Phone Cleaner・AI Clean Storage Review

Look for an easy way to free up space on your iPhone? Phone Cleaner・AI Clean Storage claims to be the solution. But with so many cleaning apps out there, does this one actually deliver? We tested its features, speed, cleanup usefulness, and overall value to see if it’s worth a shot. If you want to know whether it’s the real deal—or just another generic cleaner—keep reading to find out.

Overview

As stated on its App Store page, “AI iPHONE CLEANER- the best AI-powered app on OS 18 that cleans up your iPhone’s duplicate & similar photos to free up space in just a few taps.” Developed by Smart Tool Studio, Phone Cleaner boasts a 4.6-star rating from over 105,000 reviews—more than 100K is nothing to scoff at. We think it’s fair to say it’s quite popular. However, it is currently ranked #147 in the Utilities category. We have seen apps with fewer ratings placed much higher on the Utilities list.

It includes tools to remove duplicate and similar photos and videos, compress large videos to save space, manage and merge duplicate contacts, and secure sensitive files in a private photo gallery.

Features and Functionality

Phone Cleaner・AI Clean Storage packs a decent set of features. It has the toolset you’d expect from a modern cleaner app. Let’s list them all:

• 📸 Duplicate and similar photo detection – Scans your gallery to find and remove duplicate and similar photos.
• 🎥 Similar video finder – Identifies nearly identical videos so you can delete redundant clips without hesitation.
• 📇 Contact manager – Merges duplicate contacts and removes incomplete or empty entries to keep your address book organized.
• ✂️ Video compression – Shrinks video file sizes while keeping quality intact.
• 🔒 Private photo gallery – A secure space to store sensitive or personal media that you want to keep hidden.
• ⚡ Battery charging animation – Adds custom charging effects for a more visually engaging experience while your phone is plugged in.

Verdict. On paper, it looks like a well-rounded cleaner with a mix of storage optimization and visual extras. We will talk about how these features perform in real-world scenarios later, but for now, we give it 4 out of 5. It’s a good set of features, though we would have liked to see a few extras, such as manual swipe mode for easier selection or Live Photo conversion to free up even more space. Still, what it offers now is solid and holds up well against competitors.

Interface

When we first launched the app, our first impression was positive. The interface is bright, clean, and well-organized, easy to navigate. Everything is clearly labeled, and the group list on the white background looks sleek and modern. The app runs fast, with no noticeable lag when switching between menus or scanning files. It’s obvious that a lot of effort went into making the experience feel fluid and responsive.

That said, a couple of small things could be improved. The ads blend into the interface, they’re placed in a way that makes them look like part of the app’s interface. More than once, we tapped on what we thought was a feature, only to end up on an ad screen. While this isn’t a dealbreaker, it can slow you down. Another small drawback is the lack of standard swipe gestures in photo previews. Instead of swiping between images, you have to tap manually, which makes one-handed use a little less convenient.

However, these are minor complaints in an otherwise well-designed app.

Verdict. The interface is one of the app’s strongest points—smooth, stylish, and easy to navigate. It looks modern and well-designed. A few small tweaks, like better ad placement and swipe gestures, would make it even better, but overall, it’s one of the best-looking storage cleaners we’ve tested.

We’ll be generous and give it a 5 out of 5.

Cleanup Results

Now to the most important part—how well does it actually clean?

We tested Phone Cleaner・AI Clean Storage on an iPhone 15 with 256GB of storage, packed with a substantial media library—thousands of photos, videos, contacts, and everything you’d expect to find on your own device. To cut to the chase, we were left disappointed.

It excels in the looks department, but when it comes to actual cleanup performance, the results fell short.

The app detected a lot of clutter—2,099 similar photos (5GB) and 1,153 similar Live Photos (3.1GB), about 8GB of total potential cleanup. On paper, this sounds impressive. But the problem? The AI grouped them incorrectly too often. Many “similar” images weren’t actually similar, and the app struggled to distinguish between meaningful differences.

Another major issue? Best Photo selection barely worked. About 60% of the time, the app grouped photos correctly, but only 10% of those times did it actually pick the best shot. We even saw cases where the app chose a photo with closed eyes as the best one—not exactly a reliable system.

Video cleanup also had issues. The compression tool crashed, and video previews were always displayed in vertical format, even for landscape videos.

While it automates the cleaning process, we don’t think this is an app you can trust blindly. You’ll have to double-check a lot. In our case, every 2–3 groups were wrong. The app mixed people with trees and fields, trees with flowers, and oceans with mountains. It couldn’t distinguish between one person, two people, a full-body shot, or just a portrait—to the AI, they were all the same.

Verdict. Phone Cleaner looks like a great cleaner but doesn’t clean like one. The AI misgroups too often, Best Photo is unreliable, and the video tools don’t work as expected. For cleanup results, we’re giving it a 2 out of 5.

Scan Speed

The automatic cleanup scan took 3 minutes and 52 seconds, which isn’t the fastest we’ve seen but still within a reasonable range. We could have given it a 4 here, but there’s a catch.

Every time you check a new category, the app triggers a short re-scan that takes a few seconds. While this doesn’t seem like a big deal at first, it adds up quickly. If you’re reviewing multiple sections, the real scan time ends up being much longer than what’s advertised.

Verdict. It’s not the slowest, but it’s not the fastest either. The scan itself is decently quick, but the constant re-scanning holds it back. Because of this, we’re giving scan speed a 3 out of 5.

Pricing and Free Version

Now, let’s talk about what it costs—and what you can get for free. Like most similar apps, it’s all about the subscription. Here are the price tiers:

• $3.99 per week
• $29.99 per year
• $59.99 for a lifetime license

It’s not the most expensive app we’ve tested, but we can’t call it cheap either. For this price, we would expect more than just good looks.

If you’re hoping for a usable free version, think again. The app only allows you to delete 20 photos per ad. Want to clean more? Better get comfortable watching ads. Actually, the first thing we saw upon launching the app was a 15-second, unskippable ad. At this point, we’re used to ads in free versions of apps, but one before we even got to test anything? That’s bold. Not every app dares to hit you with an ad right from the start.

Verdict. The free version is barely usable, and the paid version doesn’t offer enough to justify its cost. With aggressive ads and an overpriced subscription model, it’s hard to see the value here.

We can’t give it more than 2 out of 5.

Final Score

So, how does Phone Cleaner stack up overall?

The design could have earned this app a great rating, but the terrible photo grouping ruins everything. And since accurate cleanup is the main feature, this is a dealbreaker.

The developers still have a long way to go before the functionality matches the app’s sleek design. Right now, it’s all style with not enough substance.