Overview
CleanMy®Phone: Storage Cleaner, developed by MacPaw, a company renowned for its macOS optimization tools like CleanMyMac, currently holds a 4.6-star rating with 20.9K reviews on the App Store. While this isn’t the largest number of reviews, 20.9K is still a substantial count, especially for an AI-powered cleaner that’s relatively new to the market.
Another interesting note—MacPaw previously offered an app called Gemini Photos, but its App Store page now redirects to CleanMy®Phone. While we can’t confirm, it’s possible that CleanMy®Phone is built on Gemini’s technology or is an evolution of it.
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Developer | MacPaw Way Ltd |
| Rating | 4.6 / 5 |
| Number of Ratings | 20.9K Ratings |
| Free Version | Yes (with limitations) |
| In-App Purchases | Yes ($4.99 Monthly, $19.99 Yearly) |
| Size | 86.2 MB |
| iOS Compatibility | Requires iOS 16.0 or later |
| Languages | English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Ukrainian |
Note. If you want to see how CleanMy®Phone compares to other options, check out our ranking of the best iPhone cleaners as well as our list of top AI-powered cleaners.
Features and Functionality
In terms of features, CleanMy®Phone is fairly modest. It provides the basic tools you’d expect from any modern cleaner, but it doesn’t offer much that sets it apart. There are a few smart cleanup features, yet nothing truly unique in a crowded market.
Let’s count what it has:
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Duplicate and Similar Photo Finder – Detects identical and similar photos, which allows users to delete extras while keeping the best shot.
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Blurred Image and Screenshot Cleanup – Identifies and removes unnecessary blurry photos and screenshots taking up space.
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AI Categories for Organization – Groups photos into categories like location, time, or event to simplify management.
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Sensitive File Protection – Lets users label specific photos as sensitive to prevent accidental deletion.
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Internet Speed Test – A bonus feature that lets users check Wi-Fi and mobile data speeds.
Verdict. As you can see, the app is fairly basic. There’s no video compression, no Live Photo compression, and the Internet Speed Test feels like an afterthought—we don’t even factor it into our evaluation of cleaning features.
We do appreciate that it allows you to pause and resume scans, but let’s be honest—that’s not a must-have for this type of app. The core cleaning tools work as intended, but nothing here elevates CleanMy®Phone above other cleaners. Overall, it’s neither exceptional nor terrible.
We’re giving Features and Functionality a 3 out of 5.
Interface
This is where the app really shines. Design is always subjective, but in our opinion, CleanMy®Phone has one of the best interfaces available. Everything runs smoothly, with beautiful effects, and it’s clear the developers invested a lot of effort into making the UI feel premium. As a company with experience in macOS and iOS apps, MacPaw clearly understands what Apple users expect in terms of design and user experience.
The animations, transitions, and general layout are visually stunning, navigation feels effortless. The app lacks small thumbnails in the similar photo list, but instead of feeling like a limitation, this was elegantly solved with neat little circles.
What we loved:
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Informative previews – The app displays photo metadata and small thumbnails at the bottom, giving users a better overview.
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Drag-and-drop functionality – You can drag thumbnails to switch the main preview, just like in Apple Photos.
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Smooth, responsive gestures – Standard swipe gestures for minimizing screens or navigating back work just as they should.
Verdict. CleanMy®Phone absolutely nails the interface. It’s smooth, visually striking, and genuinely enjoyable to use. While functionality could be slightly improved, the app looks and feels better than most competitors. Although not everyone may appreciate flashy animations or a highly stylized UI, the attention to design detail really sets it apart.
For the interface, we’re giving it 5 out of 5.
Cleanup Results
A great design is one thing, but a cleaner app ultimately needs to deliver on performance. How well does CleanMy®Phone free up storage space?
To test this, we ran a full scan on an iPhone with a cluttered photo library containing duplicates, similar images, blurry shots, and screenshots.
Starting with the positives: automatic cleanup is available, which is a major plus. With a single tap, the app handles the clutter without requiring manual input. It doesn’t just show a progress bar—instead, CleanMy®Phone visually breaks down the process, showing exactly what it’s working on. This makes the cleanup feel more interactive and transparent.
