Camera roll cleaning is one of the highest earning utilities on the App Store. Cleanup makes $3.2M–12.81M a month by our estimate and was number 1 in the US top grossing Utilities chart on October 16, 2026 (not Apple data). Technically the app is simple, everything runs on the phone with PhotoKit and Vision. The hard part is that the top of search belongs to apps with hundreds of thousands of ratings.
How much photo cleaners make
On October 16, 2026 the top 30 of the US grossing Utilities chart included 6 storage cleaners. Cleanup was number 1 there and number 50 among all App Store apps in the US by revenue.
| App | Released | US ratings | Top grossing rank | Monthly revenue, our estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleanup | Dec 5, 2020 | 737,118 | #1 | $3.2M–12.81M |
| Cleaner Guru | Nov 6, 2019 | 148,523 | #3 | rating count stalled, no estimate |
| Swipewipe (swipe) | Mar 5, 2022 | 97,551 | #11 | $854K–3.42M |
| AI Cleaner | Oct 30, 2023 | 210,330 | #12 | $326K–1.3M |
| Cleaner Kit | Jan 26, 2017 | 352,036 | #16 | $402K–1.61M |
| CleanX | Aug 27, 2021 | 27,220 | #28 | $533K–2.13M |
Appto data as of October 16, 2026. Rating growth September 16 to October 16, 2026. Rating counts and chart positions from the US App Store on October 16, 2026. Revenue is our estimate, not Apple data.
The swipe format is already proven with money. Swipewipe sorts the camera roll as cards, left to delete, right to keep. It was number 11 in the grossing Utilities chart and makes $854K–3.42M a month by our estimate. Cleaner Guru, number 3 in the same chart, had a stalled rating count during the window, so we have no revenue estimate for it.
Who arrived last
Newcomers do get in, slowly. The youngest of the six, AI Cleaner, launched on October 30, 2023 and gathered 210,330 ratings in three years. According to Appto's research on September 18, 2026, Clever Cleaner launched on February 27, 2025 and collected 82,183 ratings in a year and a half.
The wall is high. Cleanup has 737,118 ratings and added 19,693 in the US in the month from September 16. A new app won't rank next to it for the word cleaner, people find it through narrow queries about duplicates, screenshots or large videos.
How to find similar photos
Everything runs on the phone, no server needed. PhotoKit returns the list of photos with dates and file sizes. Vision tells how similar two shots are through VNGenerateImageFeaturePrintRequest, which builds a feature print of a photo, and the distance between prints shows how close the shots are. Comparing every photo with every other takes long, so group by capture time first, a burst usually fits in a few minutes.
PhotoKit marks screenshots as their own subtype, and heavy videos show up by file size. Deletion goes through PHAssetChangeRequest. The system asks for confirmation itself, and the photos move to Recently Deleted, where they can be restored for 30 days. Say so right on the delete screen.
Remember the built-in Duplicates album in Photos, added in iOS 16. The iPhone already finds exact copies, so the app has to find more, such as bursts of similar shots, blurry photos and old screenshots.
What goes into version 1
- Clear numbers. How many gigabytes screenshots, videos and similar shots take, before anything is deleted.
- The sharpest frame of a burst stays by default. People only change the choice, they don't hunt for it.
- Swipe one photo at a time, delete in a batch. Decisions add up and are deleted with one system request at the end.
- A scan with progress. On a roll of tens of thousands of photos the first pass takes time, so show it.
- An explanation of access. Cleaning needs access to the whole library. Say why before the system asks.
How the niche charges
All six apps are free to download and charge inside (US App Store, October 16, 2026). When Appto's research went through 43 recent one and two star reviews of Cleanup on September 13, 2026, more than half were about price and the subscription. That is the opening for a newcomer. A clear price, a free tier that actually deletes, and a one-time purchase or a yearly plan instead of a weekly one.
Risks
- A wall of ratings. The top of search belongs to apps with 100 to 700 thousand ratings, all updated in recent months.
- Claims. Only say how much space will be freed. A photo app does not "speed up your phone".
- The cost of a mistake. A photo deleted by mistake is remembered longer than the gigabytes saved. Preview every group.
How we counted
Appto estimates revenue from 30 days of App Store rating growth, before Apple's commission. It is our estimate, not Apple data. In half of the cases the estimate is within 2x of the real figure, in four out of five within 3x, and for large apps it tends to run low. Ads, web sales and Google Play are not included. The method is explained in our article on estimating app revenue.
Next steps
In the book 50 iPhone App Niches swipe cleaning is niche 44, with an angle for a newcomer, a version 1 plan and a task for the agent.
Before you start, recheck the niche in Appto on fresh App Store data. Then Appto and the agent design the screens, write the code, test the app in the simulator and prepare the App Store page. The build goes to Apple from your account, or Appto shows you what to press in App Store Connect.
Questions
How much do photo cleaner apps make?
By our estimate as of October 16, 2026, Cleanup makes $3.2M–12.81M a month, Swipewipe $854K–3.42M and CleanX $533K–2.13M. It is an estimate from App Store rating growth, not Apple data.
How does the app find similar photos?
With Vision. Each photo gets a feature print, and close prints within one burst by time count as similar shots.
Doesn't the iPhone find duplicates already?
It finds exact copies, Photos has had a Duplicates album since iOS 16. It does not sort out bursts of similar shots, blurry photos or old screenshots.
Do I need a server?
No. Photos never leave the phone, everything is computed on the device. Say that on the App Store page.
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