Ollie Green · October 24, 2024 (Updated) · 7 min read If you’re looking to clean up your Android phone, get rid of malware, or try to squeeze extra performance out of your device, a phone cleaner app can help.
These apps aren’t some kind of magic bullet that will resolve all of your performance issues, but they can certainly help to free up space used by files and apps you weren’t aware of, and give you an overview of how your phone is performing and why.
There are dozens of good apps for this, so it can be hard to navigate the app store to find the best. We’ve made that easier for you by listing the 10 Android phone cleaner apps that actually help you have a clean Android phone.
Avast Cleanup
Easily the most downloaded Android cleaner app is Avast Cleanup, developed by Avast software. Avast Cleanup is one of the most popular apps for getting a clean Android phone. Upon opening, Avast Cleanup will quickly scan your device to find out just how much space you can free up.
Avast Cleanup takes you through everything step by step, so if you don’t really know what you’re doing, it can be a good alternative to other Android cleaner apps. Just tap start here after opening Avast Cleanup and go through each step.
You can then quickly delete everything Avast Cleanup suggests, or check each category to manually select and deselect options for deleting.
Once you’ve done your first scan, you’ll have access to different options like quick clean, boost memory, and tips. Boost memory can hibernate apps to help improve your overall performance and tips can scan your device to give you performance and storage tips based on your own device.
Avast Antivirus offers a Premium Plus subscription for £10.49 a year that also includes Avast Security premium.
Norton Clean
Developed by the same team behind Norton antivirus comes Norton Clean, an app designed to help you learn how to clean your Android phone.
Norton Clean gets straight into the action by scanning your phone files and listing any junk files. You can then go through the files one by one and choose whether you want to keep them or not.
Norton Clean also gives you a list of all of your apps so that you can quickly see what’s installed and find apps you don’t really need anymore. It beats browsing through the default UI because you can sort apps by install date or last use.
All-In-One Toolbox
All-In-One Toolbox is an Android cleaner app that can help to free up storage, clean your Android cache, and boost your device.
The home screen for All-In-One Toolbox will showcase your RAM and CPU usage. You can tap on each option to find out how to reduce your CPU and RAM usage by stopping apps. Note that it’s not worth reducing your RAM, because Android has smart RAM management, which means the more full your RAM is, the faster it will switch between apps, so it’s best not to mess with it.
You can also quickly go through your system files and cache to clear up space on your device. It takes just a few seconds to scan everything. The battery saver feature can also help you to reduce your battery usage by closing apps that are consuming battery in the background.
AVG Cleaner
Created by the same team behind AVG antivirus. AVG Cleaner actually has a very similar experience to Avast Cleanup. We wouldn’t be surprised if AVG teamed up with them to develop the app.
You’ll be taken through the initial cleanup stage once installing and then after that you’ll gain access to quick clean, boost memory, and tips.
You may prefer to get AVG Cleaner instead of Avast Cleanup if you already have an AVG antivirus premium subscription.
CCleaner
CCleaner is another clone of the Avast Cleanup app. You get the first initial system scan upon install, then access to the boost memory and tips features.
The only reason you’d consider this one is if you’d like the premium features for cheaper. It costs just £1.49 per month, or £5.99 per year. Of course, you won’t get an antivirus included, but it’s still cheaper than Avast and AVG.
Droid Optimizer
Another popular Android cleaner app is Droid Optimizer. You’ll find a number of options available to free up storage and boost your Android phone performance.
First up, Droid Optimizer has a 1-touch speed up feature. With this you can quickly free up storage, stop apps that are eating up resources in the background, and clear the cache.
You can also use the clean up feature to delete the system cache, download files, and other unwanted files taking up space on your device. App manager lets you check all of your apps and determine which ones are worth deleting to improve performance and free up more space.
Droid Optimizer even has a privacy detector that can be used to check what permissions each app has and put a stop to those that may have unwanted access to your phone.
Fancy Booster
Fancy Booster is another phone cleaner app designed to help clean your Android phone. You can use it to clean up junk files and apps, remove the cache, and boost your phone performance.
Once installed, you’ll have a page appear that shows how much RAM and storage your device is currently using. From there, you can use a variety of tools to get your device working better.
Phone Boost, for example will take a look at which apps are using the most resources and offer an option to remove their storage footprint. With CPU cooler, you can quickly stop apps from running in the background.
What we like about Fancy Booster is that it has more functionality than most other Android cleaner apps. For example, you can even use it to quickly manage which of your apps get notifications.
Phone Speed Booster
With Phone Speed Booster installed, you’ll be able to quickly remove junk files by scanning all apps on your phone. The amount of storage you’ll be able to save can be quite significant.
With the battery saver option, you can hibernate apps so that they don’t use battery whilst running in the background. You can also use the CPU cooler feature to see if your phone is having issues with overheating, and if so, you can close down apps to put less strain on your CPU.
Virus Cleaner – Antivirus Free & Phone Cleaner
Virus Cleaner is a great app if you want to free up storage space by deleting junk files, manage your notifications, save battery life, and also stop Android malware.
Most of the functionality in Virus Cleaner is the same as other apps. You can run a scan to see files that are taking up space and then remove them, or run a scan to see if any apps are causing your phone to overheat and then force-stop them.
With Virus Cleaner’s virus scanner feature, your apps will be scanned and any potential threats will be revealed. If any threats are found you’ll be warned and you’ll then be able to delete them to protect your phone.
One Booster
We like One Booster because it gets straight to the point without requesting too many permissions. A quick scan will happen the moment you start the app and then you’ll be told how much space you can save by deleting junk files.
After that, you’re given access to four features – phone boost, battery saver, security, and CPU cooler.
When you use either CPU cooler or battery saver, One Booster will automatically hibernate apps to reduce battery and CPU usage. With the security feature, your apps will be scanned to highlight any potential threats.
Finally, phone boost will go through apps once more and hibernate those that may be causing issues with your performance at that very second.
