This App Revolutionized How I Clean My iPhone

Reviews • May 7, 2024

In an era where our digital lives are as cluttered as our physical ones, the promise of a tool that not only organizes but revitalizes our digital spaces is more appealing than ever. As a technology enthusiast and someone who has never quite mastered the art of digital decluttering, CleanMy®Phone by MacPaw caught my attention.

This app claims to tackle the ever-growing pile of neglected files and forgotten photos that consume valuable space and mental bandwidth. Let’s dive into details.

TheSweetBits’ key takeaways

This app optimizes iPhone/iPad performance by intelligently cleaning unnecessary files (photos, duplicates, downloads). However, some advanced features require a paid subscription.
Goes beyond basic cleaning with AI-powered photo organization by category, date, or location.
Built-in Wi-Fi speed test helps ensure your internet connection is strong enough for smooth online tasks.

A bit about CleanMy®Phone app

As a long-time fan of MacPaw’s CleanMyMac, I was excited to try out their new app, CleanMyPhone. While CleanMyMac keeps my Mac running smoothly, CleanMyPhone tackles a different kind of clutter – the one overflowing on iPhones and iPads!

The app started as a duplicate photo finder (like their amazing Gemini Photos app), but MacPaw has even bigger plans. They want CleanMyPhone to become the ultimate all-in-one cleaning and optimization tool for your iPhone and iPad.

Here’s the cool part: CleanMyPhone is already bursting with potential. It can find and remove duplicate photos, blurry images, and even those forgotten screenshots that seem to multiply overnight. Plus, it goes beyond photos and helps you clean up other clutter that steals your storage space. That’s why I highly recommend giving CleanMyPhone a try.

A deep dive into CleanMy®Phone’s capabilities

CleanMyPhone stands out in the crowded space of digital cleaning tools with its array of features aimed at simplifying the management of your digital clutter.

Setting up CleanMyPhone is straightforward and user-friendly, designed to assure users of its safety from the get-go.

Upon installation, the app requests minimal permissions, primarily needing access only to the user’s photo library—no data is uploaded to external servers, ensuring that all personal content remains strictly on the device.

This approach not only speeds up the cleaning process but also enhances user trust, as there’s no risk of personal data being compromised or shared without consent.

The app’s commitment to privacy is further demonstrated by its policy of not accessing hidden albums and respecting user privacy settings inherently set on their devices.

The core functionality of the app revolves around three main pillars: Declutter, Organize, and Network Speed Test.

Each feature is designed to address specific aspects of digital maintenance, making it a versatile tool to optimize your device performance.

Declutter

The decluttering process in CleanMyPhone is intelligently driven by AI, offering a hands-on yet automated experience. Upon granting the necessary permissions, you are introduced to a smart system that periodically notifies them to review and manage clutter—ensuring the app remains actively helpful without being intrusive.

As it scans the library, the AI identifies not just obvious junk like old screenshots and duplicates but also subtly examines photo quality, suggesting removal of blurry images and sorting them alongside exact duplicates.

You can then visually compare these suggested deletions side by side, with the app providing detailed metadata for each image, empowering them to make informed decisions about what to keep or discard, thus tailoring the cleaning process to individual preferences and needs.

Organize

CleanMyPhone goes beyond just deleting unwanted files. It also helps you organize your photos and documents with ease. This AI-powered feature automatically sorts your files into albums based on content, date, or location, create themed folders like “Travel”,”Pets”,”Food”, and more.

This not only helps you find specific photos quickly but also automatically highlights the best copies among similar ones. No more sifting through endless duplicates! CleanMyPhone learns from your usage patterns and suggests new organizational methods, making photo management a breeze.

Network

Perhaps an unexpected addition in a cleaning app, this feature allows users to test their internet connection speed directly from the app.

Simply head to the “Network” tab and tap “Test.” Let the app work its magic, and in a moment, you’ll have a clear picture of your upload and download speeds. I especially like helpful suggestions based on your current speed. For example, with a speed of 99.7Mbps uplink and downlink, as I experienced on the test, CleanMyPhone indicates the connection is suitable for browsing, online gaming, media streaming, messaging, video calling, and chatting.

This can be particularly useful for troubleshooting performance issues that might affect cloud backups or online photo syncing, ensuring that your device not only runs smoothly offline but also interacts efficiently with online services.

My personal experience on CleanMyPhone

Over the course of a month, I integrated CleanMyPhone into my daily routine to gauge its effectiveness and user-friendliness. My iPhone, burdened with over 32,000 photos and countless redundant files, served as the perfect testbed for this app’s capabilities.

Initially skeptical, I was pleasantly surprised by how accurately CleanMyPhone identified unnecessary files. The app quickly highlighted several gigabytes of duplications and old downloads that I had forgotten about.

