Currently available through the iOS 18.1 developer beta, Apple’s Clean Up feature is an Apple Intelligence tool that removes unwanted objects from photos.
Remember, the key word here is “developer beta.” Clean Up is still in beta – you really shouldn’t download any iOS betas without backing up your iPhone first. This is a rough release that will give some users early access to iOS 18 features before they are officially released later this year.
With that in mind, I wanted to test Apple’s new Clean Up utility and compare it to other tools, including Google Magic Eraser and Samsung Galaxy AI. For this face-off, I’ll be using an iPhone 15 Pro Max (Cleaner), a Google Pixel 9 Pro XL (Magic Eraser), and a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (Galaxy AI).
iOS 18.1 adds a new Apple Intelligence “cleanup” tool: it can do 3 things for your photos
Apple Clean Up, Magic Eraser, and Galaxy AI: Test Photos
I decided to choose the following three photos to test. Each has a specific difficulty level: easy, medium and hard.
simple
The first one was taken in Grenada, a couple walking along the beach, sorry for them (I’m sure they are both good people), they need to be removed from the photo.
Grenada’s beaches
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
This should be easy for an AI-driven object removal tool, as there is a consistent background pattern with minimal overlap and shadowing. Plus, it has great lighting.
medium
The red car in this photo is starting up.
A red car in the parking lot
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Unfortunately for our artificial intelligence tools, there’s a nasty little shadow they need to deal with.
difficult
Finally, the eagle in this photo, taken at the Vanderbilt Museum on Long Island, will be targeted for removal.
Vanderbilt Museum Room
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
The eagle inside the glass enclosure blocks out a large portion of the image, meaning artificial intelligence has to work hard to fill in the gaps.
Apple’s cleanup
Starting with the couple taking a walk along the coast, I launched the cleanup tool in the Photos app on my iPhone 15 Pro Max.
To my surprise, Clean Up automatically selected the couple and highlighted them. In other words, I don’t even have to “tell” the tool which part of the image I want to delete.
Comes with Apple Intelligence cleaning tool
Photo credit: Kimberly G
I clicked on the highlighted couple – it removed the woman. The second strike removed the man. Then, poof! They’re gone.
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Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Correct:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
They left no trace. Well done, Apple Smart.
Next let’s test the car photos. Likewise, it comes pre-selected with some removal options, including red cars.
This one is a little more challenging.
Mix and match speed of light
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Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Correct:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
If you look closely, the Apple smartphone leaves some subtle red tints on the shade.
Finally, let’s see how the iOS 18 Clean Up tool handles Eagle deletion.
For this photo, Apple didn’t pre-select anything in this photo. I had to draw a circle around the eagle with my finger. After using the cleanup tool, this is the final image.
left:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Correct:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Again, this photo is particularly challenging because the eagle blocks a large portion of the image. As you can see, this task requires Apple Intelligence to fill in so many gaps that it becomes difficult to conceptualize how to fill them.
Google’s Magic Eraser
Now, it’s time to look at how Google handles object deletion.
Let’s get rid of that couple. Circle and click on the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is trickier than the cleaning tool. It usually takes multiple clicks and circles to make sure the highlighted area is the one I want to erase. However, it does a great job of clearing the lovebirds from the sand.
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Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Correct:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
As a bonus, Magic Eraser gives you four options to choose from, so if you don’t like the results of the first one, there are three other iterations created just for you.
Next, I used a magic eraser to remove the car.
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Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Correct:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
It looks like the Google tool added a sinkhole to replace the red car. I don’t like the result.
Finally, choosing to remove the eagle on the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is an absolute pain. It won’t register my circle around the glass bird. When it was finally finished, the highlight fields strangely excluded certain parts of the bird, so I needed to go back and click on that area to make sure they were removed.
Magic Eraser Tool on Google Pixel 9 Pro XL Phone
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
But when the Magic Eraser came into play, wow, I was impressed.
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Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Correct:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
There’s some distortion and discoloration in the obscured areas, but as you can see, Google’s artificial intelligence does a good job of interpreting what’s behind the eagle.
Samsung Galaxy AI
Similar to Apple and Google, Samsung’s Galaxy AI did an excellent job of eliminating that annoying couple on the beach in Grenada. (With the S Pen included with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, selecting unwanted items is a simple task.)
left:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Correct:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Interestingly, Samsung Galaxy AI adds a watermark to the lower left corner of the image to let others know that this is an image generated by artificial intelligence. (I didn’t see any prominent watermark labels in other AI-generated images.)
For the car photo, Galaxy AI replaced the red vehicle with what looks like some kind of crate or bale of hay?
left:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Correct:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Maybe it’s a final box containing Galaxy AI logic. Who knows? I’m confused and confused about this.
Fortunately, Samsung did a better job of handling this difficult image of a room inside the Vanderbilt Museum.
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Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Correct:
Photo credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
The lighting is a bit dim, the door doesn’t appear to be open, and the lamp is missing a leg, but considering the complexity of the image, the Galaxy AI effort isn’t bad.
Apple Clean Up vs. Magic Eraser vs. Galaxy AI: Winners
Not surprisingly, all three AI tools worked well with simple images. Interestingly, the quality of all AI-generated results dropped significantly.
The winner of this object deletion standoff is Google. While I don’t like that it doesn’t seem to be able to intelligently estimate which object you want to delete, it does a great job with both simple and complex photos. Car photos failed, but Google’s ability to handle difficult images made it a winner.
Apple ranks second. It fixed the first two images, but the complex image couldn’t be fully obtained by removing the eagle. (It’s worth noting that iOS 18 Clean Up is still in beta.)
Samsung’s Galaxy AI ranks at the bottom. It revealed a bale of hay that I didn’t ask for. But it performed just fine in beach photos and Vanderbilt Museum shots.
Updated: September 3, 2024, 1:36 pm ET The piece has been updated to reflect that the bird surrounded by glass in the image is not an owl, but an eagle.
