What Is The Best iPhone Cleaner App? A Complete Guide

Written by Tina Sendin

Sick of that “Storage Almost Full” pop-up on your iPhone? Don’t stress — here’s a quick guide to the best iPhone cleaner apps to help you declutter and get your phone running like a dream again!

What's the Actual Deal About Top iPhone Storage Cleaner Apps?

I find myself constantly asking the question: Does Apple have an іPhone cleaner app? Especially every time that pesky “Storage Almost Full” pop-up makes an appearance at the worst possible time — right before capturing a stunning sunset or downloading a new app.

So I went on a mission to find iPhone cleaner apps that could rescue me from digital clutter.

Spoiler alert? There are some brilliant options out there, each with its own strengths and flaws.

Here’s a breakdown of my iPhone clean up app review, which hopefully can help you find the one that suits your vibe.

Clever Cleaner: A Free iPhone Cleaner App

Clever Cleaner was my first pick, mainly because it’s completely free. Yep, no sneaky charges or “accidental” subscriptions. It’s straight to the point, focused, and does what it advertises.

Clever Cleaner app interface showing features like deleting duplicate photos, swiping to delete or keep images, and removing large filesClever Cleaner app interface showing features like deleting duplicate photos, swiping to delete or keep images, and removing large files

First impressions

This app had me at “clean design and no ads.” Honestly, there’s nothing worse than being bombarded by pop-ups when you’re in cleanup mode.

It was simple to set up, and navigating through the menus was a breeze, even for someone who’s slightly less than a tech genius.

Key features

Clever Cleaner truly shines when it comes to photo and video management. It’s like having a Marie Kondo for your camera roll.

📌 AI-powered Photo Cleaner

Did you know you’re likely hanging onto five versions of the same restaurant food photo?

Clever Cleaner uses AI to find duplicate and similar photos (burst shots are a sneaky culprit). It grouped up my 27 coffee-snap variations and practically begged me to delete 26 of them.

A few taps later, my gallery was lighter — and my storage breathed a sigh of relief.

📌 Rogue screenshot wrangler

Whether it’s accidentally capturing your lock screen or saving yet another recipe you’ll never make, screenshots pile up fast. Clever Cleaner gathers them all for bulk deletion.

Goodbye, hundreds of screenshot embarrassments.

📌 Large file finder

The “Heavies” feature points out storage hogs like old concert videos or Live Photos from five years ago. Once flagged, you can decide whether to keep, delete, or even compress them.

Speaking of compression, it worked a charm on my Live Photos, cutting their size without losing quality.

Safety first

Here’s peace of mind served on a silver platter — Clever Cleaner processes everything locally on your iPhone. None of your personal files end up in some mystery cloud server, so privacy isn’t a concern.

The catch

While Clever Cleaner is a lifesaver for photos and videos, it doesn’t branch out much. There’s no email cleanup, contact management, or calendar decluttering.

It’s also strictly iOS, so no help if you swing between devices.

But hey, it’s free and laser-focused on doing one thing brilliantly.

Verdict

Clever Cleaner is like that reliable friend who rocks up when there’s heavy lifting to do — hands down one of the best clean up apps for iPhone options out there.

Quick, efficient, and totally free. It’s hard not to love!

If your main issue is photo or video chaos, this app nails it. Highly recommend giving it a whirl.

Clean Email: An iPhone Cleaner App that Targets Your Inbox

If photos are Clever Cleaner’s forte, emails are Clean Email’s bread and butter. It’s designed for anyone who looks at their inbox and feels immediate panic. Sound familiar? Yeah, this one’s for you.

Clean Email app interface showing inbox cleanup tools, unsubscribe options, and smart folder categories for organizing emailsClean Email app interface showing inbox cleanup tools, unsubscribe options, and smart folder categories for organizing emails

First impressions

Setting up Clean Email is smooth as smooth can be. It’s straightforward and works across multiple providers like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and Apple Mail. It's one of the best apps that can keep your inbox clean.

It quickly connected to my accounts and didn’t require any fancy tech knowledge to use.


Key features

📌 Bulk organizing emails

This is where things get real. Clean Email lets you sort emails by sender, subject, time, and even by attachments. It cleared out promotional emails faster than I could say, “unsubscribe from emails on my iPhone, please.”

📌 Instant Unsubscribe

One click, and that annoying newsletter I hadn’t opened in three years was gone. Even promo-packed emails from the same sender (looking at you, online shopping sites) got grouped for mass deletion.

Clean Email app's Unsubscriber feature showing grouped email senders with options to keep receiving or instantly unsubscribeClean Email app's Unsubscriber feature showing grouped email senders with options to keep receiving or instantly unsubscribe

📌 Auto Clean rules

Once set, it’s like the app becomes self-aware (without the Terminator vibe). Auto Clean means no more future clutter — emails automatically go where they should (or to the trash).

Clean Email’s Auto Clean setup showing rule creation for deleting old, unread, promotional emails larger than 1MBClean Email’s Auto Clean setup showing rule creation for deleting old, unread, promotional emails larger than 1MB

Is it safe?

✅ Now, if you’re someone who worries about privacy, here’s some good news: Clean Email makes me feel safe about my personal data. It keeps your sensitive info where it belongs — right on your device — not shuffled off to the cloud.

And that gave me some serious peace of mind while I was digging into those older files and attachments.

Everything happens locally, which scores it big points in the trust department.

