The short answer
| Where the space usually is | What to do about it |
|---|---|
| Photos, videos, screenshots and chat media | A photo cleaner that shows them by size and age. You pick what goes, and the trash holds it for 30 days. |
| Apps and their data | Each app's own Settings page. A cleaner that offers to clear another app's data for you is overreaching. |
| Files already in the trash | They keep their space until the trash empties. Delete permanently or Empty trash frees it today. |
| Downloads, Documents and other folders | Your phone's Files app. A media cleaner reads photos, videos and audio only. |
| System and other profiles | Not yours to clear, and no app should pretend otherwise. |
How Android divides your storage
Android counts storage for the profile you are signed in to. Inside that profile, three kinds of thing take space: the media you can see, photos, videos and audio wherever they are saved; apps together with their data and caches; and files that are not media, in Downloads, Documents and folders like them. Around it sit the system and any other profiles on the phone, such as a work profile. Whatever is left is free.
Only the first kind is something a photo cleaner can show you file by file. The rest is there so the total adds up, and an honest cleaner says so rather than counting it as clutter.
How ClutterScrub shows it: the storage card on Home draws the profile as one bar: Media ClutterScrub can clean, Apps and their data, Downloads, Documents and other folders, System (or System and other profiles) and Free on this phone, each with its size. Apps and the profile total need Usage access, which is optional and offered on the card itself as Count apps too; without it the card says the profile uses at least what it can see, with the rest as Everything else on the phone. A row for Photos, videos and audio in the trash appears while the trash holds something.
Home: the storage card draws one profile as a bar that adds up, above the categories the scan found, each with its size.
The clutter that is media
Big videos
A few long videos can outweigh a whole year of photos. ClutterScrub's Videos screen has a Large only filter, and an item counts as large from 100 MB for a video, 10 MB for a photo and 25 MB for an audio file, thresholds you can change in Settings under Large files.
Screenshots and screen recordings
They pile up unnoticed because nobody keeps them on purpose. The Screenshots screen puts both in one grid with filters for anything Older than 30 days, Older than 90 days or Older than a year, and Select all.
Chat media
Messaging apps often keep the photos and videos they receive in shared storage, and a group chat can leave a year of forwarded clips behind. ClutterScrub's Messaging media screen groups them by app, received photos and videos from apps such as WhatsApp included, so one screen covers what used to take a dozen folders.
Duplicates and similar photos
Copies saved twice and bursts of near-identical shots are a share of every library. The duplicate photos guide and the similar photos guide cover both searches.
Everything in one folder
Sometimes the space is simply one folder: a camera roll, a downloads folder full of media, a folder an app created. The Folders card on Home opens any folder the scan found with photos, videos or audio and shows everything in it and its subfolders in one grid, of every type and age, with filters and Select all.
Why the free space did not go up
Moving a file to the trash is not deleting it. Since Android 11 the system keeps a trashed file for 30 days, bytes and all, so that it can be restored; the free space figure moves only when the trash empties. That is why ClutterScrub reports what you have cleared, never what you have freed, for anything in the trash.
To get the space back today, open the Trash screen: Delete permanently removes what you tick, and Empty trash removes everything in it. Both are permanent. The trash and restore guide has the details.
What a photo cleaner cannot do, and why that is right
- Clear app caches and data. Each app's cache belongs to that app, and Android rebuilds it as needed. A cleaner that clears another app's data for you needs either an accessibility service that taps through Settings on your behalf or access it should not have. ClutterScrub's Apps screen, available once Usage access is on, lists launcher apps by total, data and cache, and each row opens that app's own Settings page, where you decide.
- Open your documents. Going through files that are not photos, videos or audio, Downloads and Documents in bulk, takes All files access. ClutterScrub does not hold it; the Files app is the right tool for those.
- Reach the system or another profile. That space is shown so the total adds up, and nothing more.
How ClutterScrub handles it: no All files access, no accessibility service and no internet permission, so it reads photos, videos and audio and no other files, hands off to each app's own Settings page, and nothing it reads can leave your phone. The cleaner app checklist shows how to verify each of those on any app.
Step by step in ClutterScrub
- Open ClutterScrub and read the storage card. To see apps counted as a row of their own, tap Count apps too (optional); the Apps card then lists them by size, and each opens its own Settings page.
- Open Videos and turn on Large only. Tick what can go.
- Open Screenshots, set the age to Older than 90 days, and use Select all if the list is all noise.
- Open Messaging media and go app by app.
- Open Duplicates for exact copies, and its Similar photos tab for burst shots.
- Tap Move to trash on each screen and confirm. The result shows the total you have cleared so far.
- When you are sure, open Trash and tap Empty trash to free the space today. Until then, anything can come back with Restore.
