Phone Diet vs. the top iPhone cleaner apps in 2026
An honest, side-by-side comparison. We built Phone Diet — but we're being fair: every competitor here has at least one thing they do uniquely well, and we'll tell you which one is right for you.
Last updated: September 22, 2026
Feature comparison
| Feature | Phone Diet | Cleanup (Codeway) | CleanX | CleanMyPhone | Clever Cleaner | Cleaner Guru | LuminaClean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duplicate & similar photos (AI) | Similar Photos (near-identical, best marked Keep) and Duplicates (exact copies) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Blurry / dark / screenshot detection | Blurry and dark photos, screenshots, screen recordings, Live Photos, and bursts | Screenshots only | Blurry + screenshots | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | ✓ |
| Video compression | HEVC, up to 70% smaller | ✓ | ✓ | Limited | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| HEIC → JPEG batch converter | ✓ | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Email cleaner — Gmail | Gmail Auto Clean rules; 30-second undo on category cleans | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Email cleaner — iCloud / Outlook / Yahoo / AOL / IMAP | ✓ All | — Gmail only | — Google only | — | — | — | — |
| Read-frequency unsubscribe ("never opened") | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| AI Smart Albums (Pets, Food, Travel…) | Smart Albums | — | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Year-by-year cleanup mode | — | — | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Contact cleaner — duplicate match | One tap; back up the address book first | ✓ | ✓ + backup | ✓ | — | ✓ | — |
| Contact cleaner — similar (fuzzy) match | — | Not stated | Not stated | ✓ New | — | — | — |
| Calendar cleaner | ✓ | — | ✓ Per website | — | — | — | — |
| Private vault | Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode; encrypted; on device | ✓ PIN | ✓ | — | — | ✓ | — |
| Recover (30-day undo) | Undo with a countdown; 30 days, or 7 or 60 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Safari ad blocker | ✓ | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Speed Test | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Device Health Score | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Siri / Shortcuts / Action Button | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Apple Photos Clean Up integration | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Fully on-device (no upload) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| No account required | Not listed | ✓ | Not stated | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free without ads | First cleanup free, up to 1 GB | 5 deletes/day after 7-day trial | — Shows ads | 3-day trial | ✓ Forever | 7-day trial | 10 deletes/day free |
| Lifetime purchase available | ✓ $59.99 | Listed, no price shown | Not stated | ✓ $99.99 | Free | — | ✓ $17.99 |
| iPad universal app | iPhone and iPad, iPadOS 17.0 or later | — iPhone only | ✓ + Mac | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Phone Diet’s column follows its App Store listing as of October 11, 2026. Cleanup and CleanX were checked on September 22, 2026 against each app’s App Store listing and privacy label (Cleanup, CleanX) and its website. “—” means the feature is not claimed there; “Not stated” means we could not confirm it either way.
Quick verdicts
Phone Diet
$4.99/wk · $12.99/mo · $34.99/yr · $59.99 lifetime
Strengths
- Similar Photos (near-identical shots, best marked Keep), Duplicates (exact copies), blurry and dark photos, screenshots, screen recordings, Live Photos, bursts, and Largest Files
- Smart Albums, swipe to sort, and On This Day
- Email cleaner for Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, Yahoo, AOL, and IMAP, including Gmail Auto Clean rules with a 30-second undo on category cleans
- HEIC converter
- HEVC video compression, up to 70% smaller
- Undo with a countdown. Recover keeps removed items 30 days by default, or 7 or 60
- Private Vault: Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode; encrypted; on the device
- Contact Cleaner merges duplicates in one tap (back up the address book first), plus Calendar Cleaner and Speaker Cleaner
- Widgets for storage and battery on the Home Screen and Lock Screen
- On-device scanning, no ads, no tracking. English. iPhone and iPad (iOS 17.0 or later, or iPadOS 17.0 or later)
Trade-offs
- Full scan is free. First cleanup is free up to 1 GB. Then Weekly $4.99, Monthly $12.99, Annual Premium $34.99, or Lifetime $59.99
