Emptie vs Shrink Vids
Updated 27 October 2026 · By Dimitar Zurnov, who makes Emptie. Facts about Shrink Vids are from its App Store listing; we haven’t tested it.
Shrink Vids compresses videos you pick. Emptie scans your whole library, sorts it by how much each video would free, compresses a batch on your iPhone and replaces the originals with their dates, places, favorites and albums kept. Pick Shrink Vids to shrink a clip to share; pick Emptie to get storage back.
At a glance
| Emptie | Shrink Vids | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A video compressor that replaces originals in your Photos library | Video compressor: Compresses one or more videos you pick to a preset resolution, from 1080p down to 360p, with a bitrate slider, shows a before-and-after preview, and can delete the original afterwards. |
| Price | Free, with nothing to buy | Free download. In-app purchases are listed at $6.99 (Premium), $6.99 (Remove Ads), $22.99 (Unlimited Version) and voluntary payments of $3.99–$5.99. The listing doesn’t say what the free version leaves out. |
| A year of use | $0 | No subscription: $0 on the free version, or $22.99 once for the Unlimited Version |
| App Store privacy label | Data Not Collected (planned) | Data Used to Track You · Data Linked to You · Data Not Linked to You |
| Replaces the original for you | Yes, after you review each copy and give one iOS confirmation | Optional: it can delete the original after compressing |
| Keeps date, location, favorites and albums | Yes, and checks each copy before deleting an original | Date, time and location, per the listing |
| Sorted by space you would free | Yes | Not stated in the listing |
| Runs with the phone locked | Yes, with progress in the Dynamic Island | Not stated in the listing |
| Requires | iOS 26 or later (iPhone 11 and newer) | iOS 18.0 or later |
| US ratings | Not released yet | 4.65 from 3,697 ratings |
“Not stated in the listing” means we didn’t find it in the App Store description, not that the app can’t do it.
What Shrink Vids does well
- A before-and-after preview and the estimated new size before you save
- Keeps the date, time and location, and can delete the original for you
- Runs on the device and offline, on iPhone and iPad
- On the App Store since 2015, rated 4.65 from about 3,700 US ratings
Best for: Choosing the resolution and bitrate yourself and checking a before-and-after preview, on iPhone or iPad.
Where Emptie is different
- Emptie is free, with no ads and nothing to buy
- Emptie scans your whole library and sorts every video by how much compressing it would free
- Emptie carries over favorites and albums as well as the date and location, and checks each copy before it deletes the original
- Emptie’s planned privacy label is “Data Not Collected”; Shrink Vids’ listing declares data used to track you
What it costs over time
Shrink Vids: Free download. In-app purchases are listed at $6.99 (Premium), $6.99 (Remove Ads), $22.99 (Unlimited Version) and voluntary payments of $3.99–$5.99. The listing doesn’t say what the free version leaves out. Kept for a year: no subscription: $0 on the free version, or $22.99 once for the Unlimited Version.
Emptie is free, with nothing to buy. Compressing a library is mostly a one-time job, so we don’t think it should cost you every week.
What happens to your original videos
This is where video apps differ most. Many save a smaller copy as a new item and leave you to find and delete the original yourself. Unless the app carries the details over, the copy can show up under today’s date and outside the albums the original was in.
Emptie keeps every original untouched until its compressed copy is saved to your library and checked: it plays, it’s the same length, and its date (with time zone), location, Favorite and Hidden status and albums arrived. You compare each copy with its original, and one iOS confirmation replaces the batch. The originals stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Why the space comes back after you empty it.
Privacy
Shrink Vids’s App Store privacy label lists Data Used to Track You · Data Linked to You · Data Not Linked to You. Emptie’s will say Data Not Collected: no account, no upload, no ads and no analytics, and the app makes no network calls.
Which should you choose?
- Choose Shrink Vids: it’s best for choosing the resolution and bitrate yourself and checking a before-and-after preview, on iPhone or iPad.
- Choose Emptie: if videos are what fill your iPhone, you want them smaller without losing their dates and albums, and you want it free, with nothing to buy.
Frequently asked questions
Is Emptie a Shrink Vids alternative?
Yes. Both compress video on the iPhone. Emptie works through your whole library in one batch and replaces the originals for you, keeping their dates, places, favorites and albums.
How much does Shrink Vids cost compared with Emptie?
Free download. In-app purchases are listed at $6.99 (Premium), $6.99 (Remove Ads), $22.99 (Unlimited Version) and voluntary payments of $3.99–$5.99. The listing doesn’t say what the free version leaves out. Emptie is free, with no subscription and nothing to buy. Prices are from the US App Store listing as of 27 October 2026.
Does Shrink Vids collect data?
Its App Store privacy label lists: Data Used to Track You · Data Linked to You · Data Not Linked to You. Emptie’s planned label is “Data Not Collected”: it has no account, no analytics and makes no network calls.
How we compared
We read Video Compress - Shrink Vids’s US App Store listing, in-app purchase list and privacy label on 27 October 2026. It was one of the 888 storage and video-compression apps we reviewed on 23 October 2026. We didn’t install or test it. Prices change, so check the listing before you buy. If something here is wrong, email [email protected] and we’ll fix it.