The Easiest Way To Clean Up Your iPhone Photos Using Apple Intelligence

If you're someone who enjoys pushing the boundaries of what your iPhone can do for photography, then Apple's latest announcement during their Worldwide Developer Conference is something you’ll want to pay attention to. This year, Apple introduced its own entry into the AI space with a bunch of new features under the banner of "Apple Intelligence." Among these new capabilities, the feature that caught my attention is called "Clean Up," which Apple rolled out as part of the iOS 18.1 Beta 3 update.

As someone who typically avoids installing beta versions of operating systems on my devices, I couldn’t resist giving this one a try—and I’m glad I did. Clean Up offers a user-friendly and surprisingly powerful way to remove unwanted objects from your photos directly within the Photos app. For those who are familiar with Google Photos’ Magic Eraser, Clean Up offers a similar experience.

Understanding the Basics of Clean Up

Clean Up is a new tool designed to help iPhone photographers remove distractions from their images. Whether it's an unwanted person in the background or a stray object ruining the composition, Clean Up allows you to easily select and remove these elements. It's part of Apple's ongoing push into AI-enhanced features that streamline photo editing, and from my early tests, it seems like this is just the beginning of what Apple has planned for mobile photography.

If you’re currently running iOS 18.0, keep in mind that Clean Up won’t be available until iOS 18.1, which Apple is expected to release in October. However, if you want to try it now, you can access Clean Up on iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as M1 Macs and iPads as part of the latest iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia Developer Betas. Additionally, access to Clean Up may be restricted based on your location. I'm in the United States and can access Clean Up without an issue, but I've heard from several people in the EU stating that it's not available for them.

How to Use the Clean Up Tool

Using Clean Up is incredibly straightforward. Once you open a photo and tap on "Edit," you'll notice four options at the bottom: Adjust, Filters, Crop, and Clean Up. When you select Clean Up, the app will prompt you to download the necessary AI model to your device. Once that’s done, you’ll see an intuitive interface that identifies potential distractions in your photo with a colorful overlay.

The AI is smart enough to detect distractions automatically, but you can also manually select objects to remove. For instance, I had a photo with two cars in the background that Cleanup identified as distractions.

With a single tap, the cars were seamlessly erased from the image. While the results are generally impressive, it’s important to note that this is still a beta feature. Some removals are flawless, while others may not be optimal.

Another nice touch is that Apple gives you the option to provide feedback. If you’re happy with the results, you can send a thumbs-up along with your original and edited images. If the results are less than ideal, you can give a thumbs-down and specify what went wrong, helping Apple to improve the tool over time.

Real-World Applications

One of the reasons I’m excited about Clean Up is its potential for everyday photography. Let’s face it: most of us use our iPhones to capture quick snapshots of our friends, family, and day-to-day moments. Often, these pictures include unwanted distractions—whether it’s a person in the background or an object cluttering the frame. Cleanup makes it easy to clean up these imperfections without needing third-party apps or complicated editing processes.

Of course, Clean Up isn't perfect. There are times when the AI misses the mark, especially in complex images, but this is expected given the feature’s current stage of development. And while Clean Up is a great tool for casual edits, Adobe Lightroom's Generative Remove tool is a more advanced alternative if you're looking for finer control over your edits. Lightroom offers a more precise experience, which is particularly useful for more demanding edits.

Wrapping It Up

Clean Up is a welcome addition to the iPhone's growing list of photo editing tools, particularly for those who want quick, effective edits without diving into more complex software. As Apple continues to improve this feature, it’s likely to become a staple in many photographers’ editing workflows. If you’re intrigued by AI-driven photography tools, I highly recommend giving Clean Up a try—whether you wait for the official release of iOS 18.1 or jump into the beta.

For those looking to explore even more powerful photo editing capabilities, Adobe Lightroom remains a solid choice, especially with its own AI-driven tools like Generative Remove. If you want to dive deeper into Lightroom’s capabilities, you should definitely check out my premier course, Lightroom Everywhere.