Sponge app makes Android photo cleanup shockingly fast

A new Android app called Sponge—found on Google Play Store as “Sponge – Gallery Cleaner”—aims to make photo and video deletion far less painful. With swipe controls, month-by-month cleanup, optional monthly reminders, and clear limits on what the free version

The moment I opened Sponge, I realized I wasn’t just installing another storage helper—I was done with the slow, tedious part.

On my own Android phone—a Pixel 9 Pro—photos and videos have piled up for years until they’re impossible to ignore. Clearing them through the usual routine in Google Photos can be painfully drawn out. Sponge, the app focused on one job, changes the feeling of that chore instantly.

The app takes a Tinder-like approach to deleting: swipe left to delete, swipe right to keep. With Sponge, you can delete individual photos, photos by date, or photos by collection. The speed is the point—when I tried it the first time. I actually laughed. because it’s that much easier than the Google Photos way of removing pictures.

Sponge also lets you set monthly reminders. If you’re the type who forgets to purge old, unwanted photos, the app can nudge you with a pop-up delivered via your Notification Shade every month to get the cleanup done.

There are limits you should know before you start wiping out your gallery. Sponge only deletes photos from your local device; it does not remove items from your Google Cloud account. The trade-off is comfort: if you delete from the phone, you still have a backup in your cloud account.

The other limit is the price model. The free version can only delete photos—and only by the month. If you want video deletion, or photo deletion by collection, you need the Premium version. Premium is a one-time (in-app) payment of $3.49.

That pricing detail matters because it shapes how you’d actually use the app. If your goal is simply to clear space by trimming whole months of photos, the free version may be enough. If you want more granular control—especially around videos and collections—Premium is the upgrade path.

Using Sponge is straightforward. You install it from the Google Play Store by opening the Play Store app, searching for “Sponge,” tapping the entry titled “Sponge – Gallery Cleaner,” and then tapping Install. After installation, the app is ready immediately.

To start cleaning, open Sponge and tap “View all” near the middle of the screen. Photos are listed by month, beginning with the oldest. Tap a month to see the photos in it. For each photo, swipe left to delete or right to save. As you swipe, the next photo appears. When you finish a month. Sponge brings up a page asking whether you want to delete the photos permanently now or decide later. If you tap “Delete forever. ” you’ll get a “Mission Accomplished” page that shows how many images you reviewed and how much space you saved.

I deleted hundreds of photos in less than a minute. After using Sponge for just a couple of days, it felt less like an experiment and more like a must-have—because it made clearing storage on my Android phone dramatically more efficient than what I’d been doing.

For the cleanup steps, Sponge also includes an easy way to turn monthly reminders on and off. Tap the three-line menu button at the top left of the app. then tap Settings. and use the On/Off slider for “Monthly reminder.” From that same area. you can upgrade to the Premium version if you decide you want video deletion and photo deletion by collection.

If you regularly need to delete old or unwanted photos on your Android phone, Sponge is built for exactly that moment—when your storage is full and you want the whole process over with.

Sponge app Sponge – Gallery Cleaner Android storage photo cleanup swipe to delete Google Play Store monthly reminders Premium $3.49 Android photos videos deletion