iOS 16 Makes it Easier to Delete Duplicate Photos Clogging Up Your Library

If you use your iPhone to take and save a lot of pictures, more likely than not you have a few duplicate photos unnecessarily clogging up your photo library. Thankfully, with iOS 16, Apple is making it significantly easier to delete any duplicates taking up useless space on your device.

ios 16 duplicates
Apple is calling the new feature "Duplicate detection" and it works as expected. Using on-device machine learning on iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, your device will now easily detect and aggregate all duplicate photos in your library under the Utilities section in Photos.

From there, you'll easily be able to delete them, freeing up space on your device and decluttering your photo library. Since the feature requires your device to scan and sort out your entire library, it may take some time before your device starts offering up duplicates to delete.

iOS 16 is currently only available to developers with a public beta planned for July. iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura, and watchOS 9 will all be made publicly available this fall.

Related Forum: iOS 16

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Top Rated Comments

randomthoughts Avatar
33 months ago
Oh yeah, this is exactly what I wanted…



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Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BootsWalking Avatar
33 months ago
Apple is calling the new feature "Duplicate detection" and it works as expected. Using on-device machine learning on ‌iOS 16‌ and macOS Ventura, your device will now easily detect and aggregate all duplicate photos in your library under the Utilities section in Photos.

In other words, the 2,000 selfies teenagers have on their phones will be deduped down to about 7 photos.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
33 months ago
Sweet! Much needed. Now, It will be easier to delete all the duplicate photos :)



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Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antiprotest Avatar
33 months ago
I had wanted this but weren't sure if they could do it. Pretty good.

I hope it shows all copies instead of only what it thinks are the extras so I can see for myself.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macfacts Avatar
33 months ago
Sneaky way to scan your photos.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TrenttonY Avatar
33 months ago
So does it only detect 1 for 1 duplicates, or use AI to find duplicates that are the same photo but a slightly different crop or file size? Because the latter would be way more useful.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)