The photo grouping feature is decent, and in many cases, the AI accurately identifies duplicates and similar shots. The app organizes images into clear categories, which makes manual review easier if you want to double-check before deleting anything.
Now, onto the negatives. One major issue is that the storage cleanup potential is unclear. The app doesn’t provide a single view showing exactly how much space can be recovered—you have to manually check different sections, which feels disjointed and confusing.
We also noticed that some photo groups were inaccurate. Occasionally, the AI grouped different people or poses into the same “similar” category, making bulk deletion less reliable. This means you’ll need to manually review selections rather than trusting the automatic cleanup fully. While the feature is convenient in theory, having to double-check everything can quickly become a hassle.
Another issue is that not everything can be removed automatically. While the one-tap cleanup works for certain types of files, some clutter still requires manual deletion.
Verdict. CleanMy®Phone cleans effectively, but not perfectly. It identifies and categorizes unnecessary files well, but the lack of a clear total for recoverable storage and occasional AI misgroupings hold it back. The automated cleanup is convenient, but if you’re expecting a completely hands-free experience, you might be disappointed.
For cleanup results, we’re giving it a 2 out of 5. If the developers provided a clear total of how much storage could be freed—like some competitors do—it would rate higher. After all, the main job of a cleaner is to free space, and when users aren’t sure how much they’re saving, it diminishes the purpose.
Scan Speed
One area where CleanMy®Phone truly excels is speed. The entire scan completed in just 1 minute and 5 seconds, making it one of the fastest iPhone cleaners we’ve ever tested.
But it’s not just about raw speed—it’s also about how the app makes the process feel faster. The real-time visual feedback, with bubbles appearing to show what’s already been found and what’s being analyzed, creates a sense of constant progress. Instead of staring at a static loading bar, you can see the app actively working, which makes the scan feel quicker and far more engaging.
Verdict. What more can we say? It’s lightning fast. 5 out of 5.
Pricing and Free Version
Let’s get straight to it—CleanMy®Phone isn’t cheap. The app uses a subscription-based pricing model with several options:
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$9.99 per month
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$49.99 per year
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$99.99 for a lifetime license
This is on the expensive side for a storage cleaner, and at this price point, we’d expect top-tier functionality across the board. For $99.99, extras like video compression or a more advanced AI for automatic cleanup would be reasonable. Instead, the app still relies heavily on manual selection, which makes the price feel steep for what you actually get.
Is the Free Version Any Good?
Not really. If you’re hoping for a fully functional free cleaner, this isn’t it. The free version is extremely limited—you can only delete screenshots and a few specific photo types. The only other free feature worth noting is the Internet Speed Test, which feels tacked on and adds little value.
Verdict. The price is simply too high for what’s offered. The free version barely does anything, and while the paid version is beautifully designed and makes the process enjoyable enough to think, “Maybe it’s actually worth paying for,” a closer look at its limited functionality quickly reveals that it’s charging far too much.
For Pricing and Value, we’re giving it a 3 out of 5.
Final Score
It’s time to wrap up with the overall score. Here’s a breakdown of the previous ratings:
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Features & Functionality: 3/5 – Covers the basics but lacks depth. -
Interface: 5/5 – Stunning design, one of the best-looking cleaners on the market. -
Cleanup Results: 2/5 – AI misgrouping and unclear storage recovery hold it back. -
Scan Speed: 5/5 – Lightning-fast with excellent visual feedback. -
Pricing & Free Version: 3/5 – Expensive, and the free version is nearly useless.
Final Score: 3.6 out of 5
Summary:
CleanMy®Phone looks premium and feels premium, but it doesn’t clean like a premium app. The interface is one of the best in the market, but the actual cleaning functionality is just okay, and the pricing feels far too steep for what you get.
Recommendation:
It’s not a bad app, and if you value beautifully designed products, CleanMy®Phone is among the best-looking storage cleaners available. However, its limitations and high price make it a less practical choice. There are other apps that can do the same job for less, even if they don’t look as polished.
Pros:
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Stunning interface
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Lightning-fast scanning
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Automatic cleanup option
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Smooth user experience
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Photo grouping features
Cons:
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Limited free version
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Very expensive
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No clear storage recovery info
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Occasional AI misgrouping
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No automatic best-photo selection