To clean in Inzoi, click a dirty spot, a stained floor or a used object and pick the Clean interaction, and your Zoi will grab whichever cleaning tool suits the room and get to work. Since the March 2026 update Zois choose the right tool themselves, and since the September 2026 update a household left to its own devices cleans up roughly every two to three days without you lifting a finger. This guide covers the manual method, the tools worth owning, laundry, the autonomy settings that let Zois clean unprompted, and what to do when you would rather pay someone else.
If you played in 2025, forget most of what you learned: nearly every major patch since has touched cleaning, and the current build is far more hands-off.
The Clean interaction
Dirt in Inzoi shows up as floor stains, dust, trash and grubby objects. Left-click any of them and choose Clean from the pop-up menu. Your Zoi walks over and deals with it, and if several dirty spots sit in the same room, queue them one after another and the Zoi works through the list.
A few things worth knowing, all verified against official patch notes:
- Zois now automatically pick the cleaning tool that fits their surroundings. Per the developer’s 2026 roadmap, the intent is a broom outdoors and a vacuum cleaner indoors, and the v0.7.0 patch notes confirm the automatic selection shipped in March 2026.
- Objects get dirty and break with use. The v0.3.0 update added cleaning interactions for bookshelves and wardrobes, so if a shelf looks grimy, click the shelf itself rather than the floor around it.
- Dishes are handled separately. Since v0.4.4, every plate in the house can be cleared in one action once two hours have passed after a meal.
- Babies leave puddles. Since the April 2026 update, a parent or babysitter has to clean up after a baby, and v0.7.0 added a quick clean-up interaction for the mess newborns make.
If your Zoi keeps trying to clean and giving up, check that a cleaning tool exists in the house. The v0.10.4 hotfix fixed a bug where Zois repeatedly attempted to clean with no tool available, and also stopped roofs getting dirty and dust appearing in spots that cannot be cleaned.
Cleaning tools to buy in Build Mode
Your household needs at least one tool before cleaning works. Open Build Mode from the on-screen icon and browse the furniture catalog for cleaning equipment. The staples are a broom, a mop and a vacuum cleaner, and the April 2026 update added a short broom and dustpan combo as a compact option for small homes.
Early player guides listed exact Meow prices for each tool and a premium vacuum gated behind a housework skill level. We could not confirm those numbers against any official source, so treat any price you see quoted as a 2025 snapshot and trust the in-game catalog instead. If you need money for the vacuum first, our guide on how to buy things in Inzoi covers the shops and the smartphone apps.
Laundry and the laundry basket
Dirty clothes are a separate cleanliness system. Place a washing machine, then click it and choose the wash interaction to launder the household’s clothes. Children cannot operate the machine; a child Zoi instead uses Ask to Do Laundry and hands the job to an older household member. That interaction was buggy for a while (it once washed nothing at all), but fixes landed in the v0.3.x hotfixes and again in v0.5.0.
Since the April 2026 update, Zois also react to the laundry basket itself. Per the v0.8.0 patch notes, a Zoi can check the basket and feel uncomfortable if it smells, so an overflowing basket is now a mood problem and not just a visual one.
Letting Zois clean on their own
This is the biggest change since 2025. The v0.10.0 patch notes rebalanced how fast a house gets dirty so that Zois on autonomy clean it about once every two to three days, and the same update let you toggle individual automatic behaviours on or off for a single Zoi, for the whole household, or for every Zoi in the city.
So if you want a self-cleaning home, leave cleaning autonomy on and give the household a tool. If you want full control, switch it off for the Zoi you play and clean manually. One caveat from the December 2025 update: Zois with the Slacker characteristic sometimes refuse to clear plates and books, and a speech bubble tells you when that happens. If you would rather play a tidier family member, our guide to switching between Zois explains how.
Hiring help and slowing the mess
Home services can be booked from the smartphone, and since April 2026 you choose whether an arriving service Zoi rings the doorbell or a pop-up simply lets them in. Early player guides named two cleaning packages with fixed Meow prices; we could not verify those names or prices against official notes, so check the smartphone listing for current options.
The developer has also slowed the mess itself: the v0.1.7 hotfix in April 2025 “significantly slowed” how quickly lots get dirty, and v0.10.0 slowed it again. City Appearance under the city map changes your city’s overall look (a “Run-down” option exists), but we could not confirm a dedicated sanitation slider in the current build. For everything else in the game, start at our Inzoi guides hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why will my Zoi not clean anything? Make sure a broom, mop or vacuum is in the house, and check that cleaning autonomy has not been switched off for that Zoi. If a specific patch of dust cannot be targeted, update to v0.10.4 or later, which fixed uncleanable dust spots.
Can children clean in Inzoi? Children can pick up after themselves in a limited way, but they cannot run the washing machine. They use Ask to Do Laundry to pass the job to an older Zoi.
Does cleaning raise a skill? Early player guides described a Housework skill tied to cleaning tools. No official patch note names that skill, so we cannot confirm whether cleaning levels anything in the current build.
How often do Zois clean on their own? Per the September 2026 patch notes, roughly once every two to three days, assuming autonomy is on and a tool is available.
Can I hire a cleaner? Yes. Home services are booked through the smartphone, and the arrival prompt (doorbell or pop-up) is your choice since the April 2026 update.