How To Clean Up Your Phone Or PC/Mac To Gain Speed & Space
So you’ve already mopped and scrubbed all the floors, cleaned all surfaces, handles, and hard-to-access objects around the house, not to mention an epic cat wash which was totally worth it but painful. Now it’s time to clean up some space on your personal device to make it faster, stable, or just get rid of an ancient file clutter.
You tried all system options to free up some space but it helped just for a while or had no effect at all? We have all major platforms below, freeware and paid solutions to choose from.
But first a couple of tips for a start:
Use a cloud photo storage for your photos.
They cost a couple of bucks per month but your images are protected, available on any device you have, and don’t eat up the essential space on your device.
Check messengers.
WhatsApp and Telegram, for instance, love background uploads that you are not aware of. Back up it regularly and set strict limits on file size.
Did you forget about the browser cache again?
This sure smidgen or a ladle of junk ready to be wiped off your device is always forgotten but definitely an emergency helper before the major cleaning.
For iPhones & iPads
Phone Cleaner
It cleans mostly images but it does it perfectly. The utility also sorts videos and photos by size, finds duplicates and similar images. The app can resize the whole photo gallery if needed.
Price: 7-day trial, a monthly plan for $2,99 with more settings and filters
Smart Cleaner
This one can help you with not just photos but with contacts. Search it, merge it, organize it, and delete it if needed. The app is a friend of Siri which makes cleaning easier and smarter. The interface is light, vibrant, and highly customized. A dark mode is a welcome option as well.
Price: The cleaning part is free. You can pay $19,99 for a month of premium service, e.g. creation of hidden ‘secret’ places for photos and videos on your device.
Slidebox (also on Android)
Once you clean the memory, it is time to organize it the best way possible. Slidebox knows how to do it natively and faster than while using system file management. Swipe your path through a clogged gallery to turn it into the desired photo album. The app is synced with your iCloud so that a user can see a changed gallery straight ahead.
Price: The main features are free. For a shared photo base you need to pay $4,99 monthly.
For Android Devices
CCleaner (also on PC and Mac)
A beloved all-in-one application knowledge of which coming from PC users. It reclaims space of the phone, removes junk from it, cleans RAM, and monitors your system closely. CCleaner can also track pesky thieves among software that drain your battery on a daily basis. There is also a hardware temperature meter in here.
Price: Pro-subscription only for desktop versions, mobile is free
Phone Master
This application is pure gold. It boosts your system after removal of inner junk, duplicates, unnecessary installation files. Then it protects what’s left after the deep clean procedure with a solid anti-virus. Phone Master also provides a CPU cooler for hot ones.
Price: It has some ads in the tabs but it’s free
Avast Cleanup & Boost
An application by the renowned anti-virus developer which is effective and 100% safe. It promises to detox your photo library by removing bad content and sending check-proved images to the cloud. In addition, you get a boost to your phone’s battery life.
Price: Free and let it stay this way. Otherwise, it’s a dangerous road to installing other paid Avast products.
For PCs On Windows
AVG TuneUp
It is truly a digital toolbox for any Windows user. It improves your PC’s performance by killing junk files, resolving registry issues, fragmenting hard drives, etc. Plus it can update most of the software in one click, including the latest drivers and firmware. AVG TuneUp also does smart uninstalls with the quality cleaning of registry and disk space.
Price: $39,99/year. The freeware version is just able to run basic maintenance and pinpoint current PC issues.
Iolo System Mechanic
It may sound like a bug fixing tool but it’s more of it. Resolving system issues relieves you of a headache, meanwhile, Mechanic’s cleaner gets rid of clutter and make more room on system disks. There is also a Drive Scrubber option that permanently erases your personal data from any PC. Military-grade cleaning to ensure your files are secured.
Price: Starts from $19,99 depending on the options you find suitable.
For Macs and MacBooks
OnyX
This utility can compete with CCleaner on PC in terms of popularity and install base. And not by chance. There is so much you can do with it, from structuring the system files to carrying out disk maintenance and cleaning. No hidden caches evade the check performed by OnyX. It looks like it’s system utility if you care about such things.
Price: Surprise, surprise, it’s free.
Umate Mac Cleaner
This utility performs a safe cleaning of your Mac and erase all found system junk and outdated iTunes files. Overall optimization for greater performance is also available. It’s a perfect tool for a pre-sale routine check to make sure you leave no traces of your Mac usage.
Price: Base functions are free. Deep cleaning and other options for $29,95/year.
