<\/span>The Fastest Way to Clean Up the Photo Library on iPhone<\/span><\/h2>\r\nHands down, the fastest and easiest way to clean up the photo library on your iPhone is by using a third-party app. Third-party cleaning apps don\u2019t have the same limitations as the native Photos app, and they have way more<\/b> features that are actually dedicated to cleaning<\/b> (not just general organization).<\/p>\r\n
There are several from the App Store that you can choose from, but we\u2019ll be featuring Clever Cleaner: AI Cleanup App in this guide. It covers the most important media types, which we\u2019ll briefly run through below, and it\u2019s completely free<\/b> (and ad-free) as of this writing.<\/p>\r\n
![\"Screenshots](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Clever-Cleaner-All-Features.png\")
<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\t- Similars:<\/b> Unlike the native Photos app, Clever Cleaner can delete duplicate photos<\/a> and<\/i> similar-looking photos<\/b>. You can review groups of photos or delete all similar and duplicate photos in your library at once.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Heavies:<\/b> The Heavies tool allows you to sort your videos by size<\/a> or date<\/b>, and you can either delete or compress videos<\/a><\/b>, which reduces their file size at the cost of (minimally) impacting visual quality.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Swipe:<\/b> Your photos are categorized into monthly albums<\/b>, where you can review each photo individually and quickly process them using left and right swipe gestures<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Screenshots:<\/b> All screenshots on your device are compiled in the Screenshots tool, where you can see each image\u2019s file size in its thumbnail. You can also delete all of your screenshots at once with a Move all to Tras<\/b>h button.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Lives:<\/b> Clever Cleaner can delete Live Photos<\/a> or convert one, multiple, or all of your Live Photos into still images, drastically reducing their storage usage.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
To show you how the app works, here\u2019s a brief demonstration of how to use the Similars tool to delete similar and duplicate photos:<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\t- Download Clever Cleaner: AI Cleanup App<\/a> from the App Store.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Run Clever Cleaner. Then, grant it Full Access to your photo library and wait for the app to complete its initial scan.
\r\n![\"Clever](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Clever-Cleaner-Download-Permissions-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n\t - Once the scan is complete, the Similars tool will be the first page that you\u2019ll get access to. Tap any group of photos to review it. Alternatively, you can tap the Smart Cleanup<\/b> button to eliminate all similar and duplicate photos from your library at once.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Clever Cleaner will automatically choose the best version from the group of photos you\u2019re currently reviewing and select the rest to be deleted. You can also select the photos you want to delete yourself. Once you\u2019re satisfied with the selection, tap Move to Trash<\/b>. The next group of photos will then be made available to you.<\/li>\r\n\t
- After cleaning up your similars and duplicates, tap the moved to Trash<\/b> dialog box at the bottom of the screen.
\r\n![\"Deleting](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Clever-Cleaner-Similars-Deletion-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n\t- In the Trash page, use the slider at the bottom to delete the photos again.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Finally, tap Delete<\/b> in the pop-up dialog window to confirm the action.
\r\n![\"Clever](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Clever-Cleaner-Erase-Trash-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nAfter deleting your photos from Clever Cleaner, don\u2019t forget to delete them one more time<\/b> in the Recently Deleted<\/b> album (in the native Photos app). Otherwise, they\u2019ll remain on your device for 30 days before being permanently deleted by iOS.<\/p>\r\n💡 At the time of this writing, Clever Cleaner is completely free<\/b>\u2013and the developers<\/a> recently stated that \u201cearly users will never be asked to pay for upgrades or new features.\u201d<\/b> Even if you don\u2019t need to clean your library right at this moment, we still recommend downloading the app while it\u2019s still free.<\/div>\r\n<\/span>Clean Up Photos on iPhone Manually<\/span><\/h2>\r\nIf you don\u2019t want to use a third-party app, or you lack the storage space to download one, the Photos app has a decent set of tools that can still get you pretty far. The key is leveraging its features effectively, which is what we\u2019ll teach you in this section.<\/p>\r\n
<\/span>1.<\/span> Delete Photos from Your Library and Albums<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\r\nThe native Photos app, of course, provides a method to delete photos. But iOS has other organization and cleanup features that can help you be more strategic than just browsing your library. Here\u2019s a rundown of common cleanup targets to start with:<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\t- Media Types:<\/b> Review photos based on their type, such as Selfies, Live Photos, Portrait, Bursts, RAW, and more.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Utilities:<\/b> The Photos app has limited but useful organization features; check the Favorites, Hidden, Recently Deleted, Duplicates (covered in the next section<\/a>), Receipts, and QR Codes utilities to eliminate redundant media.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Built-in Collections:<\/b> iOS also generates its own albums and collections that can make it easier to find unwanted photos or videos. Some popular examples include People and Pets, Recent Days, and Trips.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Custom albums:<\/b> Check your own albums; if you recently took a trip or worked on a project that resulted in a lot of photos, see if you find any clutter to eliminate.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
Each album, collection, and utility has a slightly different interface based on its contents, but the process of photo deletion for all of them is fairly straightforward:<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\t- Open the Photos app.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Navigate to the Collections<\/b> page (or the Library<\/b> page if you want to delete photos straight from your library).<\/li>\r\n\t
- Choose a Collection containing the photos you want to delete.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Tap Select<\/b> in the top right corner of the screen.