Also, as a Gmail user, it gives me much relief to know it's fully compliant with Gmail's privacy policy.


The catch

Here’s the kicker — it doesn’t clear out cached app attachments or offer broader iPhone cleanup tools. Also, while the trial is free, the top features sit behind a monthly subscription.


Verdict

For anyone drowning in email chaos, Clean Email is the knight in shining armor riding in to save your inbox. Sure, there can be a cost involved, but the time it saves and the sheer functionality make it worth every cent if emails are your pain point.

It's available not only on iPhone and iPad, but also on Android, macOS, and as a web app for flexible, cross-device access.

AI Cleaner: 'All-Rounder' App to Clean Up Storage

AI Cleaner markets itself as an all-rounder, promising to tackle everything from duplicate files to contact chaos. It’s got big ambitions, so I gave it a go.

AI Cleaner app screens showing privacy protection, duplicate photo removal, and a smart cleaning dashboard with storage statusAI Cleaner app screens showing privacy protection, duplicate photo removal, and a smart cleaning dashboard with storage status

First impressions

Opening AI Cleaner, the app gives off serious “ready-to-work” energy. It launched a full-device scan immediately, pulling up duplicates and forgotten files.

The downside? Ads popped up a bit too soon. It also teased premium features early on, which left me wary.

Key features

📌 Smart Duplicate Finder

It zoned in on duplicate photos and videos, picking up where Clever Cleaner left off. However, it wasn’t perfect. I caught it flagging valuable photos for deletion, so manual review is a must.

📌 Contact Overhaul

My contacts were full of “mom’s new number” or “Sheila Work?” entries. AI Cleaner found duplicates, incomplete entries, and even flagged old or unnecessary ones.

📌 Calendar Cleaner

The app highlighted outdated events like “Tanya - Meeting 2018.” Clearing them out felt oddly refreshing.

📌 Secret Storage Vault

For the private types, this lets you secure files, photos, or contacts with a PIN.

Security сoncerns

Here’s where AI Cleaner gave me pause — it asks for broad permissions, and some reviews flagged potential data-sharing. If you value absolute privacy, check its policies carefully.

The catch

AI Cleaner doesn’t touch email clutter, which is a noticeable gap considering its “all-in-one” branding. (Clean Email is still my go-to in this department.)

Compare that to the lack of advanced app cache cleaning, and it’s clear it doesn’t quite hit every note.

Ads and limitations on its free tier also make the experience less seamless.

Verdict

AI Cleaner is decent at being a jack-of-all-trades, but when I did an AI Cleaner app review, it didn’t dazzle.

Yes, it’s useful for photos, contacts, or calendar events. But just tread carefully regarding permissions and ads.

Cleaner AI – iPhone Storage Cleaner App

Cleaner AI feels like the committed multitasker of the group. It banks on offering solutions for storage, security, and overall device health. Naturally, I had to see if it lived up to its ambitious claims.

Cleaner AI app interface displaying storage cleaning, password protection tools, and internet speed test resultsCleaner AI app interface displaying storage cleaning, password protection tools, and internet speed test results

First Impressions

Cleaner AI was easy to set up, scanning my phone and categorizing areas needing attention. It’s set up intuitively, but much like AI Cleaner, it pesters you for upgrades to access premium features.

Key Features

📌 Smart Cleaning

Cleaner AI breaks down cleanup by file categories, offering manual cleaning alongside AI-based suggestions. It picked out duplicate photos and unnecessary files, but occasionally misfired, flagging things I wanted to keep.

📌 Device Health monitoring

This reports on storage, RAM, and battery health. Surprisingly, it highlighted areas I hadn’t thought were slowing my phone down.

📌 Secret Folder + Security Tools

The app’s real value shines with its privacy-focused extras like ad blockers and phishing protection (behind a paywall, of course). You can also lock away sensitive files in its “secret folder.”

Security сoncerns

While the app claims to be secure, its data use policies could use more transparency. It may share data with third parties, so keep that in mind.

The catch

It attempts to be an all-in-one cleaner but misses the mark in depth. For example, its email cleaning is nonexistent (at least if you're looking to delete all your emails in one click), and real value is hidden behind a premium subscription.

Verdict

Cleaner AI is a versatile storage cleaner app, but falls short of being excellent at any one thing. It’s good for general cleanup and device monitoring, but lacks finesse in privacy and usability on the free tier.

Final Thoughts on iPhone Storage Cleanup

Each of these apps has its own strengths when it comes to cleaning up iPhone storage. Clever Cleaner is perfect for sorting out your photos, Clean Email is unbeatable for tidying up your inbox, and AI Cleaner and Cleaner AI aim to tackle a bit of everything.

So, what’s the best clean-up app for iPhone? It really depends on what’s driving you mad:

➡️ Got a cluttered inbox? Clean Email is your go-to.

➡️ Swamped with duplicate photos? Clever Cleaner is the clear winner.

➡️ Need an all-rounder? AI Cleaner and Cleaner AI are worth a shot, but tread carefully.

Here’s the big takeaway: there’s no one-size-fits-all app that can handle every type of clutter on your iPhone. You can either focus on one specific area or try a mix of these apps to see which one earns a permanent spot on your phone.

For example, most AI-powered iPhone cleaners are brilliant at clearing out photos, videos, and contacts, but they don’t touch the storage used by emails or attachments. If your inbox is the issue, a dedicated email cleaner like Clean Email is a must-have.

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