Computer acting up? Just say what’s wrong.

The AI never gets a free hand. It can only use repairs from our catalog, each one written and tested by us, with fixed parameters. It cannot run commands or scripts of its own, and the server, the app and the helper each refuse anything outside that catalog.

Checks only read information. Anything that changes your Mac waits for your OK unless you’ve set that kind of fix to Auto, risky fixes always ask, and the approval card says whether each change can be undone.

No. Type what’s wrong in your own words, like “my printer won’t print” or “my Mac is slow”, or choose “Check my whole Mac”. AI Repair says what it found in plain words, and every fix comes with a short note on what it will do. When something has to be done by hand, like turning the printer off and on, it shows you the steps.

Some fixes need them:

• restarting the printing, sound, Bluetooth or camera service;
• reconnecting a printer that moved, or setting a printer up again;
• repairing a drive you plug in;
• renewing your network address, clearing the DNS cache, changing DNS servers, forgetting a Wi-Fi network or resetting network settings;
• turning on Low Power Mode;
• and changing a setting for the whole Mac, such as when it sleeps.

So do two checks, which only read: looking on your network for a printer that moved, or for your scanner. For those, the app installs a small helper, which you allow once in System Settings. The helper runs only what is in our catalog and nothing else: changes only after your OK or when you’ve set them to Auto, and those two checks.

On macOS 12 the helper isn’t available, so the fixes and checks that need admin rights are not offered there. Where you can make the fix by hand, AI Repair shows you the steps instead.

The AI runs through our server, so it receives what you type, short results of the checks (never raw command output), a summary of your Mac (model, macOS version, memory, the last scan), and a screenshot only when you add one yourself.

Before text is sent, your username and home folder, computer name, serial number, MAC addresses and the Wi-Fi names your Mac knows are replaced with aliases. Names made only of everyday words, like a network called “Home”, say nothing about you and may be sent as they are, as may a Wi-Fi name shorter than five letters typed with different capital letters. Nothing is sent while you are signed out. The privacy policy has the full list, with what we keep and for how long.

Not really. Cleaner apps are built around removing files. AI Repair starts from the problem you describe, finds the cause and fixes that, whether it’s an app using all the processor, a paused printer or a network setting.

When the disk is full it does clean up, carefully: caches, logs and old installers go to a holding folder for seven days, so the clean can be undone, and their space comes back when that folder is emptied, which it can do at once if you need the room. It asks before emptying that folder or the Trash, since neither can be undone. It also removes an app you name, with its settings, held seven days the same way. It doesn’t scan for malware. Our guide Do you need a Mac cleaner app? explains when a cleaner helps and when it can’t, and our comparisons set AI Repair next to CleanMyMac, MacKeeper and CCleaner.

Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or newer) running macOS 12 Monterey or later. Intel Macs are not supported at the moment.

Yes, for PCs with Windows 10 or 11. It finds and fixes the same kinds of problems, in Windows’ own words, and asks before a change the same way; a few fixes exist on only one of the two. PCs with an Arm processor are not supported at the moment. Download for Windows.

A fix is used when the first change in a problem goes ahead, whether you approve it or it runs on Auto. The other changes needed for that same problem are included. Asking and checking never use one. If the problem isn’t fixed, or nothing could run, you get the fix back. And if the same problem comes back on the same computer within a week, fixing it again is free.

The AI needs internet, but Network Rescue doesn’t. It is a fixed set of connection repairs built into the app: it checks your Wi-Fi, address and DNS, and fixes what it can, asking before each change unless you’ve set that kind of fix to Auto. It runs on your Mac and never uses a fix.