Cleanup app review for iPhone

Cleaning out your iPhone gallery can feel like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. Between duplicate selfies, blurry screenshots, and forgotten videos from who-knows-when, it doesn’t take long for your storage to fill up, or your patience to run out.

Enter Cleanup Phone Storage Cleaner, one of the most popular swipe-to-delete photo cleaning apps on the App Store. It promises to help you declutter your camera roll quickly and easily, all while keeping your privacy intact.

But how does it compare to more advanced tools like CleanMy®Phone, which not only removes clutter but also organizes your photos with the help of AI?

Before you spend money (or time swiping endlessly), here’s a breakdown of what both apps offer and which one might be the better fit for your storage-saving goals.

At-a-glance details: Cleanup Phone Storage Cleaner vs. CleanMy®Phone

Cleanup Phone Storage Cleaner app review: fast swiping, clean results?

Decluttering your camera roll should feel like a win, not a chore. Cleanup Phone Storage Cleaner promises to make tidying your photo gallery as satisfying as swiping on your favorite app, but does it deliver?

Let’s take a look.

A closer look: what Cleanup does well

At its core, Cleanup is a swipe-based gallery cleaner for iPhone. It’s built around one very simple interaction: swipe left to delete, swipe right to keep.

You’ll quickly realize just how many near-identical photos you’ve been hoarding: blurry shots, accidental screen grabs, photos of your lunch from 2021. Cleanup groups them together and recommends the best one to keep, based on clear criteria:

• You’re smiling.

• You’re looking at the camera.
• It’s in focus.
• It was previously edited or favorited.

These smart suggestions are helpful, though they don’t rely on deep AI, more of a checklist than a genius. Still, the process is satisfying. Swiping through your gallery feels oddly productive, like playing a game with real-life rewards: storage space and peace of mind.

What stands out: privacy and control

One of Cleanup’s strongest features is that it works offline. No cloud syncing, no uploading your photos to a server. Everything happens on your phone, which is refreshing in a world of over-connected apps.

The built-in Trash system is another smart move. Cleanup never deletes anything without your review. You get the final say, and even after that, the photos go to the Recently Deleted album, just in case.

My experience using Cleanup

I downloaded Cleanup for a quick test during a weekend trip when my storage warning popped up (again). After about 15 minutes of swiping, I had cleared over 1,000 photos. That included duplicates, outtakes, and lots of screenshots I didn’t even remember taking.

What surprised me was how enjoyable it felt. The interface is fast, the gestures are intuitive, and you feel productive without diving into deep settings or confusing menus.

But after the novelty wore off, I found myself wishing for faster options and a way to automate the cleanup process rather than swiping through every single image. That’s where apps like CleanMy®Phone shine.

The catch: pricing and limitations

Cleanup offers a 7-day free trial, but after that, it transitions to a weekly subscription (typically $4.99–$7.99 per week). There’s also a lifetime purchase option, though it’s not always visible upfront.

That weekly cost adds up fast, especially for an app that’s pretty manual and single-purpose.

Verdict: Cleanup is a solid start, but not the full package

If you want a satisfying, swipe-based way to tackle your photo mess, Cleanup gets the job done. It’s fast, secure, and doesn’t overcomplicate the process.

However, if you're looking for a smarter, more hands-off solution to help you clear the clutter on your iPhone, CleanMyPhone is a better long-term choice.

Why I ultimately recommend CleanMy®Phone

While Cleanup offers a range of features, many of them only make a small dent in your overall storage usage.

CleanMy®Phone, on the other hand, takes optimization further with advanced tools that deliver real results. You can compress large videos to free up space fast, convert Live Photos into stills to reduce file size, and get a comprehensive view of your phone’s performance with the built-in Health Check. These tools go beyond surface-level cleanup, giving you a smarter, deeper way to manage storage.

And like Cleanup, CleanMy®Phone keeps your data private and works directly on your device.

If you’re serious about optimizing your iPhone and want more than just a swipe-fest, CleanMy®Phone is the smarter upgrade: powerful, intuitive, and refreshingly efficient.