diff --git a/xwords4/android/scripts/cleanvariants.sh b/xwords4/android/scripts/cleanvariants.sh
index 14351deae..c18fd98bc 100755
--- a/xwords4/android/scripts/cleanvariants.sh
+++ b/xwords4/android/scripts/cleanvariants.sh
@@ -2,25 +2,21 @@
 
 set -u -e
 
-DIRS=""
-VARIANT=""
+DIR=""
 
 usage() {
     [ $# -ge 1 ] && echo "ERROR: $1"
-    echo "usage: $0 [--dest-dir <dir>]*"
+    echo "usage: $0 [--dir <dir>]"
+    echo "   uses variant parent of CWD as default if not provided"
     exit 1
 }
 
 while [ $# -ge 1 ]; do
     echo "\"$1\""
     case $1 in
-        --variant-name)
+        --dir)
             shift
-            VARIANT=$1
-            ;;
-        --dest-dir)
-            shift
-            DIRS="$DIRS $1"
+            DIR="$DIR $1"
             ;;
         *)
             usage "unexpected param $1"
@@ -29,12 +25,26 @@ while [ $# -ge 1 ]; do
     shift
 done
 
-for DIR in $DIRS; do
-    for FILE in $(find $DIR -type f); do
-        if git ls-files $FILE --error-unmatch 2>/dev/null; then
-            echo "skipping $FILE; it's under version control within this variant"
+if [ -z "$DIR" ]; then
+    while :; do
+        WD=$(pwd)
+        if [ "/" = "$WD" ]; then
+            echo "reached / without finding AndroidManifest.xml"
+            exit 1
+        elif [ -e ${WD}/AndroidManifest.xml ]; then
+            DIR=$WD
+            break
         else
-            rm $FILE
+            cd ..
         fi
     done
+fi
+
+for FILE in $(find $DIR -type f); do
+    if git ls-files $FILE --error-unmatch 2>/dev/null; then
+        echo "skipping $FILE; it's under version control within this variant"
+    else
+        echo "removing $FILE"
+        rm $FILE
+    fi
 done