Swipewipe alternatives for iPhone: what it does, what it costs, what to use instead

Adam O’Kane created Swipewipe; MWM has published it since October 2022 and bought it in June 2024, its help page says. You pick a month and go through its photos and videos one by one: right to keep, left to delete. A month shows up in the list once it’s over, and recent photos are under Recents. A progress wheel shows how far you got, so you can stop and pick up later.

Deleting. Swiping left only marks a photo. Marked photos are deleted when you confirm on a review screen at the end of the month, or earlier from the trash button, and you can undo a swipe or change any choice there first. On iPhone, deleted photos wait in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Swipewipe needs full access to your library; limited access isn’t supported.

Beyond swiping. The listing and website describe On This Day with a home screen widget and streaks, a map of where photos were taken, an AI enhancer that saves an improved copy of blurry or low-quality photos, Supercut videos made from a month, bookmarks for photos you’re unsure about, and a Duplicates view that groups identical and near-identical photos.

Standing. The US listing shows 4.7 from about 101,000 ratings; the website claims more than 25 million downloads and 167,000 ratings worldwide. It runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 18 or later and on Apple Vision Pro, in 12 languages, and there’s an Android version.

Swipewipe on the App Store

Swipewipe is stronger at going through a whole camera roll as a habit. It covers videos, which PhotoCleanse’s Swipe doesn’t, and videos are often what fills an iPhone. It adds On This Day, streaks, a photo map, an enhancer and Supercut videos, none of which PhotoCleanse has. It runs on iPad, Vision Pro and Android, and it has years of ratings, where PhotoCleanse is new and has no US ratings yet.

PhotoCleanse is stronger at clearing space without ads. A scan on your iPhone groups copies and similar shots, marks one BEST photo in each group, and lets you choose how strict matching is. Select All Duplicates leaves each BEST photo and every favorite unselected. Compress lists large photos with the space each would save and saves smaller copies at the quality and size you pick. Its Swipe decks hold up to 30 photos, never show favorites, and remember the photos you kept so they don’t come back. Its free plan is small, but it has no ads and no countdowns.

Deleting works the same way. In both apps a swipe only marks a photo, you confirm on a review screen, and deleted photos go to Recently Deleted for 30 days. Neither one deletes on the swipe itself.

Privacy labels are close. Swipewipe’s label lists identifiers, usage data and other data as used to track you, and doesn’t list Photos or Videos as collected. PhotoCleanse’s label lists purchases, identifiers and usage data as used to track you, for ad measurement, and PhotoCleanse doesn’t upload your photos. Neither has a tracking advantage.

How to read an App Privacy label

The Photos app has no swipe-to-delete mode, but it can do the same job one photo or one screenful at a time, with no ads and no limits. Apple’s steps:

1. To go one by one, open a photo full screen, tap the Trash button to delete it, and swipe to the next.
2. To delete many, tap Select in your library or an album, tap the photos or slide your finger across them, then tap the Trash button.
3. For copies, open the Duplicates album under Utilities and tap Merge.
4. Open Recently Deleted and delete for good if you need the space now; otherwise it clears itself after 30 days.

With iCloud Photos on, a photo deleted on your iPhone is deleted on every device that uses iCloud Photos, Apple says, so check what you select.

Apple: Delete photos on your iPhone or iPad · Recently Deleted on iPhone