CleanMyPhone REVIEW Easily Clean Up Your iPhone Photo Library

MacPaw’s CleanMyPhone uses AI-powered photo analysis to find duplicates, blurry images, screenshots, and other clutter while helping you reclaim valuable iPhone storage.

They say the best camera is the one you have with you. Well, my best camera is my iPhone. Because I am consistently taking photos of products that we review as well as personal moments, there is a lot of digital clutter in my photo library. I’m always worried about losing important images so I never go through and delete anything. There are duplicate file apps available out there, but I don’t necessarily trust them to accurately identify and remove files. One of my favorite developers, MacPaw, has created CleanMyPhone for this specific purpose.

About CleanMyPhone

Developed by MacPaw, CleanMyPhone is an iPhone and iPad app designed to help users manage, organize, and declutter their photo libraries while reclaiming valuable storage space. The app evolved from MacPaw’s Gemini Photos, which launched in 2018, combining that app’s experience with MacPaw’s AI technology and expertise from its CleanMyMac team. CleanMyPhone was officially introduced in March 2024.

CleanMyPhone uses on-device processing to analyze a user’s photo library, identifying duplicate, similar, and blurry photos, along with screenshots, screen recordings, and large videos. It can help users decide which photos to keep, while tools for video compression and Live Photo conversion provide additional ways to reduce storage usage without simply deleting memories. The app also includes tools for organizing photos and videos, creating albums, viewing metadata, enhancing photos, and protecting selected media from future scans through its Sensitive feature.

Beyond photo management, CleanMyPhone has expanded into a broader device-care utility. Its Health section provides storage analytics, a device health score, security checks, and an internet-speed test. MacPaw has continued expanding the app since its initial release, adding these device-care features as well as video compression and Live Photo conversion in subsequent updates.

Privacy is another important part of CleanMyPhone’s design. MacPaw says photo-library analysis takes place locally on the device and does not require an internet connection. The company says users’ photos and information associated with them are not sent elsewhere for processing. At the same time, CleanMyPhone does collect certain device information, analytics events, app usage information, and crash data to help MacPaw improve the product and address problems.

CleanMyPhone is available for iPhone and iPad running iOS 17 or later or iPadOS 17 or later. The app offers a free version with limited functionality, while Premium provides access to its full set of cleanup and organization features. Users can choose from subscription options as well as a lifetime purchase, and MacPaw offers a three-day trial of the annual plan.

The app has also received recognition for its design, earning both a 2024 Red Dot Award and a 2024 UX Design Award. With its combination of AI-assisted photo organization, storage-management tools, and broader device-health features, CleanMyPhone represents MacPaw’s effort to bring the company’s Apple-focused approach to keeping an iPhone or iPad organized and running efficiently to the mobile platform.

Pricing & Availability

CleanMyPhone is available for $7.99 monthly, $36.99 annually, or $89.99 for a Lifetime purchase. There is a 3-day free trial and it is available as a part of Setapp’s library of apps. If you subscribe to Setapp for $14.99 per month, you get access to CleanMyPhone at no additional charge.

User Experience

Getting started with CleanMyPhone is very easy. The app can be installed from the App Store, through Setapp, or directly from MacPaw’s store, depending on how you choose to access it. Once installed, the initial scan of my photo library took only a few minutes, which was reasonable considering the amount of content it needed to examine.

CleanMyPhone automatically begins scanning the library, but it provides dialogue boxes and explanations before performing various actions. This gives you an opportunity to understand what is about to happen before making changes to your library.

Photo Cleanup & Organization

The photo cleanup tools are the heart of CleanMyPhone, and so far, I have been impressed with their accuracy. The app has done a very good job identifying duplicate and similar photos, blurry images, screenshots, and other content that may be contributing to a cluttered library. Its recommendations have also been useful, although I still recommend reviewing anything before deleting it.

Reviewing suggested files is particularly easy. You can select an entire group or choose individual photos and videos, giving you control over exactly what gets removed. I especially like the swipe interface for reviewing photos because it makes moving through a large collection of images quick and intuitive.

The automatic grouping and organization features have been reasonably accurate in my experience, although I would put their accuracy at around 80%. That means they are useful for getting your library organized, but I would still look through the results rather than assuming every item has been categorized perfectly.

One concern I initially had was the idea of deleting photos from my library. Fortunately, CleanMyPhone works with Apple’s Photos system rather than immediately and permanently removing the files. Photos and videos that are removed are moved to the Deleted Photos/Recently Deleted area, where they remain recoverable for 30 days. That provides some welcome peace of mind when cleaning up a large photo library.

Storage & Device Management

CleanMyPhone identified almost 48GB of potentially recoverable storage in my library. To put its recommendations to the test, I started with blurred images because they were easy to review individually and were among the types of files I felt most comfortable removing.

The app also offers video compression and Live Photo conversion. Both are potentially useful options when storage space is at a premium, although I am more hesitant to use these features. There are some videos and Live Photos that I want to preserve exactly as they were originally captured, so I would personally be more inclined to delete genuinely unnecessary files before compressing or converting memories I want to keep.

I also appreciate that CleanMyPhone goes beyond photo cleanup with its Health, Storage Analytics, Security, and Internet Speed tools. These features make sense in an app focused on helping users manage their devices. While photo management remains the primary reason I would use CleanMyPhone, these additional tools provide useful information without feeling completely disconnected from the app’s overall purpose.

Everyday Use, Performance & Value

Despite having a large photo library to examine, CleanMyPhone’s scanning and processing have been quite fast. More importantly, I haven’t noticed any significant impact on my device’s performance or battery life while the app is working.

Another feature I appreciate is that the information appears to update as your library changes. While testing CleanMyPhone, I continued using my iPhone normally and took additional screenshots. The screenshot count in the app increased as I added new screenshots, showing that the app wasn’t simply relying on the results of its original scan.

Overall, CleanMyPhone has made the process of finding unnecessary photos and reclaiming storage considerably easier. I especially appreciate that it doesn’t force you to blindly accept its recommendations. You can review suggested files, select an entire group, or choose individual images and videos before sending them to the Recently Deleted folder. That combination of automation and user control makes the cleanup process feel much safer than simply handing the app control of your entire photo library.

Conclusion

I have always been hesitant to use apps that promise to clean up my photo library because deleting something important is a very real concern. CleanMyPhone has made that process much less intimidating by combining automated recommendations with plenty of opportunities to review exactly what will be removed.

CleanMyPhone also goes beyond basic photo cleanup. The Health, Storage Analytics, Security, and Internet Speed tools make sense as part of a broader device-management app, while video compression and Live Photo conversion provide additional options for reclaiming storage.

For someone like me who has accumulated years of photos and screenshots and rarely deletes anything, CleanMyPhone provides a convenient way to take control of that clutter without requiring me to blindly trust an automated cleanup process.

For more information, visit macpaw.com