Clever Cleaner for iPhone Review: 100% Free, Ad-Free iOS Cleaner App

Look for a free iPhone cleaning app, but every download greets you with a subscription menu or unskippable ad? A legitimately free iPhone cleaner app that actually works is rare. Today, we’ll review Clever Cleaner, an app that strives to be different. It promises multiple cleaning features, fast performance, and – most importantly – no ads or paywalls, all for free. Let’s see if it lives up to the promise.

Below is a detailed look at how it works, what makes it special, and why it might be one of the best free cleaner apps for iPhones currently available.

Background & Developer

Clever Cleaner: AI CleanUp App comes from CleverFiles, the team behind Disk Drill, a well-known data recovery tool for Mac and Windows. This app marks the first iPhone software release from this U.S.-based company, and to make a strong first impression, they’ve clearly put in a lot of effort. And it shows.

In a market flooded with iPhone storage cleaner apps that either lock features behind paywalls or bombard users with ads, Clever Cleaner stands out. There’s virtually no other app that offers this combination of features, full functionality, zero ads, and no subscription fees. By making their app 100% free, CleverFiles has found a way to differentiate itself in an extremely crowded market – and that’s a move that benefits users.

Core Features at a Glance

So, all features are free and unlimited – no “PRO” labels, no restrictions on how many files you can clean, and no limits on how often you can use the app. But what exactly does Clever Cleaner offer? Let’s count:

• Similars
  This feature uses AI-based image recognition to group pictures that look nearly identical. Instead of simply flagging identical duplicate files (like the iPhone’s built-in duplicate finder might), Clever Cleaner spots photos of the same person/object taken from slightly different angles or with minimal lighting changes. You can quickly review these groups, select the shots you want to delete, and retain the best version of each set. It’s AI even suggests a “best shot” from each grouping, so it can save you the headache of manually figuring out which photo turned out best.
• Screenshots
  Over time, screenshot images can take up more space than you’d think. Clever Cleaner isolates them in one neat section, letting you remove them in bulk. No more scrolling through your entire camera roll to pick out stray screenshots.
  
• Lives
  By default, your iPhone might capture Live Photos – brief snippets of video attached to each still shot. If you’re like this Reddit user and don’t see much point in them, you probably don’t want them clogging up your phone. These motion clips consume way more storage than regular photos, and if you don’t actually use the Live Photo effect, they’re just wasting space. Clever Cleaner provides a one-tap solution to convert Live Photos into standard still images. This is a rare feature among iPhone cleaning apps. While it’s technically possible to do this manually through the Photos app, the process is incredibly cumbersome – requiring you to create a duplicate without the motion clip and then delete the original. Clever Cleaner eliminates that hassle with an automatic conversion that strips the video while keeping your photos exactly where they were. As a result, you can free up gigabytes of space without deleting anything important. All your photos will stay right where they were – just without that short, unnecessary video clip attached.
• Heavies (Large Files)
  Ever wonder which videos are truly ballooning your storage? Heavies sorts them by size, from biggest to smallest, so you can instantly see what’s eating up the most space. It’s an obviously useful feature, yet nowhere to be found in the regular Photos app. In fact, this is a common frustration among iPhone users, as can be seen in Apple’s Discussion forums. If you want to check file sizes there, you’ll need to manually tap ‘Info’ on each video – a painfully slow process. That’s why many iPhone cleaning apps include this feature, and Clever Cleaner does it right. With Heavies, you don’t have to dig through your library – just open the tab and see which files should be first on the chopping block. Deleting even a couple of large videos can free up gigabytes in seconds.
  

These four features form the foundation of this iPhone cleaning app. It’s a great set of tools if your main goal is to streamline your media library and free up space.

Sure, there are no contact or calendar cleaning tools, and no photo/video compression tools (unless we count Lives as compression of Live Photos – which, interestingly, the app does call “compression”). But if your main goal is to tidy up everything in the Photos app, you really can’t argue with Clever Cleaner’s toolbox.

Video Tutorial

How Well Does Clever Cleaner Work?

Features sound great on paper, but does Clever Cleaner actually deliver? Short answer: Yes. Long answer: It does exactly what it promises – and does so quickly, with no lag, no glitches, and reliable AI detection and grouping, all presented in an easy-to-navigate manner.

