Your photos stay on your phone.
Clean by Tathya looks through your photo library to find duplicates, similar shots, screenshots and large videos. All of that analysis happens on your device. TathyaLabs does not run a server for the app and never receives your photos or anything about them.
Last updated: October 13, 2026
The short version
- No account, no servers and no uploads. The app makes no network requests of its own.
- No analytics, no crash-reporting SDK, no ads and no tracking.
- Photos are compared using tiny thumbnails made and analysed on your phone.
- Nothing is deleted unless you confirm it, in the app and in the system prompt.
Photo library access
With your permission, the app reads your photo library to compare photos and videos, and asks to change it only to delete the items you confirm. If you give access to selected photos only, only those are analysed. The app never saves new photos and doesn't use the location stored in your photos.
To compare photos, the app makes a 32 × 32 pixel thumbnail of each photo on your phone, turns it into a fingerprint (a perceptual hash), and deletes the thumbnail straight away. No image, thumbnail, file name or fingerprint is ever uploaded.
If you use iCloud Photos with Optimize iPhone Storage, iOS may download a photo's original from iCloud when the app analyses it. That transfer is between your device and Apple, under Apple's terms.
What the app stores
To make later scans fast, the app keeps a small database in its private storage on your device: identifiers and file names of your photos and videos, their dimensions, dates, fingerprints and measured sizes. It also keeps a history of your cleanups (when, how many items and how much space was freed), the photos you chose to keep in Swipe to clean, and your settings. None of this leaves your device unless you export it.
Deleting photos
Every deletion goes through an in-app confirmation and then the system's own confirmation. On iPhone, deleted items stay in Recently Deleted in the Photos app for 30 days. If you use iCloud Photos, deletions also apply to your other devices that use the same library.
Exports
Settings > Export data (JSON) creates a file with your settings, library counts and cleanup history. It goes only where you send it through the system share sheet. TathyaLabs does not receive a copy.
Contacting us
If you email us from the app or this website, we receive your email address and whatever you write, and use them only to reply. Please don't send us personal photos.
Retention and deletion
The app's database stays on your device until you clear it. Use Settings > Clear analysis cache to remove the stored analysis, Settings > Delete all app data to remove everything the app stored, or delete the app. Your photos themselves are only ever deleted when you confirm it.
Children
Clean by Tathya does not collect personal information from anyone, including children.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, the date above will change with it. Questions or privacy requests can be sent to hello@tathyalabs.com.