Your Mac has been keeping a record of everything you’ve ever downloaded, every file, every installer, every attachment. It’s stored in a quarantine database that macOS uses for Gatekeeper and security checks, and it goes all the way back to when you first set up your machine.
It’s not sinister. Apple uses it to warn you when you open something potentially unsafe. But if you’d rather not have a years-long paper trail of your downloads sitting on your drive, you can view it and wipe it in about 60 seconds.
What This Log Actually Is
macOS stores download history in a SQLite database called QuarantineEventsV2, located at ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV2. Every time you download a file through Safari, Chrome, Mail, or most other apps, an entry gets written here.
This is separate from the general system logs in /private/var/log/ or ~/Library/Logs/. Those are application and crash logs, useful for troubleshooting, but not the same thing. The quarantine database is specifically a download record.
There’s no toggle to disable the logging. You can only clear what’s already there.
How to View Your Download Log
Open Terminal (find it in Finder > Applications > Utilities or search with Cmd + Space) and run this command:
sqlite3 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV* 'select LSQuarantineDataURLString from LSQuarantineEvent'You’ll get a list of every URL macOS has quarantine-logged on your machine. If you’ve never cleared it, expect a long list. It can go back years.
How to Clear the Download Log
One command wipes the entire database:
sqlite3 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV* 'delete from LSQuarantineEvent'No confirmation prompt, no password required. Run it and it’s done.
To verify it worked, run the first command again. You should get back nothing, a blank line or an empty prompt.
What Happens After You Clear It
macOS starts logging again immediately. The next file you download will create a new entry. There’s no way to stop this, as it’s baked into Gatekeeper’s security model.
If you want to keep the log clear, you’ll need to run the delete command periodically. Some people automate this with a cron job or a shell script; others just run it manually every few weeks. Either works.
What About General System Logs?
If you’re also trying to free up space or clear other logs on macOS Tahoe, the quarantine database is tiny. Clearing it won’t make a meaningful dent in your storage. For that, you’re better off looking at ~/Library/Logs/ (user-level app logs) or using the built-in storage manager.
Go to Apple menu > System Settings > General > Storage to see a breakdown of what’s eating space. macOS will flag large log folders if they’re worth dealing with.
For bulk log cleanup without digging through folders manually, CleanMyMac handles it well. It scans both user and system logs and lets you clear them without accidentally touching anything critical. More useful than running sudo rm -rf /private/var/log/* in Terminal unless you know exactly what you’re doing.
Troubleshooting
The command returns an error about the database being locked
Another process is using the quarantine database. Quit Safari and any browser or download manager you have open, then try again.
The command returns “no such file or directory”
The database path includes a wildcard (*) to catch both V2 and any future versions. If you’re getting this error, try tab-completing the path in Terminal to confirm the file exists at ~/Library/Preferences/.
The list comes back empty even on a first run
Some download managers and browsers don’t trigger macOS’s quarantine flag, so their downloads won’t appear here. This is normal. The log only captures files that go through the standard macOS download quarantine system.
Clearing the quarantine log takes about 30 seconds and solves the problem cleanly. macOS will keep logging from here, but at least you’re starting fresh.