One of the most interesting features is Similars, so let’s take a closer look at how well it worked for us. Clever Cleaner identified:

• 375 similar photos grouped for review
• A total of 1.8GB flagged as potential clutter
• AI grouping accuracy: ~94%

The AI did an impressive job recognizing:

• People (same person, slightly different expressions or angles)
• Animals (pets in different positions, lighting conditions)
• Objects (close-up shots of the same item)
• Buildings & Landmarks (photos from the same trip or event)

You have two ways to clean up similar photos:

• Tap the Smart Cleanup button, and the app will automatically flag all unnecessary photos for deletion, keeping only the AI-selected Best Shots. This is the fastest way to free up space if you trust the AI’s choices.
• If you want more control, you can tap on each group and review the suggested deletions one by one. This is a “half-manual, half-automatic” approach that still saves time.

Clever Cleaner automatically picks the best photo from each group. If you agree with the selection, you can simply delete the rest. If you think another photo is better, you can change the selection before removing the extras. And if you want to keep everything, just tap “Skip All”, and the app will instantly move to the next group for review.

Most of the time, it was on point – choosing clearer, better-lit images. A few times, we disagreed with its pick – but these were debatable cases, like choosing a slightly different angle rather than a “better” photo. Not once did it select an objectively bad photo – no closed eyes, weird facial expressions, or overexposed images. That alone makes the one-tap Smart Cleanup feature reliable and safe to use without triple-checking every choice.

As for the other features, no surprises here, everything works great. Unlike detecting similar photos, which requires AI-powered analysis, identifying screenshots or large videos is a much simpler task. As expected, the process was fast and smooth.

What really surprised us was how quickly the Lives compression worked. It took just 10–15 seconds to convert an entire gallery of Live Photos into still images.

User Experience & Interface

As for its design, it’s a well-made app. The interface is clean, features are color-coded, and there are no hidden menus or confusing options – just four simple tabs at the bottom for easy navigation. Everything feels smooth, previews load instantly, and scans are fast. We didn’t experience lags or issues you might expect from a newer app.

What’s also refreshing is that Clever Cleaner doesn’t look like every other iPhone cleaning app. Let’s be honest – many of them are carbon copies of each other. Not this one. It manages to stand out with a distinct design.

Additional Observations

The first thing you notice? Absolutely no interruptions. Not having to sit through ads is refreshing, especially for a free app. Unlike other so-called “free” apps, Clever Cleaner gives you full access from day one – no credit card, no subscriptions, no sneaky upgrade prompts. This fact, combined with its actual performance, makes it fair to call it the best free cleaning app for iPhone, or at least one of the best, despite being relatively new.

Another thing worth mentioning is privacy. The app doesn’t ask for unnecessary permissions (just access to Photos for scanning) or upload your data to external servers. According to the Clever Cleaner app’s official website, everything happens locally on your device. That’s a big plus for users who are cautious about apps handling personal files like photos and videos.

On the same page, the developer also states:

“Download Clever Cleaner today and enjoy lifetime access for free. Early users will never be asked to pay for upgrades or new features.”

This suggests they’re planning to add more cleaning features in future updates while keeping the app free for anyone who already has it installed. It’s a pretty generous distribution model, and if new tools are introduced, Clever Cleaner could become an even more well-rounded iPhone storage cleaner.

Summary

Clever Cleaner is a rare find in the world of iPhone cleaning apps. It delivers fast, effective storage cleanup without ads, paywalls, or really any restrictions. From AI-powered photo cleanup to Live Photo conversion and large file detection, it covers the most common storage issues iPhone users face – all while keeping things simple and easy to use.

Unlike most apps that claim to be free but hold back features unless you pay, Clever Cleaner gives you everything from the get-go.

With its ad-free experience, smart AI tools, and reliable performance, it’s easy to see why Clever Cleaner deserves a spot as the best free cleaner app for iPhone. And with the promise of future updates, it might just become an all-timer. 

If you need a no-nonsense iPhone storage cleaner, this is the one to download.

Pros:

• Completely free
• No ads
• Accurate AI detection
• Intuitive design
• Very fast scans
• Everything processes locally
• Live Photo conversion

Cons:

• No contact or calendar cleanup 
• No video compression