AI Cleanup is a local-first iPhone utility that helps you find duplicate or similar photos, understand screenshots, review large videos, and make informed cleanup choices. AI Cleanup was previously named Cleanup My Phone. This policy describes the data practices of the current app.
1. Photos library access
The app requests Photos access only after explaining why it is needed. Full and Limited Photos access are supported. You can change access at any time in iOS Settings.
Contacts permission and duplicate contact review
Contacts access is requested only when you start a contact check. You can grant full access, share selected contacts, or decline, and change access in iOS Settings. Only accessible unified cards are compared using names, organizations, phone numbers and email addresses. Limited results do not include contacts you did not share.
Shared numbers or email addresses indicate potential duplicates, not proof that cards belong to the same person. Shared family or business details can connect different people. Checking alone does not change contacts. Contact data is processed on device and is not sent to an AI Cleanup server, written to diagnostics or stored in a persistent analysis index.
Confirmed contact merges
When you prepare a contact merge preview, the app reads supported contact fields for the selected cards, including names, organizations, phone numbers, email and postal addresses, websites, relationships, social and messaging profiles, dates and contact photos. It shows the proposed combined record and conflicting single-value fields. You explicitly select at least two cards, choose the primary card and confirm before the app updates it and deletes the selected duplicates. In Review & Merge, nothing is selected by default; Select All and Deselect All are available, and individual cards can be excluded. A separate Quick Merge · Preview action preselects the visible contacts in one group, proposes primary details from already-scanned name, phone, email and organization summaries, and opens the combined preview directly. This is an editable convenience proposal, not identity verification. The preview shows the selected count and primary details, and lets you change the selected cards, primary details and destination account before acknowledging the Notes limitation and confirming. Preparing, editing or cancelling a preview does not save contacts or create a backup. Unselected contacts remain unchanged. The app resolves source-card identities using the Contacts framework and requires a verified accessible source mapping. You can select contacts from different accounts. The iPhone Contacts default address book is preselected as the destination when available; you can change it before previewing and confirming the merge. If the default cannot be verified, you must choose an available destination. This Contacts default may differ from the Apple Account signed in on the device. Source and destination names/types are supplied by iOS; they may identify an address book or Exchange folder rather than a login email. If a selected source already exists in the destination, one such card is updated, preferring a primary source. Otherwise a new contact is created there. All other selected source cards are deleted after confirmation, including primary source cards in other accounts. Unselected contacts are not modified. The preview and final confirmation disclose source-card and deletion counts. Unverified sources, an unavailable destination or provider restrictions can prevent a merge. Only group memberships within the destination address book are retained; groups in other accounts are not transferred, and the preview discloses their count. There is no automatic or bulk merge.
Source discovery reads accessible identifiers, address-book names and container types transiently; full supported fields are read only for the selected contacts and their resolved source cards. The destination picker identifies the iPhone default address book and counts the contact cards accessible to the app using identifiers only. If you tap View Sample Contacts for an address book, the app transiently reads up to three names and first phone numbers from that address book to help distinguish similar names. Samples are not saved, logged or uploaded. Counts and samples may be limited by your Contacts permission and are not a claim about the full cloud account. Choosing or previewing a destination does not change your contacts. Before saving, the app checks that the source mapping, readable contact data, accounts and group memberships still match the preview, and requires a local recovery copy. The chosen primary supplies nonempty single values, with empty fields filled and lists combined. A new destination card has a new identifier; the app uses the saved result to update its list. The result is saved to the selected destination and source deletions may sync through each affected provider. Confirmed changes may sync through your Contacts provider, such as iCloud or CardDAV, to your other devices under your account settings. Contacts provider errors or concurrent edits can prevent completion; review current contacts before retrying.
Notes limitation: AI Cleanup does not have permission to read the restricted Contacts Notes field. Notes on cards that are deleted cannot be copied or backed up. Only unfetched Notes on a source card actually retained in the destination remain untouched. Notes on every deleted source card, including primary sources in other accounts, cannot be preserved. The preview and final confirmation disclose this limitation and require acknowledgment. Save important Notes separately in the Contacts app before merging. The app does not promise lossless recovery of deleted contact information.
