What is the Trial folder in your Mac's Library?
~/Library/Trial holds settings Apple sends to test and roll out features. 101 MB on our Mac, 97 MB of it in Treatments. What triald does and whether to delete it.
What is the Trial folder?
macOS has a system for rolling features out gradually and testing variations of them. Apple sends small bundles of settings and models, and a process called triald stores them here. The folder holds which variation your Mac is in and the files that variation needs.
| Item | Size here | What it is |
|---|---|---|
Treatments | 97 MB | The settings and assets of each active rollout, about 160 files |
v7 | 3.0 MB | The current version of Trial's own records |
NamespaceDescriptors | 164 KB | Which feature areas take part |
On our Mac triald was running as our user, as /usr/libexec/triald.
Is it safe to delete?
Not worth it. triald downloads what it needs again, and until it does, features that depend on a rollout may behave differently. It is also protected: Terminal needs Full Disk Access to read it, so measuring it is the first hurdle; see why du shows nothing.
Does Trial send data about me?
Trial downloads settings; what is collected about how features perform falls under Analytics & Improvements in System Settings, Privacy & Security. Turning sharing off there is the switch that controls what leaves your Mac.
Find what is left in one look
Free Mac measures Trial and other protected Library folders and shows them to scale. Its process is explained in what is triald; more Library folders in what is safe to delete in Library.
Related: the Shortcuts folder in Library and IdentityServices.
Common questions
What is the Trial folder in Library on a Mac?
Where macOS keeps settings and assets Apple sends to roll out and test features, managed by the triald process.
Can I delete ~/Library/Trial?
It is not worth it. triald downloads what it needs again. It was 101 MB on our Mac.
Is the Trial folder related to trial versions of apps?
No. It has nothing to do with app trials; it is macOS's own feature rollout system.