ClaritasScan
Smart Scan
Claritas scans your iPhone photo library on-device and shows how much space you can reclaim, sorted into eight cleanup categories.
Smart Scan is the core of Claritas. It analyzes your iPhone photo library entirely on your device and totals the "cleanable space" across eight categories: duplicates, similar series, blurry, dark, screenshots & documents, large videos, Live Photos and closed eyes. Nothing is deleted until you review and confirm it.
How to use Smart Scan
- Open Claritas and allow access to your photo library.
- The first scan runs during onboarding, with live progress on screen.
- Home shows your total cleanable space and a card for each category.
- Open a category to review the photos and choose what to delete.
- Tap Re-scan any time to check again. Already analyzed photos are skipped, so later scans are faster.
The scan uses Apple's on-device frameworks (Vision, Core Image, Accelerate) and works from small thumbnails, so it does not download your iCloud originals just to analyze them. Results are cached on the device, and each new scan only looks at photos it has not seen before.
Home also keeps a running total of how much space you have freed so far, plus an estimate of what that space would cost in iCloud+ storage each year.
If you gave Claritas access to only some photos, Home shows a "Limited access" banner so you can allow all photos or select more.
At a glance
| Where analysis runs | On your iPhone. No photo is uploaded. |
|---|---|
| Categories | Duplicates, Similar series, Blurry, Dark, Screenshots & Documents, Large videos, Live Photos, Closed eyes |
| Re-scan | Incremental: only new photos are analyzed |
| Automatic deletion | Never. You choose every item. |
| Pro | Re-scanning from Home and automatic scan on launch are Pro features. |
Frequently asked questions
How long does a scan take?
It depends on the size of your library and your iPhone model. Progress is shown live, and later scans are faster because previously analyzed photos are skipped.
Does Claritas delete photos automatically?
No. Claritas never pre-selects or deletes anything on its own. You review each category and confirm every deletion.
Does scanning use my iCloud storage or data?
Analysis uses on-device thumbnails and does not download full-resolution originals from iCloud.
Related features
- Cleanup
Duplicate Photos
Finds exact and near-identical copies and suggests the best one to keep.
- Cleanup
Similar Photos & Burst Series
Groups shots taken seconds apart into series and helps you keep only the best one.
- Privacy
On-Device Privacy
Photos are analyzed on your iPhone. No account, and deletions are recoverable for 30 days.
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