How to delete duplicate photos on an iPhone
Option 1: the Duplicates album in Photos
- Open Photos and scroll down to Utilities.
- Tap Duplicates. If the album is missing, Photos has not found any yet. It indexes while the iPhone is locked and charging, so a new phone can take a few days.
- Tap Merge on a pair, or Select, Select All, then Merge.
Merge keeps the highest quality version, combines captions and keywords into it, and moves the others to Recently Deleted.
What it misses: the album appears only after indexing finishes, it does not group shots that are nearly the same (six takes of one moment), and it tells you nothing about how much space you get back.
Option 2: a free scan in Poof
Poof reads the whole library in one pass and lists every exact copy, photos and videos, with the size of each group.
- Open Poof and allow access to your photos. The scan runs on the device. Your photos are never uploaded.
- Open Duplicates. Each group shows the original and has the copies ticked.
- Tap Poof. iOS shows its own confirmation dialog. Approve it and the copies move to Recently Deleted.
The original always stays. A photo in your Favourites is shown with a heart and left unticked.
Near duplicates: the six takes problem
Most of the wasted space is not exact copies. It is the same scene shot several times. Photos does not group those. Poof Pro groups near identical shots, keeps the sharpest one and asks you to confirm the group before anything goes.
Get the space back today
Deleting moves photos to Recently Deleted, where iOS keeps them for 30 days. They still count against your storage during that time. To free the space now, open Photos, scroll to Utilities, open Recently Deleted and tap Delete All.
Related guides
Questions
Does the iPhone find duplicate photos by itself?
Yes. Since iOS 16 the Photos app has a Duplicates album under Utilities. It lists photos and videos it considers the same and offers a Merge button for each pair.
Is it safe to delete duplicate photos?
Yes, as long as one copy stays. Both Photos and Poof keep one original. Anything deleted goes to Recently Deleted for 30 days and can be recovered from there.
Is deleting duplicates in Poof free?
Yes. The scan and deleting every exact copy of a photo or a video are free and stay free. Similar shots, blurry photos and the other sweeps are part of Poof Pro.
Why is my storage the same after deleting?
Deleted photos still take space while they sit in Recently Deleted. Open Photos, go to Recently Deleted and tap Delete All to get the space back immediately.
The scan is free. So is deleting every exact copy.
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