Finding duplicate photos on your iPhone is simple thanks to a built-in feature within the Photos app. This functionality helps you easily identify and manage redundant copies of pictures and videos, freeing up storage space and organizing your library.
Steps to Find Duplicate Photos
Your iPhone automatically scans your photo library to identify duplicate items. These identified duplicates are conveniently grouped together. Follow these steps to access them:
- Open the Photos App: Tap the Photos app icon on your iPhone's home screen.
- Navigate to Utilities: Scroll down the main albums view until you find the Utilities section.
- Tap Duplicates: Within the Utilities section, you will see an option labeled Duplicates. Tap on it.
Understanding the Duplicates Section
Once you tap on Duplicates, you'll see groups of identical or very similar photos and videos.
- The Photos app intelligently identifies these duplicates, even if they have slightly different resolutions or metadata.
- Each group represents a set of duplicates, and the app suggests retaining the best version.
Merging Duplicate Photos
The primary action you can take in the Duplicates section is merging.
- What merging does: Merging combines a set of duplicates into a single photo or video.
- Which version is kept: The iPhone typically keeps the highest quality version, combining relevant data like captions and keywords from the duplicates.
- Where duplicates go: The merged duplicates (the copies not kept as the primary version) are moved to the Recently Deleted album, where they will be permanently removed after a set period (usually 30 days), or you can delete them manually sooner.
- Benefits: Merging helps to significantly reduce the number of items in your library, making it easier to browse and recovering valuable storage space on your device.
You can tap Merge All at the top of the screen to process all identified duplicates at once, or you can tap on individual groups to review and merge them one by one using the Merge [Number] Items option.
By using this built-in feature, you can effectively clean up your photo library without needing third-party apps.
