How to delete duplicate photos on iPhone
Method 1: Apple's built-in Duplicates album
Since iOS 16, the Photos app detects exact duplicates automatically:
- Open Photos → Albums, scroll to Utilities → Duplicates.
- Tap Merge on each pair, or Select → Merge All.
This works — but only for byte-level or visually identical copies. It won't flag the six nearly-identical shots you took of the same sunset, the retakes of a group photo, or the burst you never culled. Those are where the real gigabytes hide.
Method 2: swipe through them (catches everything)
Near-duplicates cluster together in time — you shot them seconds apart. That's what makes a swipe deck so effective: the copies appear consecutively, so choosing the keeper takes one glance.
- Open Sift and pick the month, or hit Clean everything.
- When a burst of similar shots comes up, swipe right on the best one, left on the rest.
- Everything you toss waits in the bin — review it, then empty it and watch the storage come back.
Most people clear months of duplicates in a single session. And since Sift never deletes without your confirmation (plus iOS keeps a 30-day Recently Deleted net), there's no risk of losing the good copy.
Which method should you use?
Both. Run Apple's merge first for the free exact-duplicate wins, then do a swipe pass for the near-duplicates — which, in every library we've seen, outnumber exact copies at least ten to one.
