Apple Clean Up vs Removex
Both can erase things from a photo on iPhone. They're built for different jobs. Here's an honest side-by-side so you can pick the right one for the photo in front of you.
| Apple Clean Up | Removex | |
|---|---|---|
| Works on | iPhone 15 Pro & later only | Any iPhone, iOS 17.6+ |
| Minimum iOS | iOS 18.1 | iOS 17.6 |
| Selecting a person | Brush over the area | One tap — detects the whole subject |
| Large foreground subjects | Often smears | Built for it |
| Group photos | Manual, one area at a time | Select all, exclude who you keep |
| Output resolution | Full | Full (no downscaling) |
| Cost | Built in (supported devices) | Free to download |
| Privacy | On-device / Private Cloud Compute | Not used to train AI |
When Apple's Clean Up is enough
If you have a supported iPhone and you're tidying a small object — a sign, a distant stranger, a blemish — Clean Up is right there in Photos and does the job quickly.
When Removex is the better choice
Reach for Removex when Clean Up falls short, which is more often than you'd expect:
- Your iPhone can't run Clean Up. Most iPhones in use don't support Apple Intelligence. Check yours here.
- The person is large or close to the camera. This is where Clean Up smears and Removex's people-tuned AI shines.
- Group photos. Select everyone, then exclude the people you want to keep — instead of erasing area by area.
- You want one-tap selection. No careful brushing around limbs and hair.
The short version
Clean Up is a handy built-in for small fixes on the newest iPhones. Removex is a dedicated people remover that works on nearly every iPhone and handles the hard photos. Many people use both — and keep Removex for anything bigger than a blemish.
Try Removex on your toughest photo
Free to download. Works on iPhone, iOS 17.6 or later.
Download RemovexRelated: iPhone compatibility checker · Clean Up not showing up?