Frequently asked questions
Short, honest answers. If yours isn't here, email [email protected] and a person will reply.
Is Tidy free?
Yes, the core is free forever with no limits and no account: Duplicates and Screenshots are the two categories that recover the most space for most people, and they cost nothing. Tidy Pro is an optional one-time purchase ($9.99 in the US, shown in your own currency before you confirm) that unlocks Similar shots, Bursts, Large videos, Blurry photos, Receipts & documents and Live Photos.
Is Tidy a subscription?
No. Tidy Pro is a one-time, non-consumable in-app purchase. There is no subscription, no forced free trial, and no monthly fee for something you use a few times a year. If you get a new iPhone, tap Restore Purchase while signed in with the same Apple ID.
Are my photos uploaded anywhere?
No. The entire scan runs on your iPhone, so Tidy works in airplane mode. There is no account, no sign-in and no server to upload to. Tidy collects no data and contains no analytics SDK — the App Store privacy label reads 'Data Not Collected'.
Why didn't my iPhone storage change after I deleted photos?
Because iOS does not erase deleted photos right away. Anything you delete — in Tidy or in the Photos app itself — moves to the Recently Deleted album and stays there for 30 days so you can undo a mistake. The space is only returned when that album is emptied. To get it back now, open Photos, go to Albums, scroll to Recently Deleted, unlock it, and choose Delete All. No app can do this for you: iOS gives no way to permanently delete photos on your behalf, which is also why an app promising instantly freed gigabytes is not telling you the whole story.
Can Tidy delete photos without asking me?
No. Tidy only suggests. You review each group, the best shot in every set is pre-kept for you, and nothing is removed until you confirm. Deletion uses Apple's standard Photos deletion, so everything lands in Recently Deleted with 30 days to restore it.
Does Tidy work with iCloud Photos?
Yes. If you use Optimise iPhone Storage, some originals live in iCloud rather than on the device, and those cannot be measured from the thumbnail alone. Tidy tells you which items it could not check and can run a deeper pass that downloads them so they are included. Deleting in Tidy removes the photo from iCloud Photos too, because the library is synced — the same as deleting it in the Photos app.
Does deleting a Live Photo lose the picture?
No. The Live Photos category converts a Live Photo to a still: the picture stays in your library, and only the paired video clip is freed. It is the one cleanup in Tidy that is not a deletion.
How large a photo library can Tidy handle?
It is built for large ones — 20,000 photos and well beyond, with honest progress from start to finish instead of a spinner that never resolves. The scan is incremental and cached, so a second run is much faster, and if it is interrupted it resumes where it stopped rather than starting over.
Does Tidy need an internet connection?
No. Everything happens on the device. The only time Tidy touches the network is if you ask it to download iCloud originals for a deeper scan, or when the App Store handles a purchase.
What exactly does Tidy find?
Duplicates (exact copies, grouped), Screenshots, Similar shots and bursts (it keeps the best one for you), Large videos (biggest first, where the real space is), Blurry photos, Receipts & document scans, and Live Photos. Every category is ranked by the gigabytes you would actually get back.
Which iPhones and iOS versions does it support?
iPhone and iPad running iOS 17 or later.
Who makes Tidy?
One independent developer, Vladyslav Prykhodko. Support goes to a person, not a queue: email [email protected].
Still stuck? Email [email protected] with your iPhone model, your iOS version and what you were doing — that is usually enough to sort it out.
