# Is my Mac ready for the next macOS update?

> MoreRoom’s home screen tells you whether there’s room for a major macOS update and how much headroom macOS has, and frees exactly what’s missing.

- URL: https://moreroom.app/support/macos-update-readiness
- Topic: Freeing up space
- Updated: 2026-10-17
- Publisher: MoreRoom (Yando Pte. Ltd.) — https://moreroom.app

## In short

- The home screen (and Storage Weather) shows Ready for the next macOS update, or how much space is missing. A major update needs about 30 GB free.
- If space is missing, Free Up (Pro) scans your Mac if needed and opens goal mode with exactly what’s missing, plus a 2 GB margin.
- A second line shows how much headroom macOS has: below 10% free, it has less room for memory swap, updates and the working files of apps like Photos and Xcode.

## Read the card

The card appears on the home screen and in [Storage Weather](https://moreroom.app/support/storage-weather). It reads your startup disk’s available space — the same figure as Finder, purgeable space included — and shows two lines:

1. **Ready for the next macOS update** (green), or “*size* short for the next macOS update”. A major macOS update needs about **30 GB** free to download and install.
2. How comfortable macOS is:
   - **Plenty of room to stay fast** — 15% or more of the disk is free;
   - **Getting tight** — between 10% and 15%;
   - **Too little free space for macOS to stay fast** — under 10%.

The card is calm on purpose: there are no alarms and no “health score”, just the numbers and what they mean.

## Free exactly what’s missing (Pro)

When space is missing, the card shows **Free Up** and the missing size. Click it:

- if your Mac has already been scanned, MoreRoom opens **Free Up Space** and runs goal mode;
- otherwise it scans your Mac first, then does the same.

Goal mode puts the safest selection that frees the missing space plus 2 GB into the Collector and opens the review sheet. Nothing moves until you click **Free Up**. Then empty the Trash: until you do, the space isn’t really free. See [Free Up Space and goal mode](https://moreroom.app/support/free-up-space-goal-mode).

On the free plan, the button opens the Pro sheet. You can still remove items one at a time from **Free Up Space**.

## Before you update macOS

- Empty the Trash after freeing space.
- Check [ghost space](https://moreroom.app/support/ghost-space): an open app may still hold deleted files.
- Then open **System Settings › General › Software Update**.

Our free [macOS update space checker](https://moreroom.app/tools/macos-update-space-checker) and the guide [How much space a macOS update needs](https://moreroom.app/learn/macos-update-space-required) go into more detail.

## Related articles

- [Free Up Space and goal mode](https://moreroom.app/support/free-up-space-goal-mode.md)
- [Storage Weather: a forecast for your disk](https://moreroom.app/support/storage-weather.md)
- [Why MoreRoom’s numbers differ from Finder and System Settings](https://moreroom.app/support/numbers-differ.md)
- [I removed files, but my free space didn’t come back](https://moreroom.app/support/space-not-back.md)

## Still need help?

Write to us: a real person reads every message and answers within 2 business days. https://moreroom.app/contact