Best iPhone Cleaner App

Some of the most popular iphone cleaner apps are Clever Cleaner app, Cleaner Guru,

CleanMyPhone, Cleanup App, Cleaner Kit, AI Cleaner, CCleaner, and many others. However, to be honest, I’m not a big fan of these apps.

Here’s how you can manage duplicates and similar photos without apps

1. Built-in iOS 16 Feature (Duplicates Only)

If you’ve got iOS 16 or later, there’s a super easy way to handle exact duplicates:

• Open the Photos app.

• Scroll to Utilities and tap Duplicates.

• Tap Select (top-right) and pick Select All or specific duplicates.

• Hit Merge and confirm.

• Don’t forget to empty Recently Deleted to free up the space!

Pros:

• Free and fast.

• Built right into iOS.

Cons:

• Only works on exact duplicates, not similar ones.

• Needs iOS 16+.

2. Manually Find Similar Photos Using Albums

For similar photos (not exact duplicates), you’ll have to do it manually:

• Open the Photos app.

• Use the Search bar to sort by date, location, or subject.

• Go through the photos, tap Select, and delete extras.

Pro Tip: Zoom in to compare details and keep the best shots.

Pros:

• Works for both duplicates and similar photos.

• No apps needed.

Cons:

• Super time-consuming if you’ve got a ton of photos

3. Transfer to a Computer for Easier Cleanup

If you’re dealing with thousands of photos, a computer might help:

• Connect your iPhone to a Mac or PC with a USB cable.

• Import photos into Photos (Mac) or File Explorer (Windows).

• Use the bigger screen to sort and delete duplicates/similar photos.

Pros:

• Easier to manage large libraries.

• Bonus: You get a backup on your computer.

Cons:

• Slower and requires a computer

Terminology: A “cleaning” app seemingly isn’t the function you are seeking here. Not as those apps are usually described. No cleaning app can get past the sandbox, short of a jailbreak. And cleaning apps aren’t usually running your photos through an LLM or such. Not past (maybe) duplicate detection, and the built-in tools offer that.)

If you want an app that works with and sorts images, look for one of those.

As an Apple option available in various places, Apple Intelligence can access and review photos, though I’m not sure what would comprise “best” here. (Third-party review)

Hey, you could totally Google this yourself, but if you’re feeling lazy, here are my thoughts:

iPhone Limitations

Yeah, iPhone still can’t delete similar photos - I just checked. But seriously, why are you taking so many similar shots? Maybe chill with the burst mode, and problem solved. 😂 Anyway, starting with iOS 16, you can delete duplicates super easily, but not similar photos.

Unbiased Opinions?

Finding an honest opinion is tough. Blog posts? Paid. Developer ratings? Obviously, their own app is the "best." The only legit advice comes from experienced members here or Reddit. I often turn to Reddit myself for real discussions.

Skip the blogs and rankings from developers like MacPaw and others.

It reviews popular cleaner apps but also makes a solid case for why you might not even need them. Your call, though.

Cheerz!

[Edited by Moderator]

Mac_Tech_Guy wrote:

Thanks! I really hope Apple’s intelligence will someday let me just command it to find all duplicates and similar photos and keep only a few from each group. I’ll check your link ASAP. Thanks again!

I deliberately keep related images around, as I’ve found reasons or details in some and not other images in the larger group.

Sometimes noticing those other details months or years later, too.

Even some of the “pocket shots” turned into very nice textured backgrounds, too.

I also don’t trust AI or some app to not trash my photos.

5,000 in your camera roll might also mean you’re not storing those photos in a Mac or PC photo library, or in iCloud Photos or other photo hosting, or backing up the photo data elsewhere. I’d hope you have backups, whatever those backups might be.

There are apps and plugins that can do what you want today. But the issue is the algorithms and even AI have issues telling duplicates apart. It needs what we used to call fuzzy logic, but even AI isn’t really capable of it. The issue is smart phones are capable of taking hundreds of nearly identical photos in just a few seconds. What is the distinguishing characteristic? In most cases it’s just the fraction of second that has transpired between each image. If you say save only one photo of grandma, that’s literally all you get and hundreds or thousands of photos could be thrown out.

Some apps allow you to adjust the interval of photos to keep and delete the others. But still, you will possible end up with 3, 4 or 5 images of essentially the same image. Just a personal opinion, but Adobe’s AI seems for ahead of Apple’s in this specific area. But not sure you want a subscription to handle this issue. Sometimes buying more storage is an easier and cheaper alternative.

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to delete duplicate photos without using cleaner apps:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataRecoveryHelp/comments/1hbvgdv/how_to_delete_duplicate_photos_on_iphone/