Effective 11 September 2026
File Cleaner Plus helps you reclaim space on your iPhone: it finds large files, duplicate and near-identical photos and videos, duplicate contacts and old calendar events, and can re-encode videos to smaller ones. In short: the app has no account, no server, no ads and no analytics. Nothing you scan leaves your device.
1. Summary
- All scanning happens locally on your iPhone.
- No photos, videos, thumbnails or metadata are uploaded anywhere.
- There is no account to create and no login.
- There are no adverts, no analytics and no tracking of any kind.
- The developer cannot see your library or anything about it.
2. Data the app handles
| What | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Photos and videos in your library | To measure file sizes and identify duplicates so they can be listed for review | Stays on device. Read through Apple’s Photos framework only while the app is open |
| Your keep/delete decisions | So the app does not ask about the same item twice | Stored on device only |
| App settings | To remember your chosen size thresholds | Stored on device only |
| Calendar events | To find duplicate and long-past events you can clear out | Stays on device. Read through Apple’s EventKit framework only while the app is open |
| Contacts | To find duplicate and incomplete entries you can merge or remove | Stays on device. Read through Apple’s Contacts framework only while the app is open |
| Files in a folder you choose | To measure sizes and find duplicates when you scan a folder rather than your photo library | Stays on device. Only the folder you pick is readable, and only until the scan ends |
| Videos the app re-encodes | To produce a smaller copy so the larger original can be deleted | Re-encoded on device. The new video is saved to your photo library; nothing is sent anywhere |
| Items you move to the vault | To keep chosen items behind Face ID | Stored on device only |
3. Permissions the app asks for
Each permission is requested only when you first use the feature that needs it, and each is used solely to build the on-screen lists you review. Declining one disables that feature and nothing else.
- Photos: to find large or duplicate media, and to save a smaller video back to your library after re-encoding. The app cannot find anything to clean without it.
- Calendars: to list duplicate and long-past events.
- Contacts: to list duplicate and incomplete entries.
- Face ID: to unlock the vault. The app is told only whether the check passed; your biometric data never leaves Apple’s Secure Enclave and is never available to the app or the developer.
- Notifications, if you allow them: to tell you when a long job has finished.
Any of these can be withdrawn at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security, or under Settings › File Cleaner Plus.
4. Deleting items
Selecting an item marks it for deletion in a pending list; nothing is removed at that point. When you confirm, deletion is carried out by iOS itself, which shows its own confirmation prompt. Deleted media goes to the Recently Deleted album in Photos and can be recovered there for 30 days, exactly as if you had deleted it in the Photos app.
When a video has been re-encoded to a smaller copy, the original is only ever offered for deletion after the replacement has been confirmed present in your library, and the app shows you both side by side before you decide.
5. No ads, analytics or tracking
The app contains no advertising libraries, no analytics SDKs and no crash-reporting services. It does not use the Advertising Identifier and does not track you across apps or websites.
6. Data retention and deletion
Because no data is collected or transmitted, there is nothing held by the developer to retain or delete. Removing the app from your device removes the settings, vault contents and keep/delete decisions it stored.
7. Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have rights over personal data held about you. As the developer holds no personal data from this app, there is nothing to access, correct, export or erase. Any question about this can be raised using the contact details below.
8. Children
The app is a general-purpose utility and is not directed at children. It collects no data from anyone, including children.
9. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the effective date above will be updated. Material changes will be noted in the app’s release notes.
10. Contact
Questions about this policy can be sent to hello@chrisdprojects.co.uk, or via chrisdprojects.co.uk.
File Cleaner Plus is developed independently by Chris Davis, Chris D Projects Ltd, Cheltenham, United Kingdom.