Is Cleanup App Safe? Privacy Label, Price, Reviews and How to Cancel

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Cleanup: Phone Storage Cleaner by Codeway is a legitimate iPhone storage cleaner with 725,919 US ratings, checked on the App Store on 2026-09-29, and it cannot erase a photo for good on its own: its deletions go to Apple's Recently Deleted album for 30 days. Its privacy label, checked on 2026-09-25, declares data used to track you. The risk most reviewers describe is billing, with Cleanup Pro at up to $11.99 a week.

This page is written by the Pixtide team (we make a free swipe photo cleaner). We report the listing, the privacy label and the reviews as we read them, and we name the jobs Cleanup does that our app does not.

Cleanup app at a glance

Source: the Cleanup App Store listing.

Who makes Cleanup and why it is legit

Cleanup is a long-running app from Codeway, not a clone or a short-lived listing. It launched on 2020-12-05 under App Store id 1510944943, carries the line "© Codeway 2020", and is sold today by DEEP FLOW SOFTWARE SERVICES - FZCO after earlier appearing under Codeway Dijital Hizmetler A.S. Codeway describes Cleanup as having more than 50 million users, a company figure. It ranked fourth in Utilities in the US on 2026-09-25. Its US rating count grew from 723,495 on 2026-09-25 to 725,919 on 2026-09-29, about 606 new ratings a day by our own lookup, the fastest of the 24 cleaners we track. So Cleanup is legit; whether it is good value is a separate question.

Deleted photos stay recoverable for 30 days

Cleanup cannot remove a photo from your iPhone permanently in one step, because iOS sends every app's deletions through Apple's Photos library. Inside Cleanup, the items you pick collect in the app's own Trash, and the listing promises "Nothing is removed without your approval." When you empty that Trash, iOS asks you to confirm, then moves the photos and videos to the Recently Deleted album, where they stay for 30 days before iOS removes them (Apple Support: delete photos on iPhone). To restore, open Photos, Utilities, Recently Deleted, unlock with Face ID and tap Recover.

One habit matters with Cleanup in particular. In groups of similar photos it marks one shot as "Best", and according to cleanupapp.co the other ones go to trash by default, so look through the Trash before you empty it. About 28 of the 209 low-star reviews we read mention crashes or deletions that never happened. Our guide on whether it is safe to let an app delete photos covers the mechanics.

What the privacy label declares

Cleanup's App Store privacy label, checked on 2026-09-25, lists three data types under "Data Used to Track You": Purchases, Identifiers and Usage Data. Under "Data Linked to You" it lists your email address and user ID for the developer's advertising or marketing and for app functionality, and identifiers, usage data and advertising data for analytics. Purchase history, a device ID and product interaction appear under "Data Not Linked to You". Photos and videos are not listed in any category.

The same listing describes the app as "OFFLINE AND PRIVATE" with "No tracking or data misuse", which does not match the label's tracking section. Apple states on every listing that the label is supplied by the developer and has not been verified by Apple. In Apple's terms, tracking means linking data from the app with other companies' data for advertising; it is a statement about ad measurement, not about uploading your library. An older outside check, Connor Tumbleson's traffic audit of version 4.19.1 published on 2025-01-13, found Adjust, Firebase, Facebook and Unity Ads code in the app. For how other cleaners label their data, see are photo cleaner apps safe.

Is Cleanup free: the daily delete limit

Cleanup is free to download, but more than eight App Store reviews from September 2026 describe a free tier of about 5 deletions a day. Third-party roundups describe the same limit as 5 deletions without an ad and 20 to 25 more for each ad watched. Macgasm, which ranked Cleanup fifth on 2026-08-17, reported 10 to 30 second video ads in the free tier, shown even when opening a feature or menu; the App Store listing does not mention ads. Tumbleson described the first launch as leading straight to a paywall with a trial and a lifetime offer.

The lifetime purchase is named in the description but does not appear among the in-app purchases the US listing shows; third parties report it at $40 to $49.99. Removing more than a handful of items a day needs Cleanup Pro. Our table of which photo cleaner apps are free sets Cleanup's free tier next to a dozen others.

How much Cleanup costs

Cleanup Pro is sold mainly by the week: the US App Store lists nine "Cleanup Pro 1 Week" prices from $5.95 to $11.99 and one "Cleanup Pro 1 Year" price of $29.99, checked on 2026-09-25. September 2026 reviewers mostly quote the top price. One wrote: "Seriously? $11.99 a WEEK?!!!" (1 star, 2026-09-13). At $11.99 a week, a year costs $623.48, about 21 times the $29.99 yearly plan.

The trial terms are the second thing to read closely. The listing advertises "FREE TRIAL FOR 7 DAYS" that renews "based on the annual subscription plan", while many reviewers describe a trial that turned into the weekly plan, and some third-party sources describe a 3-day trial. The software developer Connor Tumbleson documented the same trial and weekly-plan flow in a blog post about iOS cleanup apps; our Cleanup alternative page summarises his findings. The wider pattern is in the photo cleaner subscription trap.

How to cancel a Cleanup subscription

A Cleanup Pro subscription is billed by Apple, so you cancel it in the iPhone's Settings, not inside Cleanup. Apple's steps (Apple Support: cancel a subscription from Apple):

1. Open Settings and tap your name.
2. Tap Subscriptions.
3. Tap Cleanup.
4. Tap Cancel Subscription (you may need to scroll down).

