JimmyTech Checkup
JimmyTech Checkup is a small, free app I encourage my clients to install on their Macs. It keeps an eye on your Mac's health, explains anything that needs attention in plain language, and gives both of us a heads-up before a small issue turns into a real problem.
What it is
Checkup lives quietly in your menu bar. Look for the little umbrella icon up near the clock and the Wi-Fi icon. Click the umbrella whenever you want a quick read on how your Mac is doing. If there is something that the app thinks you should pay attention to, a yellow or red dot appears on the icon.
Requirements
macOS 12.3 Monterey and later. It runs on Mac only; not iPhone or iPad.
What it checks
Checkup looks at the everyday things that quietly affect how well a Mac runs, such as:
Your version of macOS, and whether an update is waiting
How much free storage space you have left
Whether your Time Machine backups are actually running
Early warning signs from your drive's own health monitor
Battery health (on laptops)
Your internet speed and Wi-Fi connection
How long it's been since your last restart, and whether your Mac has been crashing
Your Mac's age and how long Apple will keep supporting it
Security basics like the firewall, disk encryption (FileVault), and what launches at startup
Signs of trouble: known Mac malware, common remote-access scams, junk software, and apps that keep crashing
It covers the most common things, but it can't catch everything. Once in a while, it may get something wrong. Treat the results as a good starting point, not the final word. When in doubt, just ask me.
Privacy
Checkup logs a short summary to my database so that I can look up the basics of your computer. The most vital details call for my attention immediately.
What it sends:
The same health tiles you see when you click the umbrella: macOS version, storage, backups, battery, uptime, internet speed, your Wi-Fi network's name and signal, drive health, whether FileVault encryption is on, and a few other basics
Setup details I use to help you: this Mac's user account names, which account types are connected in Internet Accounts, external drive names, third-party login items, key macOS settings, and whether any apps have been crashing
A few numbers tracked over time, specifically free storage space and battery health, so I can spot a disk that's filling up or a battery that's fading weeks before it becomes a problem
Your Mac's name, the app's version, and the name and email you entered when you set it up
What it never sends: your files, your documents, your photos, your messages, your passwords, or your browsing history.
If you’re wondering, you can see exactly what I see. Click the globe icon in the umbrella menu. If your household has more than one Mac on the same email address, you can flip between them right there.
My dashboard keeps your Mac's latest summary, the dates your updates were installed, and about six months of those storage and battery numbers. Diagnostic reports you choose to send are kept for 90 days and then deleted automatically.
Full diagnostic report
If you are having particular troubles, such as things acting strangely or crashing, etc., you may wish to send me a report through the app. These reports only get sent when you explicitly choose to send them to me. There are two modes to choose from each time:
Basic — This runs a quick report with a lot more detail than simply clicking the umbrella icon, such as particular settings that often trip people up and more details about your backups and what apps are currently running. You will see the full report before you choose to send it to me.
Detailed — everything in Basic, plus the last hour of system logs, recent crash reports, and a full hardware and software inventory. This is for when I need to dig into a specific problem.
Neither report includes the contents of your documents. A Detailed report may mention things like file names. That's the information that helps me figure out what's wrong. But it never sends me the contents of such documents.
The permissions it may ask for
Full Disk Access (optional, but I recommend it): lets Checkup read backup details and include recent system logs in a report, which helps me diagnose the trickier issues.
Location (optional): macOS requires Location permission to read your Wi-Fi network's name and signal. Your actual location is never stored or sent anywhere, but since this information is bundled together, permission is asked.
Notifications (optional): so Checkup can give you a heads-up when something needs attention, instead of waiting for you to click the umbrella.
Checkup never changes anything on your Mac by itself. Every fix it suggests is something you decide to do. The one exception is the app itself: Checkup quietly keeps itself current so you always have the latest version.
How to use it
Click the umbrella icon in your menu bar (top-right, near the clock).
You'll see your Mac's vitals at a glance, color-coded: green is good, yellow is worth a look, red needs attention.
For the full check, click Run Full Diagnostic Report. When it finishes, you can save the results or send them to me.
At the bottom of the menu bar, you’ll find links to book an appointment with me, email me, contact Apple Support, and a link to Gethuman, a curated website with customer service numbers and instructions on reaching a live human. I encourage you to use Gethuman to avoid customer service scams.
How to remove it
You're free to remove Checkup anytime. There's no account to cancel, nothing will be left running in the background, and your computer's data is removed from my database.
Click the umbrella icon, then the gear (Settings) button.
Scroll down and click Uninstall…
Enter your computer password if prompted.
Questions?
If anything here is unclear, or something doesn't look right on your Mac, just email me at jimmy@jimmytechsf.com or book an appointment, and we'll sort it out together.