I don’t think I’m wrong by saying that not everyone agrees on the best way to handle their computer’s trash directory. Some people prefer to leave it until their computer starts yelling at them about storage, while others empty it every day. I’m somewhere in the middle, but I try not to let it go too far. And I think I found the best tool for that job a few days ago: Bananabin,

When the data in your Trash folder exceeds a certain limit, Bananabin is surrounded by buzzing, animated flies that you can shoo away with your mouse. That’s it. That’s it for the app.

I’m sure the novelty will wear off at some point.
GIF: Wes Davis / The Verge

You can configure the fly threshold from the app’s icon in the menu bar; the three options are Janitor Mode (10MB), The Recycler (1GB), and Garbage Hoarder (10GB). The app is free right now while it’s in beta. Leon Schrijvers, one of Bananabin’s developers, told Verge Via email they explained that they plan to charge a small, as yet undetermined one-time fee for the release version.

Schrijvers said they’re still working out some bugs (heh). The flies won’t show up if you put it in the iCloud trash bin, nor will they show up if you put the folder on an external drive. Also, it only works for macOS Sonoma right now, though they’re looking into adding support for macOS Ventura later.

One thing to note: Bananabin requires accessibility and full disk access permissions to work. Schrijvers explained:

For BananaBin, we need the accessibility permission to read the status of the bin in the dock. For full disk access, we need it so that we can calculate the disk space being taken up by the bin. When this space is larger than the configured limit, flies will appear.

If you’re okay with that, you can try out the app by visiting Bananabin’s website (see here) Link one more time) You must provide an email address to receive the download link.

Update June 30, 2024, 6:45PM ET: Added additional information provided by app developer Leon Schreijers.