You’ve likely all been there before. You want to download the coolest new app, movie, or a software update to your iPhone, only to find that you don’t have enough storage space. You start looking around your phone and see what’s eating up your precious memory. Photos, apps, music, and movies can certainly be the culprit – but what is this OTHER thing that’s taking up space? How do you find them, and how do you get rid of them? CleanMyPhone for Mac is your one-stop-shop for freeing up some of that unmanageable space.
Overview:
CleanMyPhone ($39.95 for standard, $59.95 for premium) is a simple Mac app that allows you to connect your iPhone/iPad/iPod and find the things that are taking up the most space, as well as clear out all the residual junk (cache) left behind by that apps you use every day. Whether it’s cached photos from excessive facebooking, or piles of data from your weather or news apps, CleanMyPhone can seek out all those “useless” files and (potentially) free up tons of space.
Using the app is quick and easy. Fire up CleanMyPhone, connect your iDevice, and your work is nearly done. initially, you’ll see the Device Status, which tells you the total capacity, iOS version, and other ID numbers. You’ll also see a familiar bar across the bottom that shows how much of your space is used. While the legend below the bar shows that colors represent different things using your storage, the bar remained an unlabeled red and was less than insightful. I wasn’t given a true breakdown until I moved on to Disk Manager.
The disk manager function is extremely simple – click scan to get a break down of how many megabytes (or gigabytes) are being taken up by things like music, video, apps, photos, and other “stuff.” Those familiar with the breakdown bar in iTunes will recognize this as the area that seems to constantly grow, but can’t easily be maintained. CleanMyPhone’s App Cleaner function is just the solution for managing that “Other” section to keep it at a respectable size.
With another quick scan, you can see what data is using up that space – documents and data, app cache (this is likely the largest culprit), App Cookies, and App Junk Files. For me, the App Cache was nearly 1.5 GB of space – roughly 10% of my available storage – enough for some 400+ photos. What’s more, I just started with a clean iPhone a little over a month ago – imagine what a year or more of usage could total to!
After the scan completes, you can view what apps created what files in what sizes and either delete files individually, in small batches, or do a full cleanse of all those left overs. If you do find that you have a large chunk of space taken up by one of those categories and you opt to do a remove all to really open up some space, you might want to start it before you kick off your “Mad Men” marathon, though – to clear my 1.46 GB of App Cache data, the process took roughly 45 minutes.
CleanMyPhone also has two other features, which are like little added extras. Find Large Files works very similarly to the App Cleaner function, only it seeks out only large files (which appear to have a 2MB threshold, regardless of the setting in preferences). The app also features a One-Click-Copy function, which can be used to backup your photos, video, messages, reminders, call logs, notes, contacts, etc. Unlike an iTunes backup which creates an essentially unreadable file of all your information, the One-Click-Copy physically copies the files from your iDevice and plops them onto your hard drive.
Verdict
CleanMyPhone is a great solution for understanding your iOS device’s storage, and gives iOS users the freedom to micromanage what files are left behind by the apps they use. A minimum $40 price tag seems a bit steep, especially with the rock bottom prices for apps that we’re used to today, which makes it hard to justify for most users. Those not scared by the price may be shocked at just how much space they can free up by managing their phones storage and doing an occasional deep clean. Much like running virus scans and detoxing your computer, doing the same with your phone can help it run faster and smoother.
Rating: 3.5/5[rating: 3.5]
Pros:
- Easy to use interface
- Comprehensive listing of files and sizes after scan
Cons:
- No visual chart on what category is using what space
- Large Files Scan threshold appears non-functional
If you’re desperate to free up some space, or can’t seem to figure out what’s eating up your device memory, $39.95 will get you cleared up with CleanMyPhone!
*Note: The above review was commissioned by the developer in accordance with our app review policy, and has been written in an objective, unbiased fashion.
