Slidebox Review: Features, Free Version, Price and Safety

Slidebox: Photo Cleaner App is a swipe photo cleaner and album organiser for iPhone and iPad from Slidebox LLC. You swipe to delete a photo and tap to file it into an album. It is free to download, carries ads, and sells plans and a lifetime purchase, with no free trial.

Its prices, rating and privacy label were read on the US App Store listing on 2 November 2026. The UK listing could not be read that day, so all prices are in US dollars. Apple's support pages supply the rest. The facts come from those pages, not from a device test.

At least two other App Store entries use the name Slidebox and list other sellers. The Slidebox LLC app is the one with about 17,000 US ratings.

What Slidebox Does

Slidebox shows the photo library one photo at a time, so sorting and deleting happen in one pass. Its App Store description lists these features:

• deleting a photo with a swipe
• filing a photo into an album with one tap
• swiping between similar or duplicate photos to choose which to keep
• marking favourites
• undoing actions

The description says Slidebox works directly with the Photos app, so changes carry across your iPhone and iCloud. That makes it one way to organise photos on iPhone while clearing them, with albums that show up in Photos.

Release notes on the listing name features the description leaves out. They mention On This Day in November 2025 and monthly organisation in December 2025. A Keep option follows in February 2026, then Live Photos and Edit Photos in May 2026.

The current version, 26.922.1, is dated 22 September and needs iOS 15.0 or later. Apple's iOS 15 list goes back to the iPhone 6s.

Slidebox dates from 2015. The Next Web covered it that June, and TechCrunch reported in 2016 that former Amazon developers designed it.

Exact copies need no app. The Photos app's Duplicates album merges them on iOS 16 and later, one free way to clear duplicate photos on iPhone. For everything else, the listing does not say which features need a paid plan.

Is Slidebox Free? The Free Version and Ads

Is Slidebox free?

Slidebox is free to download, and the US listing shows in-app purchases and the label Contains: Advertising. The description does not set out what the free version includes or how many photos it covers.

The description gives paid access one line. It says purchases cover "additional storage and features, including 10,000+ photos and album cloud storage." It does not say whether that figure is a cap on the free version, or which purchase removes ads.

The listing's user reviews say more about ads. A review dated 20 August 2021 says that on the free version "you just watch a lot of ads". That is one user's report, and it is more than five years old.

The cloud storage line is unclear. A release note dated 15 December 2025 says "Our optional photo backup service will be retired on Feb 1, 2026." The description still lists album cloud storage, and the listing does not say whether the two are connected. Anyone buying for cloud storage should ask the developer first.

The listing is more exact about price than about what each price buys.

Slidebox Price: Weekly, Yearly and Lifetime Options

How much does Slidebox cost?

Slidebox costs $1.99 or $2.99 for one week and $19.99 or $29.99 for one year, on the US listing as of 2 November 2026. A lifetime purchase costs $29.99 or $49.99. The description also names $4.99 a month and $49.99 a year.

The listing carries eight items. Two are named only Slidebox and match the description's monthly and annual prices, though the list gives them no period. The listing does not say which price a given account is offered.

Weekly billing is the option to check. At $1.99 a week, the lower lifetime price equals about 15 weeks. The description names monthly and annual subscriptions and no weekly one, although two weekly items sit on the purchase list.

A review dated 26 July, with no year shown, says "I have been charged multiple times for a weekly subscription I did not agree to". Others on the same page describe paying once. These are user reports, so read the payment sheet before you confirm.

The description says Slidebox offers no free trial on these subscriptions, and that auto-renew must be off at least 24 hours before the period ends.

Is Slidebox Safe? Privacy Label and the Photos Entry

Is Slidebox safe?

Slidebox is safe in the sense that it is a real App Store app from a named developer, rated 4+. Its label shows no data used to track you. It does list photos or videos, which makes that entry the one to read.

The US listing shows 4.8 out of 5 from about 17,000 ratings and an Editors' Choice award, as of 2 November 2026.

Each label comes from the developer. The listing says "This information has not been verified by Apple", and Apple's guidance for developers makes them responsible for keeping their answers accurate.

The photos line matters because of how Apple defines the word. Apple's guidance says "collect" refers to "transmitting data off the device" and keeping it accessible for longer than the request needs. Data processed only on the device is not collected.

