iPhone storagephoto cleaner appsapp comparison

Best free iPhone photo cleaner apps in 2026: honest comparison

Swept, Slidebox, Clever Cleaner, Favvy, Cleanup and Swipewipe compared: what is free, what paid plans cost, and the free iPhone tools to try first.

November 4, 20266 min read

BaziFounder & maker of Pizazoo

Checked on 4 November 2026 against each app's US App Store listing and, where there is one, its developer's website: what they publish, not a hands-on test.

The best free way to clean up iPhone photos is to start with the tools Apple already includes, and add an app only when your library is too big to sort by hand. Below are the built-in options, then six cleaner apps compared: Swept, Clever Cleaner, Slidebox, Favvy, Cleanup and Swipewipe.

Disclosure: Swept is made by Bazi, who also makes Pizazoo and writes this blog. The last section says where other apps fit better.

What can you do for free without an app?

With a small library, or mostly exact copies, you may not need an app at all.

The Duplicates album. In Photos, tap Collections, Utilities, then Duplicates, and tap Merge. Photos keeps one copy with the highest quality and relevant data and moves the others to Recently Deleted. It is built for copies of the same picture (on iPad the button reads Merge Exact Copies), so ten slightly different shots of one sunset will usually stay.
Recently Deleted. Deleted items stay there for 30 days before they are removed from your iPhone, so the space comes back only then, or sooner if you delete them from Recently Deleted yourself. They don't count toward your iCloud storage.
Settings > General > iPhone Storage. It lists how much space each app uses, Photos included, and may offer recommendations; tap Show All to see them.
Optimize iPhone Storage. With iCloud Photos on, originals stay in iCloud and your iPhone keeps space-saving copies when it needs room. In iOS 27: Settings, your name, iCloud, Photos, iPhone Storage. It saves space on the phone, not in iCloud.

For a manual pass, see how to find and delete duplicate screenshots on iPhone and do screenshots take up storage.

Free iPhone photo cleaner apps compared

How you clean and what is free

App	How you clean, and what is free
Swept	Swipe photos and videos; duplicates, similar, sort by size. Free: unlimited swiping online, with ads; those tools and the vault
Clever Cleaner	Swipe; similar groups; big videos; compression. Free: no ads; unlimited Swipe; a daily allowance for the other tools
Slidebox	Swipe up to trash; tap an album to file. Free: free download; the free part is not spelled out
Favvy	Swipe right to keep, left to delete. Free: 100 swipes a day, more can be earned
Cleanup	Duplicate groups; compression; contacts; email. Free: 7-day trial; what is free after it is not stated
Swipewipe	Swipe month by month; duplicates. Free: with ads and a swipe limit

What the paid part costs

App	Paid part (US App Store)
Swept	One-time: Swept Pro, $4.99
Clever Cleaner	Subscription: $6.99 a week after a 3-day trial. One-time: lifetime, $39.99
Slidebox	Subscription: $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year (other weekly and yearly prices listed). One-time: lifetime, $29.99 or $49.99
Favvy	Subscription: from $4.99 a week, $9.99 a month or $14.99 a year. One-time: lifetime, $49.99
Cleanup	Subscription: $5.95 to $11.99 a week or $29.99 a year. Lifetime mentioned, no price listed
Swipewipe	Subscription: $3.99 to $9.99 a week or $29.99 a year

Some apps list several prices for one plan.

The apps, one by one

Swept

A swipe cleaner for photos and videos: left moves an item to Swept's own Trash, right keeps it, up moves it to a Private Vault. Nothing is deleted until you empty that Trash, and it has no time limit, so you can swipe today and decide next week. Emptying it uses Apple's standard deletion, so items then sit in Recently Deleted for about 30 days.

