How to Find Duplicate Photos on an iPhone

We help people find duplicate photos on an iPhone very often. With iOS 16, it has never been easier. Let’s get started!

Start with the right phone and iOS

The newest operating system for iPhones is iOS 16. This is the one you will need.

In addition, you need an iPhone XS or newer. These phones have a more powerful processor than earlier iPhones.

iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X will all be able to install iOS 16, but they will not be able to use all of the new features, including finding duplicate photos.

How to Find duplicate photos

This is the easiest part, because it happens automatically. There is nothing that you need to do.

Connect your phone to WiFi and plug it in to speed up the process. Depending on how large your photo library is and how many duplicates you have, the process may take a few hours.

Where to see your duplicate photos on an iPhone

Open the Photos app on your iPhone.

Click on Albums in the bottom bar.

Scroll to the bottom of the albums page.

A Duplicates album is created when duplicate photos are found.

There are 532 duplicate photos.

Click on the Duplicates Album name to see your duplicate photos.

Merge duplicate photos

Each photo has an indication of its file size in the lower right corner. When the sizes of the two or more duplicate photos does not match, this often indicates that your duplicates are of different resolutions.

Click on Merge to save the highest quality photo. The lower or equal quality duplicates are deleted.

Photos can be dealt with individually or in batches.

To select a group of photos (or all), click on Select in the upper right corner.

Tap each duplicate set to include, or tap select all. Click Merge on the bottom of the screen.

When a group of photos are merged, a message gives the option of merging only exact copies, or merging all identified duplicates. Choose one option and a final confirmation will pop up.

That’s it!

The Duplicates folder will continue to populate whenever Photos finds duplicate photos.

Here is Apple’s official description of the process of finding duplicate photos on an iPhone.

If you would like help with this process, just call or email and we’ll be happy to assist you! If you have specific questions, or if our terminology isn’t clear, please use our contact form to send us a message. Thank you!

Scroll to Top