\r\n![\"Selecting](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photos-App-Albums-Interface-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n\t- Choose the photos you want to delete. Then, tap the trash button 🗑️<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t
- From the content menu that appears, tap Delete<\/b>. Make sure to tap Delete Items<\/b> in the dialog box to confirm the action.
\r\n![\"Deleting](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photos-App-Delete-Album-Photos-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/span>2.<\/span> Use the Duplicates Utility to Merge Copies<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\r\nOne of the Photos app\u2019s most useful utilities is Duplicates<\/b>. Instead of looking for duplicate photos in your library manually, the Duplicates utility automatically finds them for you and saves them to its own album.<\/p>\r\n
There, you can Merge<\/b> the photos, which combines their metadata and saves it to the highest-quality image (while automatically deleting the rest). Alternatively, you can also delete individual photos yourself.<\/p>\r\n💡 The Duplicates utility is only capable of detecting exact copies of the same image<\/b>; they usually occur if you accidentally download the same picture or save the same attachment multiple times. For similar-looking photos (e.g., multiple selfies), see the Clever Cleaner section<\/a>.<\/div>\r\n\r\n\t- Open the Photos app.<\/li>\r\n\t
- At the bottom of the screen, tap Collections<\/b>. Then, scroll down to Utilities<\/b> and tap Duplicates<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Beside the group of duplicates you want to combine, tap the Merge<\/b> button.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Finally, tap Merge Exact Copies<\/b> to confirm the action.
\r\n![\"Merge](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photos-App-Merge-Duplicates-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n⚠️ If you don\u2019t see the Duplicates utility in the Photos app, there are 2 possibilities: (1) iOS is still indexing your library, or (2) your photos aren\u2019t being recognized as exact copies. In the first scenario, charge your iPhone and leave it for a few minutes. In the second, you\u2019ll need to use a third-party app\u2013see the Clever Cleaner section<\/a> of this guide.<\/div>\r\n
<\/p>\r\nTo show you how the app works, here\u2019s a brief demonstration of how to use the Similars tool to delete similar and duplicate photos:<\/p>\r\n
- \r\n\t
- Download Clever Cleaner: AI Cleanup App<\/a> from the App Store.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Run Clever Cleaner. Then, grant it Full Access to your photo library and wait for the app to complete its initial scan.
\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t- Once the scan is complete, the Similars tool will be the first page that you\u2019ll get access to. Tap any group of photos to review it. Alternatively, you can tap the Smart Cleanup<\/b> button to eliminate all similar and duplicate photos from your library at once.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Clever Cleaner will automatically choose the best version from the group of photos you\u2019re currently reviewing and select the rest to be deleted. You can also select the photos you want to delete yourself. Once you\u2019re satisfied with the selection, tap Move to Trash<\/b>. The next group of photos will then be made available to you.<\/li>\r\n\t
- After cleaning up your similars and duplicates, tap the moved to Trash<\/b> dialog box at the bottom of the screen.
\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t- In the Trash page, use the slider at the bottom to delete the photos again.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Finally, tap Delete<\/b> in the pop-up dialog window to confirm the action.