Free: unlimited swiping while online, with a full-screen ad every 25 swipes (offline, the free version can stop at 50 a day). Find Duplicates, Find Similar, Sort by Size and the Private Vault (Face ID, Touch ID or passcode) are free. Smart Triage suggests blurry shots, burst extras and screenshots, 15 a day.
Paid: Swept Pro, a one-time $4.99 in the US: no ads, unlimited Smart Triage, Shrink Videos and Storage Coach insights. No subscription.
Works on: iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later, in English.
Good to know: Find Duplicates checks your 1,200 newest photos and pre-selects all but the newest in each group, so look before you confirm. No account, photos are never uploaded and scanning is on-device; the free version collects anonymous usage statistics. The vault is not backed up, and deleting the app deletes it.

Get Swept on the App Store or see the Swept page.

Clever Cleaner

From CleverFiles, the makers of Disk Drill. It groups duplicate and similar photos and marks a Best Shot, sorts videos by size, gathers screenshots, converts Live Photos to stills and compresses photos, videos, screenshots and Live Photos. Smart Cleanup does several in one tap.

Free: no ads. Swipe has no daily limit; the other tools have a free allowance that refreshes daily.
Paid: Premium removes the limits: weekly with a 3-day free trial, or a one-time lifetime purchase.
Works on: iPhone with iOS 16 or later; iPad in compatibility mode. The developer says processing stays on the device.

Slidebox

Swipe up to trash, down to favorite, and tap an album to file the photo; it also compares similar photos. Its FAQ says trashing only marks a photo inside Slidebox until you delete the trashed photos.

Free: free download. The listing says purchases are for "additional storage and features, including 10,000+ photos and album cloud storage", without listing what stays free.
Paid: monthly or yearly subscriptions, or a one-time unlock of the full version.
Works on: iPhone and iPad with iOS 15 or later, plus Android.

Favvy

Swipe right to keep, left to delete, at random, month by month, or by Videos, Screenshots, Recents, Favorites or On This Day, with streaks for a daily habit.

Free: 100 swipes every day, with more you can earn in the app. No account, and its website says everything runs on the device.
Paid: Favvy Pro (subscriptions priced per country; the US list also shows a lifetime option) lifts the limit and adds cleanup of duplicates and heavy files.
Works on: iPhone and iPad with iOS 16.4 or later, plus Android.

Cleanup

Cleanup: Phone Storage Cleaner goes beyond photos. It finds duplicate and similar photos (marking the best), similar screenshots and lookalike videos, compresses videos, cleans contacts and promotional email, and has a PIN-protected Secret Space. The listing promises a final review screen before anything is removed.

Free: a 7-day trial with unlimited access, which then renews as a paid plan unless you cancel. The listing does not say what is free without a plan.
Paid: Cleanup Pro, weekly or yearly; a lifetime option is also mentioned.
Works on: iPhone with iOS 15 or later.

Swipewipe

Published by MWM. You swipe a month at a time, right to keep and left to delete. It also groups identical and near-identical photos, spots blurry shots and old screenshots, and on iPhone adds an AI photo enhancer and Supercut highlight videos. Swiped photos are deleted only when you confirm on the review screen.

Free: with ads and a swipe limit. At the limit a countdown starts, or you can watch a short video for more swipes.
Paid: a subscription removes the ads and limits and adds extras such as the enhancer.
Works on: iPhone and iPad with iOS 18 or later, plus Android.

Which one should you pick?

Small library, or mostly exact copies: the Duplicates album and Recently Deleted. No app needed.
The most you can do free, with no ads: Clever Cleaner. Swiping is unlimited, and its daily allowance includes compression and Live Photo conversion, which Swept does not offer free.
Filing photos into albums as you clean: Slidebox.
An Android phone too: Slidebox, Favvy and Swipewipe have Android apps. Swept is iPhone and iPad only.
Contacts and email as well as photos: Cleanup.
A month-by-month routine with extras like photo enhancement: Swipewipe, on iOS 18 or later.
Time to change your mind, and paying once: Swept. Its Trash has no time limit, the main tools are free and Pro is $4.99 once. The trade-offs: ads in the free version, English only, and it is newer than the others here.

Among the apps that say how they delete (Swept, Slidebox, Clever Cleaner and Swipewipe), removed photos go to Recently Deleted first, so you still have 30 days to undo.