Clean Master Screen HomeReturn to the main Home screen, and tap the Storage and RAM buttons for more features. Storage provides a shortcut to clean up any temporary app files, plus another way to delete apps and associated data. It lists apps by size, with the largest first. Tap one and tick each box, then the Delete button at the bottom of the screen. You’re given a warning that by doing so, the app and its data will be gone forever.

Scroll down this page and other options are available. Clean Master looks for duplicate photos to delete, and old APKs, plus it highlights music it thinks you don’t listen to anymore, along with videos you haven’t watched, and apps it thinks are ‘old.’ Get too click-happy, and you could delete important data by mistake. Clean Master would have happily deleted music I added to the MicroSD card the week before, if it was given the chance, and it was hardly what I’d describe as ‘old’ content.

Go back to the Home screen and tap the RAM display. Anyone who has used a phone made by ZTE, Huawei, Xiaomi, or many other Chinese manufacturers recently will recognize this feature, as it’s often built into the device. It automatically scans running apps that it can close, in order to free up RAM. Tap the Boost button at the bottom of the screen to complete the action.

Tap Junk Files, and Clean Master will perform the same test it did when you first open the app. Hit Phone Boost, and you get a list of running apps, and advice on whether they can be force closed to boost phone performance. There’s a tool to check the temperature of your phone’s processor, which closes the offending apps if the chip’s running a bit too hot.

Once AppLock has been set up, it can’t be turned off entirely, but the list of apps it locks is easily managed by tapping the padlock-like icon in the top right of the screen. Here, you’ll also find the option to activate the front camera to snap a picture of anyone who gets the unlock code wrong on more than a set number of tries, plus more opportunities to install the CM Security app.

Finally, tap App Manager and you’re shown three different options: Uninstall apps, remove APK files, or move files from internal storage to a MicroSD card. Be careful here, because ticking the boxes alongside any apps can quickly uninstall them, and you’ll lose any data you haven’t backed up. Luckily, Clean Master also provides the option to save important data. Tap to select apps, hit the Backup button, select a destination for the backup, and you’re done.

All these features form the basis of Clean Master’s functions. Manage, delete, and move data, apps, and files. The app performs all these actions without fault, and is very stable.

You can install in Google Play

Getting started

The Clean Master app is available for free through the Google Play Store, and is compatible with the vast majority of Android devices. Download, install, and run the app to get started. The initial scan looks at what the app describes as ‘junk,’ which includes cached files, data no longer needed by apps such as Twitter, and more. It provides a complete breakdown of all the files it wants to delete, and how much space will be freed up. Tap the big Clean Junk button, and it’ll all disappear. The app frees up chunks of storage space on your phone, and could improve performance.

That’s the easy part. In the top right, there’s a button marked Advanced. Tap it, and you’re given a wide variety of additional options, all of which we’ll address in later sections. Clean Master’s features are often found in various sections, under different headings, and sometimes with different names.

All the different sections make Clean Master a UI nightmare, and it’s also filled with adverts for other apps and articles, as well as sponsored content. You’ll run into the ads as you scroll down the page under the Home icon, but you really only want to pay attention to the top of this long page full of spam, where you’ll see four main icons — Junk Files, Phone Boost, Antivirus, and App Manager — along with a quick overview of available RAM and storage space.

You can download in Google Play