News We Recently Launched AD Migrator and AD Reporter.

How to Delete Duplicate Photos on iPhone 18, 17, 16 & Older Models

  author
Written By Chirag Arora
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh  
Published On October 4th, 2024
Reading Time 8 Minutes Reading

Are you looking for a solution to get rid of duplicate iPhone photos? Then, you have come to the right place. In this guide, we will share with you expert methods to easily solve the “how to delete duplicate photos on iPhone” issue. So, without wasting your time, let’s start this article.

Table of Contents Hide

In the smartphone market, Apple’s iPhone is one of the best phones in today’s world. This is because it is much faster and smoother than many smartphones. Although it is more costly than android phones. But with its advanced features and better performance, people prefer the iPhone. Apple created iOS so good that you can take professional photos, play heavy games and much more.

The camera is one of the great features of the iPhone, and many people use it to click high-quality pictures. The iPhone’s portable size makes it perfect for photography. But, along with its useful features, it also comes with many problems. One of them is the duplicate photos in the gallery.

Issue of Duplicate Photos on iPhone

If a user has few photos and among them, there are five to six similar images. Then, it is easy to remove the same photos. But the problem arises when you have thousands of photos in which you have difficulty finding and deleting duplicate photos. Not only on iPhone, users have issue of deleting duplicate photos from Android phones and other devices.  but also on other smartphones or desktops. Therefore, many users have this question: how to delete duplicate photos on iPhone?

That’s why, in the following section of the guide, we will provide solutions that can easily fix the deletion issue. But before that let’s understand why you have duplicate photos.

What Causes Duplicate Photos on iPhone?

The Issue of having the same pictures on your iPhone occurs due to various reasons, which we have explained in detail below.

  • When users store their photos on multiple devices using the same iCloud account. There are chances of duplicating due to syncing errors.
  • You were moving photos from cameras or other devices to your iPhone. But without checking you are repeatedly uploading your images. This can cause a duplication error.
  • You are saving photos or receiving the photos many times in applications like Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. can also get you similar pictures.
  • Apple iPhone has a burst mode feature in the camera that captures multiple photos rapidly. With this option, it will click multiple images.
  • High Dynamic Range settings take pictures of various shots at different angles and blend them to get the best result. By using this, you have both the HDR photo and standard photo, making similar images.
  • When editing your photos sometimes, the system stores a copy of the same images.

These are the most common reasons why you have similar photos. However, there are other factors that may also play a role. But, you now understand the problem. Now, it is time to use the techniques to remove duplicate photos from iPhone 13, 14, and other models.

How to Delete Duplicate Photos on iPhone Manually?

Users can simply remove their same photos by using the in-built photos app of Apple iphones. There is a merge option where you combined deuplicate images together. Then, delete them in one go. It is a simple way to remove your similar photos at once. Other than, there is an Burst option as well which you can also help you. Therefore, we have found two manual ways to find duplicate images and delete them. They are.

  • Merge duplicate option from Photos app
  • Using the Burst option

These two solutions can easily eliminate unwanted photos from your iPhone. So, follow each step of the options carefully to avoid mistakes.

How to Delete Duplicate Photos on iPhone using Merge Feature?

iOS photo app has an option where you find and combine every duplicate photos, and delete them in one go. However, this option is only available in the iOS 16, 17 and 18 versions. For the older version there is no such feature available. Here are the steps below of merging the duplicate pictures.

  • First, open your Photos” app on your iPhone.
  • Scroll down to Utilities and click on “Duplicates”.
    go to the photos, then click on the duplicate option
  • In the Duplicate album, you will see list of duplicate photos and videos.
    all the duplicate photos will be shown in the album
  • In the album you will find  the two pairs of the same photos that are saved twice. The time stamp and the location all will be the same.
  • Now, either click on the Merge option next to each pair of duplicates.
    click on merge
  • Alternatively, click on Select button to select multiple duplicates and merging them all at once.

This technique only works if you have few photos. Also, it is time-consuming, so there is a shortcut way to solve “how to delete duplicate photos on iPhone”.

Note: For iOS 15, 14, 13 and earlier versions, go to the Photos” app and click on the Album”. Find your duplicate photos and select them. Click on the Trash” button to delete them.

Remove Similar Photos from iPhone using Bursts Option

Burst option from iPhone allows user to take several pictures in a short period of time. Many of them are identical to others and to remove the duplicate ones you have to manually remove them. In here, also there is difference in steps according to the iOS version you are using. So, below are the steps to delete your pictures with the Burst feature on your 16, 17, and 18 versions.

  • Open Photos app and scroll down to the Media types option and click on Bursts option.
    open photos app and then, click on bursts
  • Select the photo that you want to keep from the variosu pictures.
    select the photos you want to keep
  • After that, click on the Keep only the favourites option to delete the images which are not selected.
  • click on keep only favourites

With this, only those pictures will remain that you have selected, and all of them will be deleted. For 15 version above, you have to after opening the Photos app, click on the Album, then go to the Media types. select Bursts and choose the photos, then click on the keep only the favourites button. These two are the solutions to delete duplicate photos on iphone. They are easy, but there are issues many would face which we have mentioned below.

Problems with the Manual Solutions

    • These steps are prone to human mistakes as non-technical users have trouble finding and deleting the duplicates.
    • After removing similar photos from the iPhone, there are chances some duplicate photos will remain.
    • The method is the best for small groups of photos, if you have thousands of pictures then it can be difficult to remove all the same pictures.

That’s why manual methods do not guarantee you can delete all duplicate photos on the iPhone. However, there is another method available that will help you in this case.

How to Delete Duplicate Photos from iPhone using Expert Solution?

To remove all the similar pictures from a huge amount of photos, a professional tool will help you. SysTools Duplicate File Finder is software that is created to find the same images and delete them. This is much easier than the manual techniques, as it doesn’t take a lot of time to delete your photos. Its user-friendly interface also helps the users to easily work with the tool. The software is available in both Mac and Windows operating systems which makes it easy to download. It also has many advanced features to help you in your work.

Great Features of the Tool

  • You can use this utility to detect duplicate photos in any folders and subfolders.
  • Users can use this software to use open various file formats.
  • The tool has the option to limit your scanning to search only specific folders.
  • You can use it to do normal and recursive scanning of your duplicates.
  • It also shows the parameters of your duplicate data such as data size and file count.

With these features, you can not do many things other than remove the duplicate photos of your iPhone. Now, let’s see how you can eliminate your same photos.

Note: The software we have mentioned is for Mac operating system. So, to use this tool to fix the issue you have to connect your iPhone with your Mac desktop with the help of USB devices.

Concluding Words

Many users face the problem of duplicate photos on their iPhones. Some of them don’t even know how to remove the similar images. Therefore, this guide is for all the people who have issue of “how to delete duplicate photos on iPhone”. Here we provided three ways including two manual and one professional. The manual methods are free but they have issues. However, the professional method is recommended by experts because it smoothly scans and eliminates similar photos in a short period.

  author

By Chirag Arora

Having around 9+ years of experience in technical writing. Knows about the core technical areas. Also, provides easy and reliable solutions to resolve difficulties faced by users while working with different platforms.