SweepiusQuick answer: use Apple’s free Duplicates album first — it’s built in and merges exact copies safely. Sweepius is for what that album doesn’t do: grouping retakes of the same moment, totalling your screenshots, and compressing or clearing your biggest videos.
Side by side
| Apple Duplicates album | Sweepius | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, built in | Scan free, 3 cleanups free, then Pro |
| Exact copies | Yes, merges them | Groups them if taken moments apart |
| Same photo, different size or format | Yes | Not specifically |
| Retakes and bursts of one moment | Usually not | Yes, keeps the best shot |
| Screenshots | Separate album, no size shown | Listed with total size |
| Large videos | No | Biggest first, compress or delete |
| Deletes via iOS confirmation | Merge, then Recently Deleted | Yes, then Recently Deleted |
| Works on-device | Yes | Yes |
Where Apple’s album wins
It’s free, it’s already on your phone, and its Merge combines captions and other details onto the copy it keeps. For exact copies saved twice, nothing beats it. Steps are in how to delete duplicate photos on iPhone.
Where Sweepius helps
Most of the space people want back isn’t true duplicates. It’s the eight shots of one group photo, two years of screenshots, and a handful of 4K clips. Sweepius finds those, marks the best shot to keep (never touching Favorites unless you choose), and shows how much space each category takes before you delete anything.
Our honest recommendation
Run Apple’s Duplicates album first. If you’re still short on space, that’s when an app like Sweepius earns its place.