Snapsift vs Gemini Photos
Both apps find duplicate and near-identical photos with on-device AI. They land in very different places. Snapsift runs natively on iPhone. Gemini (MacPaw's classic duplicate finder) is a macOS app you point at a synced library. If the photos live on your phone, the platform difference matters more than any feature row.
| Snapsift | Gemini Photos | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | iPhone (iOS 17+) | macOS only (Gemini 2 / Gemini Photos legacy) |
| Exact pixel duplicates | ✓ | ✓ |
| Near-identical shots (burst, slight angle changes) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Best-shot ranking by sharpness, faces, composition | ✓ | Manual review |
| Screenshot cleanup grouped by month | ✓ | — |
| Side-by-side compare at full resolution | ✓ | ✓ |
| On-device processing (zero photo upload) | ✓ | ✓ |
| No account required | ✓ | Setapp signup option |
| Works directly on iPhone library | ✓ | Indirect (Mac, then sync) |
| Free tier | 15 deletes / month | Limited trial |
| Pricing | $19.99/yr or $39.99 lifetime | Subscription via Setapp or one-time license (varies) |
| Latest update | v1.2.4 (2026-05-26) | Gemini 2 (legacy, infrequent updates) |
What happened to Gemini Photos on iPhone?
If you remember Gemini Photos as an iPhone app, you are not wrong. MacPaw shipped it for years as the iOS companion to Gemini 2 on the Mac, then retired the name and folded it into CleanMy®Phone, which now lives under the same App Store listing. So in 2026 "Gemini" means the macOS duplicate finder, and the iPhone comparison you are probably looking for is Snapsift vs CleanMy®Phone.
The practical differences against CleanMy®Phone follow the same lines as the table above: Snapsift stays a single-purpose duplicate and similar-photo cleaner with on-device Vision analysis, zero photo upload, and a one-time lifetime option. CleanMy®Phone is a broader cleanup suite from a larger company, with network features and subscription-first pricing. If you want one focused tool that never sends a photo anywhere, that narrowness is the point.
The workflow difference in practice
With the Mac route, a cleanup session looks like: make sure iCloud Photos has synced, open the Mac app, scan the synced library, delete, wait for the deletes to sync back to the phone. Any photo that has not synced yet is invisible to the scan.
With an on-device cleaner, the scan runs against the photos that are actually on the iPhone, right now, in the same place where you will review and delete them. For a library that lives on your phone, that removes the entire sync round-trip and the second device from the loop.
Bottom line
Pick Snapsift if your photo problem is on your phone. Scanning happens locally with Apple's Vision framework, the best shot in each burst is pre-selected, and screenshot piles get a dedicated month-by-month sweep. No Mac required, no account, no upload.
Pick Gemini Photos if you already work primarily from your Mac and want a one-window cleanup over a synced iCloud Photos library. The trade-off: an extra device in the loop and a Setapp subscription path for ongoing updates.
For most iPhone-first users, the friction of "Mac + sync + extra app" is exactly the friction that lets photo libraries balloon to 5,000 unsorted shots in the first place. See Snapsift on the App Store.
FAQ
Is Gemini Photos still available for iPhone?
No. MacPaw retired the Gemini Photos iPhone app and replaced it with CleanMy®Phone under the same App Store listing. Gemini 2 continues as a macOS duplicate finder.
Can Gemini on Mac clean photos that are on my iPhone?
Only indirectly. The Mac app scans a library that has synced through iCloud Photos. Photos that have not synced are invisible to it, and deletes have to sync back to the phone.
Which is better for cleaning an iPhone photo library?
If the photos live on your iPhone, an on-device cleaner like Snapsift removes the Mac and the sync round-trip from the loop entirely. The Mac route makes sense if you already manage your library from a Mac.