Read that way, a photos or videos entry declares that some can leave the phone, at least with some features. The listing does not say which photos, when, or for what. It also does not say whether the entry dates from the backup service due to retire in February.

The developer's privacy policy could not be read on 2 November 2026, so neither question could be settled. Anyone who wants every photo to stay on the phone should read that policy first.

Not every cleaner declares this. Swipewipe, Cleanup and Clever Cleaner showed no photos or videos category on their US listings that day. All three did declare data used to track you, which Slidebox does not.

The same checks apply to any iPhone cleaner app before it gets access to your library. A label covers what leaves the phone, not what a swipe does to a photo.

How Slidebox Deletes Photos

Slidebox appears to delete photos in stages, going by older walk-throughs. The current description covers none of this. It says only that a swipe removes a photo, "freeing up storage instantly".

The Next Web described the flow in 2015, and iPhone Life in 2018:

1. A swipe up moves the photo to a trash inside Slidebox, where it can be restored.
2. Emptying that trash removes the photo from your library.
3. The photo stays recoverable for 30 days, in a Recently Deleted folder that The Next Web said the app creates.

Those write-ups are old, but the trash is still there. Release notes fix a "delete/recover trash bug" in December 2025 and a "Trash delete bug" in May 2026. The listing does not say where that trash ends today.

Photos deleted in the Photos app go to the Recently Deleted album for 30 days, according to Apple's guide to deleting photos. It does not cover third-party apps. So after a session, check the trash in Slidebox, then Recently Deleted on iPhone. A photo in either one has not been deleted for good.

Emptying Recently Deleted cannot be undone, and with iCloud Photos on, a deletion reaches your other devices too.

Large deletes draw complaints. A review dated 12 May, with no year shown, says that with over 100 items in the delete box "the whole app freezes and closes". It adds that the deletions still go through. Another, dated 12 July, calls the app "prone to crashing" on large moves or deletes. Both are user reports.

How to Cancel a Slidebox Subscription

A Slidebox subscription is cancelled in the iPhone's Settings, like any App Store subscription. Apple's steps for cancelling a subscription are:

1. Open Settings and tap your name.
2. Tap Subscriptions.
3. Tap Slidebox.
4. Tap Cancel Subscription. You might need to scroll down to find it.

If there is no Cancel button, or an expiry message shows in red, the subscription is already cancelled. A one-time lifetime purchase is not a subscription, so it has nothing to cancel.

For a charge you did not mean to make, Apple's refund page sends requests through reportaproblem.apple.com.

Who Slidebox Fits, and Another Swipe App

Slidebox fits someone on iOS 15 or later who wants albums built while the camera roll shrinks. It suits that person if ads, or a lifetime price of $29.99 to $49.99, are acceptable. The cloud line and the photos entry are worth settling first.

The free limits and the delete steps are what its listing leaves open. Some swipe cleaners state both. Swipe cleaners such as Swipe Quick, made by the team behind swipequick.app, set no time gates on the free tier.

Its deleted photos go to Recently Deleted for 30 days. It deletes nothing until you confirm, runs on the device and needs no account. Its free tier shows ads. Pro costs $2.99 a week or $29.99 a year on the App Store, as of 13 October 2026.

Six cleaners, Slidebox included, are set side by side in the best iPhone photo cleaner apps comparison.

Frequently asked questions

Does Slidebox have a free trial?

Slidebox does not have a free trial. Its App Store description says "Slidebox does not offer free trials for these subscriptions", as of 2 November 2026.

Does Slidebox delete photos permanently?

Slidebox does not delete photos permanently with one swipe, going by older walk-throughs. A swiped photo goes to the app's trash first. Check that trash and Recently Deleted in Photos after a session, because a photo deleted from Recently Deleted cannot be recovered.

Does Slidebox work on older iPhones?

Slidebox works on older iPhones that run iOS 15.0 or later. Apple's iOS 15 list goes back to the iPhone 6s and the first iPhone SE.

Does Slidebox work on Android?

Slidebox works on Android through a Google Play listing from Slidebox LLC. That listing showed 4.5 stars from about 12,500 ratings and a last update of 23 November 2025, when read on 2 November 2026.