If there is no Cancel button, or an expiration date shows in red, the plan is already cancelled. Deleting the Cleanup app does not stop billing. To avoid a charge after a free trial, cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date shown on that screen; the paid period you are in normally runs to its end.

About 67 of the 209 low-star reviews we read describe a charge during a trial, after cancelling, or a refused refund. One reads: "signed up for a 7 day trial and was charged 39.95 instantly" (1 star, 2026-09-18). For a charge you did not expect, Apple takes refund requests at reportaproblem.apple.com (Apple Support: request a refund).

Cleanup app review: what recent reviews say

Recent Cleanup reviews split cleanly: people like how fast it frees space and finds duplicates, and object to the price. We read 647 unique US reviews on 2026-09-25 (344 five-star, 48 four-star, 46 three-star, 42 two-star, 167 one-star). On the positive side, about 107 praise ease and speed, about 94 report freed space and about 54 credit the duplicate finder, including one reviewer who went "from over 50,000 photos to 21,000" (5 stars, 2026-09-19).

On the negative side, about 80 low-star reviews are about the weekly price, about 67 about trial billing, about 32 call the app not free and about 25 hit the daily delete cap. About 34 object to Cleanup's own advertising. The trend is clear in the numbers: the 500 most recent reviews, from 2026-09-03 to 2026-09-24, average 3.64 stars with 25% one-star, and the last week 3.43 with 30% one-star, against a lifetime average of 4.65. Theme counts are our approximate tallies.

Not to be confused with

Several unrelated apps use the word "cleanup" in their names, so check the developer before you install. Cleanup: Phone Storage Cleaner by Codeway is App Store id 1510944943, with official sites at cleanupapp.co and codeway.co. Clever Cleaner: AI CleanUp App (id 1666645584) is a different product by CleverFiles, covered in is Clever Cleaner free. Photo Swipe: Cleanup Photos by Studio Infinity HK is a small swipe sorter from another developer.

How Cleanup compares

Cleanup wins when you want one app for many storage jobs. It finds duplicates, similar photos, similar screenshots and lookalike videos, and adds an email cleaner, contact merging, video compression, a Secret Space vault and widgets, in 18 languages on iOS 15 or later. Its Swipe Mode covers only the Videos and Other categories. Pixtide takes the narrower job: a free swipe sorter for photos and videos with no ads, no subscription and no daily cap, whose label has no tracking section. It finds no duplicates, runs on iPhone only, needs iOS 18 or later and launched in 2026 with far fewer ratings. For duplicates alone, Apple's Duplicates album under Utilities in Photos is free. The side-by-side is on our Cleanup alternative page.

Pixtide is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Cleanup: Phone Storage Cleaner. All product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This comparison reflects publicly available information as of September 2026; pricing and features change, so please check each app's App Store listing for the latest details.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Cleanup app safe for my photos?

Cleanup: Phone Storage Cleaner by Codeway deletes through Apple's Photos library, so removed photos and videos go to Recently Deleted and can be restored for 30 days. Its App Store privacy label, checked on 2026-09-25, lists no photos or videos, but declares Purchases, Identifiers and Usage Data as data used to track you. Recent reviewers mostly report billing problems, not lost photos.

Is Cleanup app legit?

Yes. Cleanup: Phone Storage Cleaner (App Store id 1510944943) launched on 2020-12-05, is made by Codeway and sold on the App Store by DEEP FLOW SOFTWARE SERVICES - FZCO, and had 725,919 US ratings on 2026-09-29, the most of any photo cleaner we track. Being legitimate does not make it cheap: its Pro plan is sold mainly by the week.

Is Cleanup app free?

Only partly. Cleanup: Phone Storage Cleaner is a free download, but more than eight September 2026 App Store reviews describe a free tier of about 5 deletions a day, and reviewers and Macgasm report video ads that the listing does not mention. Unlimited use needs Cleanup Pro, which cost $5.95 to $11.99 a week in the US, checked on the App Store on 2026-09-25.

How much does the Cleanup app cost?

The US App Store lists nine "Cleanup Pro 1 Week" prices from $5.95 to $11.99 and one "Cleanup Pro 1 Year" price of $29.99, checked on 2026-09-25. September 2026 reviewers mostly quote $11.99 a week, which comes to $623.48 over a year. The listing advertises a 7-day free trial, and some third-party sources describe 3 days, so read the renewal line on the paywall.

How do I cancel my Cleanup app subscription?

Open Settings on your iPhone, tap your name, tap Subscriptions, tap Cleanup and then Cancel Subscription. Deleting the Cleanup app does not cancel it, because Apple bills the plan. To avoid a charge after a free trial, cancel at least 24 hours before it renews. For a charge you did not expect, Apple takes refund requests at reportaproblem.apple.com.

Can I get photos back after deleting them with Cleanup?

Yes, for 30 days. Cleanup, like every iPhone photo cleaner, deletes through Apple's Photos library, so items go to the Recently Deleted album. In iOS 18 open Photos, scroll to Utilities, tap Recently Deleted, unlock with Face ID, select the items and tap Recover. After 30 days, or once you empty that album, they are gone for good.