The visual comparison tool was particularly helpful; it displayed duplicates next to each other, with details like file size and creation date, making it easier for me to make informed decisions about which versions to keep.

The organization feature transformed the way I access my photos. Categories like ‘Travel’, ‘Family Events’, and ‘Documents’ were automatically populated, making navigation effortless.

Over a one-month period, I integrated CleanMyPhone into my daily routine, specifically to see how effectively it could declutter my iPhone, which was burdened with over 32,000 photos and numerous redundant files.

The results were notable: CleanMyPhone helped recover nearly 15GB of storage space by identifying and removing redundant, old, and unnecessary files. This quantifiable result was particularly impressive and provided a clear, tangible benefit of using the app.

I particularly appreciated how the app suggested creating a ‘Work Documents’ folder after noticing a recurring pattern in my downloads and photo captures during business hours.

I used the network speed test feature several times to check my connectivity before uploading large batches of photos to my cloud storage.

The results were consistent and reliable, providing me a quick way to ensure my internet speed was sufficient for heavy data tasks, thereby avoiding disruptions and ensuring efficient use of my time.

In summary, my hands-on experience with CleanMyPhone revealed a robust tool that delivered on its promises with an intuitive design and powerful features.

It not only helped clean and organize my digital space but also enhanced my overall device usability, making it a valuable asset for anyone looking to optimize their digital life.

Comparative analysis

Compared to other popular cleaning apps like Google’s Files Go and CCleaner, CleanMyPhone holds its ground with its unique combination of features.

Unlike Files Go, which primarily focuses on temporary and junk files, CleanMyPhone offers a more comprehensive cleaning that includes photo management.

CCleaner, while powerful in its own right, does not provide the same level of photo organization and lacks the AI-driven categorization that makes CleanMyPhone stand out.

One standout feature is its handling of sensitive photos, allowing users to mark specific images as ‘sensitive,’ ensuring they are excluded from future scans—providing peace of mind and personalized control over privacy.

Additionally, the inclusion of a network speed test within the app is a clever integration that complements its core functionality, allowing users to ensure their network connection is robust enough for efficient data management and cloud interactions.

These features distinguish CleanMyPhone in a market where most competitors focus solely on basic cleaning without these nuanced capabilities.

Pros and cons

Pros

Efficient Decluttering: CleanMyPhone excels in accurately identifying and removing unnecessary files, which significantly frees up storage space.
Advanced Organization: Automatically categorizes files into intuitive albums, making photo and document management a breeze.
User-Friendly Interface: The app is straightforward to navigate, with clear options and visual guides that enhance the user experience.
Privacy-Focused: Requires minimal permissions, focusing only on essential data, which is a significant plus for privacy-conscious users.

Cons

Limited Free Features:While the app offers a robust set of tools, some of the more advanced features are locked behind a paywall, which might deter some users.
May require user review for some deletion suggestion: In some cases, the AI might suggest deleting files that the user prefers to keep, requiring careful review.

Pricing and availability

CleanMyPhone is available for download on the App Store, but to unlock its full potential, you’ll need a subscription. The good news is that the app offers a free 3-day trial to let you test all its features before committing.

After the trial, a yearly subscription unlocks all the features for $24.99. The app requires iOS or iPadOS 16.0 or later to function.

Download options:

App Store: This is the most straightforward way to get CleanMyPhone. Simply head to the App Store and search for it.
Setapp (Optional): If you’re a Mac user and already subscribe to Setapp, MacPaw’s service offering access to various Mac and iPhone utilities, you can also access CleanMyPhone through your Setapp membership for $10 per month.

Bonus for EU Users: In April, MacPaw plans to launch Setapp Mobile, an alternative app store for the European Union. This will allow EU users to install apps directly through the Setapp service, eliminating the need for QR code scanning currently in place

TheSweetBits’ final thoughts

After a thorough testing period, CleanMyPhone has proven to be a highly effective tool for managing and optimizing iPhone storage.

Its ability to declutter and organize digital content with minimal user intervention makes it an excellent choice for anyone looking to streamline their digital life.

I recommend CleanMyPhone to anyone who faces challenges with digital clutter, especially those with extensive photo libraries.

The app’s design and functionality are geared towards enhancing the user’s experience, making it a worthwhile investment for maintaining an organized and efficient digital environment.

Although the app’s advanced features are behind a paywall, the benefits of freed-up storage space and enhanced organization outweigh this drawback.

For anyone struggling with digital clutter, especially those with extensive photo libraries, CleanMyPhone offers a robust solution that not only declutters but also smartly organizes digital spaces, making it a worthwhile investment.