |
|---|---|
| Cleanup customization | |
| Trash cleanup | |
| Browser cleanup |
When you’ve opened MacKeeper you’re given the option to start a deep scan called ‘find and fix’, which executes all of MacKeeper’s different scans. This scan does take a long time – especially the first time you run it – as your Mac may be full of junk files. Using an old iMac, we found this took about 45 minutes, but it was about half that time on a more recent MacBook Air. Scans are set to run automatically every 24 hours, but you can turn them off if necessary. You’ll notice to the right of the screen you’re shown your own personal tech expert, who will guide you through all the features of MacKeeper. You’re able to let the expert use remote desktop, so they can take over from you to give you a more thorough demonstration.
There are two cleaning options. First, the safe cleanup searches your entire system for junk files including logs, caches, and unwanted language packs. Then the duplicate finder scans your computer for any copied files and will remove the copies while keeping the original – although you should always review the results first.
| Uninstaller | |
|---|---|
| Shredder | |
| Startup optimizer | |
| Memory optimization |
Aside from the cleaning options, MacKeeper has a lot of utilities that will help boost your Mac’s performance. There’s a memory cleaner that will close any unnecessary applications that are eating your Mac’s memory. From there you can see which apps are hogging all of your computer’s resources and slowing your system down. The update tracker is another useful tool: it scans all of your applications and will download the latest version of the software for you, so you don’t have to do it all individually. MacKeeper also allows you to adjust the login items, which means you can have your Mac load faster when you switch it on.
We did encounter one major issue with MacKeeper’s smart uninstaller: it slowed down drastically when it encountered the media server player Plex – taking about a half hour in total. So, anyone with a similar application may find they have a similar issue. When the scan eventually completed, we liked that it showed us which applications were unused. Unfortunately, MacKeeper isn’t able to remove any of those uninstallable apps that come with every macOS system, like Preview for example. The best thing about the MacKeeper uninstaller though is that it allows you to get rid of browser extensions, plugins, and widgets.
MacKeeper’s pricing plan is refreshingly simple. The only difference between each plan is the length of time you want the service for. Prices are cheaper with longer subscriptions, and users who subscribe to a 12-month plan get three months free, working out at $6.21 a month paid annually. Alternatively, there are plans for six months and a single month, although the single month plan is very expensive at $14.95 per month. The best deal is saved for Best Reviews readers who, by using our exclusive coupon, can get a 24-month plan for $118.80 – the equivalent of paying just $4.29 a month.
Although the MacKeeper website states that MacKeeper has a 14-day money-back guarantee, that’s not entirely true: since the acquisition by Clario, the money-back guarantee has been increased to 30 days. So, you now have much longer to really make sure you’re happy with MacKeeper. MacKeeper doesn’t have a free version, but you can freely download the app to perform an initial scan. The only catch is that you’ll need to pay for the fix.
| Visa | |
| Mastercard | |
| American Express | |
| Discover |
| 24/7 | |
| Live chat | |
| Phone |
Although you get live assistance from MacKeeper’s technicians, this is just to help you clean your Mac. For any other issues you’ll have to go elsewhere. The MacKeeper website has a live chat, with quick response times for any query. There’s also 24/7 phone support with a dedicated U.S. phone number. Alternatively, you can contact MacKeeper by email or through the Facebook and Twitter pages.
On the MacKeeper website you’ll find the knowledge base, which is actually a large FAQ section divided into categories covering the entire service. More detail can be found in the tutorials section, where there is a breakdown of how each utility works. It’s well worth checking out their YouTube channel as well, which hosts more general video guides for macOS users.
We appreciate the strides MacKeeper has taken to distance itself from its bad reputation as a scam or a virus. It’s unfortunate that the stigma remains for many, as MacKeeper really is an impressive Mac optimizer. In particular the bonus features of breach monitoring, browser extension, and a free VPN means MacKeeper goes much further than most of its rivals. MacKeeper also runs very thorough scans so your Mac will be able to get the deep cleaning it needs – although sometimes these scans can be quite time consuming. The real highlight of MacKeeper is the expert assistance that is available to help you every step of the way – something that really makes it stand out. MacKeeper isn’t the scam you may have heard about online; it is in fact a very powerful Mac optimization tool.
Although MacKeeper is an ideal Mac optimization solution that ensures outstanding Mac performance even beyond the intended lifecycle of the device, its pushy nature and aggressive approach towards advertising often turn out to be the last straw for many users.
To make things even worse, getting rid of MacKeeper completely is quite a challenge, and isn’t a task that can be performed with just a few clicks. However, removing MacKeeper entirely is not impossible; there are two ways of doing so, either manually or alternatively via a script.
Decrypt all files encrypted with the software, then drag and drop MacKeeper.app to Trash.
Go to ~/Library/Application Support and delete anything related to MacKeeper and/or Zeobit, including the MacKeeper Helper folder and any remaining backup files.
Head to the preferences of all installed browsers, search for MacKeeper’s extensions and remove them. And, just to make sure MacKeeper is gone for good from your browsers as well, delete the cache, cookies and any browsing data.
The alternate method of deleting MacKeeper can be performed two ways:
chmod +x deleteMacKeeper.sh and sudo ./deleteMacKeeper.sh.Still, there is one other method that not many users might think of at first, but it’s by far the safest and most effective way of removing MacKeeper – just use another Mac optimizer…
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