Local vCard recovery copies
Before each confirmed merge attempt writes to Contacts, the app saves and verifies a vCard copy of readable fields for every selected underlying source card in its private Application Support storage, including linked source cards. These files use iOS complete file protection and are excluded from operating-system backup, including iCloud Backup. Copies may remain after an unsuccessful or interrupted merge because they are created before saving.
Copies remain on this device until you delete them in Merge Backups or uninstall the app. You may explicitly export a vCard through the system share sheet; the destination you choose then handles that exported file under its own settings and policies. AI Cleanup does not upload backups to its own server. Recovery is a manual import in Contacts, may create additional duplicates and does not automatically undo a merge, restore original account locations/group memberships or overwrite subsequent edits. Restricted Notes are not included.
Files and chosen folders
You choose a folder through the system Files picker. The app reads regular files within that selection, compares sizes and streaming SHA-256 content hashes, and provides read-only previews. It does not scan your entire iPhone, other apps' private storage or unselected folders. Hidden files, packages, aliases and symbolic links are excluded; unreadable or changed items are unverified.
iCloud Drive or another File Provider may download content to read or preview it. Transfers are handled by that provider, not an AI Cleanup server. File checking does not delete or modify files. Extra-copy size describes duplicate content, not storage already freed or necessarily occupied on your device. You can cancel a scan; a provider may finish a transfer it has already started.
File and contact checks do not require Photos access. Scan results remain in the screen's working memory, separate from the explicit local vCard recovery copies described above, and are not a persistent duplicate index. File contents, hashes, paths and contact details are not added to diagnostics or sent to an app server. Apple and your selected provider may maintain their own downloads and preview caches under their own settings and policies.
2. On-device processing
Photos, videos, thumbnails, visual similarity signals, recognized screenshot text, extracted entities, and barcode values are processed on your device. This content is not uploaded to a AI Cleanup server.
3. Local Scan and Complete Scan
Local Scan analyzes eligible assets already available on the device and does not request iCloud media downloads. If you explicitly choose Complete Scan, Apple Photos may download eligible iCloud assets directly to your device. The media does not pass through a AI Cleanup server.
4. Local app data
Analysis results, search indexes, deletion selections, and protection decisions are stored locally in the app container. You can reset analysis or delete the app index from Settings. These actions do not delete items from Photos or Contacts and do not remove saved contact vCards; manage those separately in Merge Backups.
5. Deletion safety
Nothing is deleted automatically. For photos and videos, you select and deselect items on each category screen before Photos asks for final confirmation. Successful Photos deletion follows Recently Deleted behavior. Contact deletion occurs only as part of a separately confirmed merge described above; Photos Recently Deleted does not recover contacts. File checks do not delete files.
6. Purchases
The app is sold as a one-time App Store download, priced at USD 5.00 in the United States and VND 149,000 in Vietnam. Apple displays the applicable local price on the App Store. All shipping features are included, with no subscription, additional in-app purchase, advertising or in-app paywall. Payment is handled by Apple; AI Cleanup does not receive your payment-card information.
7. Analytics, advertising, and tracking
The app has no advertising SDK, third-party analytics SDK, tracking permission flow, or developer account system. This website records aggregate page-view counts and referring domains without cookies or IP-address storage; those website statistics do not include your photos, files or contact details.
8. Diagnostics and sharing
Diagnostics are generated locally. They leave the app only if you explicitly use the iOS share flow and choose a destination. AI Cleanup does not operate a diagnostics receiving server.
9. Children
The app is a general-audience utility and is not directed to children. It does not knowingly collect personal information from children.
10. Changes
If app capabilities or data practices change, this policy will be updated before the new practices apply.
11. Contact
For privacy questions, email doanduchieu@gmail.com.