- Requires iOS 17.0 or later, or iPadOS 17.0 or later. Cleanup runs on iOS 15, CleanX on iOS 16
- English only. Cleanup lists 18 languages and CleanX lists 17
Cleanup: Phone Storage Cleaner (Codeway)
7-day trial · $5.95–$11.99/wk · $29.99/yr
Strengths
- On the App Store since December 2020 and still updated weekly
- Runs on iOS 15 and later, in 18 languages — a wider language list than Phone Diet, which is English only
- Marks a “Best” shot in each group of similar photos; also has swipe-to-clean, widgets and charging animations
Trade-offs
- Its App Store privacy label declares Data Used to Track You (purchases, identifiers, usage data), while its description promises “no tracking”
- Email cleaning signs in to Gmail only, going by recent reviews
- iPhone only — no iPad app
- After the trial, reviewers report the free tier is 5 deletions a day
CleanX (xStudios)
$4.99–$9.99/wk · $39.99/yr
Strengths
- On the App Store since August 2021
- One app for iPhone, iPad and Apple-silicon Macs, back to iOS 16, in 17 languages
- Contact backup and restore, and a calendar cleaner (per its website)
Trade-offs
- Labelled “Contains Advertising”, and its privacy label declares identifiers and usage data used to track you
- Collects precise location, per the same label
- Reviewers say the email cleaner only covers Google accounts
- Annual plan is $39.99, against $34.99 for us and $29.99 for Cleanup
CleanMyPhone (MacPaw)
$9.99/mo · $49.99/yr · $99.99 lifetime · 3-day trial
Strengths
- A clear scan animation
- Strong privacy story (Apple-notarized, offline)
- New "Similar Contacts" fuzzy match shipped Q1 2026
Trade-offs
- No email cleaner at all
- No HEIC converter
- Most expensive lifetime tier ($99.99)
- Free tier is paywalled out of practically everything
Clever Cleaner
100% free, no ads
Strengths
- Completely free, no ads, no subscription
- On-device AI for duplicates / similar photos
- Simple, fast UI
Trade-offs
- Photos only — no email, vault, or contact cleaner
- No Shortcuts integration
- Single developer, slower feature pace
Cleaner Guru
$7.99/wk · $39.99/yr · 7-day trial
Strengths
- Solid photo + video cleanup
- Secret folder with password
- Battery / memory widget
Trade-offs
- No email cleaner
- No HEIC converter
- Subscription is on the higher end weekly
LuminaClean
10 free deletes/day · $4.99/mo · $17.99 lifetime
Strengths
- Smart Albums by content (Pets, Food, Travel)
- Year-by-year cleanup mode
- Cheapest lifetime tier in the category
Trade-offs
- Photos only — no email, contact, or calendar cleaner
- No vault or recovery features
- "10 free deletes/day" can feel limiting
Cleanfox
100% free
Strengths
- Best read-frequency unsubscribe UX in the email space
- Three-action swipe for emails
- Free across all providers
Trade-offs
- Owned by NielsenIQ. Sells transactional data for market research — confirmed in their privacy policy.
- Email only — no photo cleanup, vault, contacts
- Reverse-action view has no sort order
Pick the right one for you
- If you want photos, videos, and email in one app — Phone Diet. iPhone and iPad (iOS 17.0 or later, or iPadOS 17.0 or later). Email covers Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, Yahoo, AOL, and IMAP, including Gmail Auto Clean. Private Vault, Contact Cleaner, and Calendar Cleaner are included. English only.
- If your iPhone is on iOS 15 — Cleanup. It supports an older iOS version. Accept Gmail-only email cleaning and a privacy label that declares tracking.
- If you want one cleaner across iPhone, iPad and Mac — CleanX. The only app here that also runs on Apple-silicon Macs. It shows ads.
- If you only need free photo cleanup — Clever Cleaner. Free forever, no ads. Loses out on every non-photo feature.
- If you live in the MacPaw ecosystem — CleanMyPhone. Great UX, beautiful animations, no email tools.
- If you mainly want inbox cleanup and don't mind the privacy cost — Cleanfox. Free, fast, but they sell data.
- If you need rock-bottom lifetime pricing for photos only — LuminaClean's $17.99 lifetime tier is the cheapest single-purchase in the category.
If something in Phone Diet does not match this page, the support page is where to ask.
Photos, videos, and email cleanup.
Phone Diet scans on the iPhone, with no ads and no tracking. Email covers Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, Yahoo, AOL, and IMAP. HEVC compression is up to 70% smaller. The full scan is free, and the first cleanup of up to 1 GB is free.
Get Phone Diet on the App Store