\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nAfter deleting your photos from Clever Cleaner, don\u2019t forget to delete them one more time<\/b> in the Recently Deleted<\/b> album (in the native Photos app). Otherwise, they\u2019ll remain on your device for 30 days before being permanently deleted by iOS.<\/p>\r\n
💡 At the time of this writing, Clever Cleaner is completely free<\/b>\u2013and the developers<\/a> recently stated that \u201cearly users will never be asked to pay for upgrades or new features.\u201d<\/b> Even if you don\u2019t need to clean your library right at this moment, we still recommend downloading the app while it\u2019s still free.<\/div>\r\n<\/span>Clean Up Photos on iPhone Manually<\/span><\/h2>\r\n
If you don\u2019t want to use a third-party app, or you lack the storage space to download one, the Photos app has a decent set of tools that can still get you pretty far. The key is leveraging its features effectively, which is what we\u2019ll teach you in this section.<\/p>\r\n
<\/span>1.<\/span> Delete Photos from Your Library and Albums<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\r\n
The native Photos app, of course, provides a method to delete photos. But iOS has other organization and cleanup features that can help you be more strategic than just browsing your library. Here\u2019s a rundown of common cleanup targets to start with:<\/p>\r\n
- \r\n\t
- Media Types:<\/b> Review photos based on their type, such as Selfies, Live Photos, Portrait, Bursts, RAW, and more.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Utilities:<\/b> The Photos app has limited but useful organization features; check the Favorites, Hidden, Recently Deleted, Duplicates (covered in the next section<\/a>), Receipts, and QR Codes utilities to eliminate redundant media.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Built-in Collections:<\/b> iOS also generates its own albums and collections that can make it easier to find unwanted photos or videos. Some popular examples include People and Pets, Recent Days, and Trips.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Custom albums:<\/b> Check your own albums; if you recently took a trip or worked on a project that resulted in a lot of photos, see if you find any clutter to eliminate.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
Each album, collection, and utility has a slightly different interface based on its contents, but the process of photo deletion for all of them is fairly straightforward:<\/p>\r\n
- \r\n\t
- Open the Photos app.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Navigate to the Collections<\/b> page (or the Library<\/b> page if you want to delete photos straight from your library).<\/li>\r\n\t
- Choose a Collection containing the photos you want to delete.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Tap Select<\/b> in the top right corner of the screen.
\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t- Choose the photos you want to delete. Then, tap the trash button 🗑️<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t
- From the content menu that appears, tap Delete<\/b>. Make sure to tap Delete Items<\/b> in the dialog box to confirm the action.
\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/span>2.<\/span> Use the Duplicates Utility to Merge Copies<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\r\n
One of the Photos app\u2019s most useful utilities is Duplicates<\/b>. Instead of looking for duplicate photos in your library manually, the Duplicates utility automatically finds them for you and saves them to its own album.<\/p>\r\n
There, you can Merge<\/b> the photos, which combines their metadata and saves it to the highest-quality image (while automatically deleting the rest). Alternatively, you can also delete individual photos yourself.<\/p>\r\n
💡 The Duplicates utility is only capable of detecting exact copies of the same image<\/b>; they usually occur if you accidentally download the same picture or save the same attachment multiple times. For similar-looking photos (e.g., multiple selfies), see the Clever Cleaner section<\/a>.<\/div>\r\n- \r\n\t
- Open the Photos app.<\/li>\r\n\t
- At the bottom of the screen, tap Collections<\/b>. Then, scroll down to Utilities<\/b> and tap Duplicates<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Beside the group of duplicates you want to combine, tap the Merge<\/b> button.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Finally, tap Merge Exact Copies<\/b> to confirm the action.
\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n⚠️ If you don\u2019t see the Duplicates utility in the Photos app, there are 2 possibilities: (1) iOS is still indexing your library, or (2) your photos aren\u2019t being recognized as exact copies. In the first scenario, charge your iPhone and leave it for a few minutes. In the second, you\u2019ll need to use a third-party app\u2013see the Clever Cleaner section<\/a> of this guide.<\/div>\r\n - Beside the group of duplicates you want to combine, tap the Merge<\/b> button.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Utilities:<\/b> The Photos app has limited but useful organization features; check the Favorites, Hidden, Recently Deleted, Duplicates (covered in the next section<\/a>), Receipts, and QR Codes utilities to eliminate redundant media.<\/li>\r\n\t
- Run Clever Cleaner. Then, grant it Full Access to your photo library and wait for the app to complete its initial scan.
![\"Accessing](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photos-App-Hidden-Album-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n\t![\"Deleting](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Photos-Delete-Hidden-Images-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n![\"Opening](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Files-App-Downloads-Folder-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n\t![\"Deleting](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Files-App-Image-Deletion-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n![\"Opening](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Settings-iPhone-Storage-Nav-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n\t![\"Messages](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Settings-Messages-Attachments-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n\t![\"Deleting](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Settings-Delete-Message-Attachments-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n![\"Apple](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Settings-Apple-Account-Page-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n\t![\"Activating](\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iCloud-Photos-Sync-Settings-482x500.png\")
<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n