Sick of seeing the same photos on your iPhone? It’s easier than you think to end up with duplicates – maybe you downloaded the same images a few times without realizing it, or tapped Duplicate instead of Share. Before you know it, your gallery’s a mess. If they appear in your Recently Added folder, great – you can delete them immediately. But if you’re dealing with thousands of photos and the duplicates are scattered everywhere, things get trickier.
Luckily, recent iOS versions have a built-in album that groups all your duplicates and provides the option to merge them with just a few taps. It’s a super helpful feature, but it’s not perfect. In this article, we’ll break down what this tool can and can’t do and show you ways to merge duplicates on your iPhone.
What Does the ‘Merge’ Function Mean for Duplicate Photos?
Before we explain how to handle duplicates, let’s clarify what ‘merge’ actually does on your iPhone, so you know what to expect. Tapping ‘Merge’ won’t blend two photos into one – it just combines their metadata. For example, if one copy has location info and the other doesn’t, merging makes sure you keep the most complete data. After that, your iPhone holds onto that single ‘best’ image and moves the extras into the Recently Deleted album, where they’ll stick around for 30 days unless you clear them out sooner.
How to Merge Duplicate Photos on iPhone
Now let’s take a closer look at the built-in iOS duplicate detection feature. Apple introduced it in iOS 16, and it’s still available in the latest version, iOS 18. We have already covered the basics – your iPhone selects what it thinks is the best version of a photo and retains it, while all the other copies are stored in the Recently Deleted album. But there are a few more things you should know:
- It only works with exact copies of images (the only variations it allows are differences in format or resolution). For instance, if you have a photo that you’ve edited, maybe added filters, adjusted brightness, or tweaked the colors, and the original version, the system won’t consider them duplicates. And if you’re thinking about photos taken from slightly different angles? Those definitely won’t show up in the Duplicates album either.
- It can take a while for your iPhone to detect duplicates. If you accidentally duplicate a photo, don’t worry if it doesn’t show up right away in the Duplicates album – it can take a few hours (or even a day or two) for your iPhone to scan and index new images.
Despite these limitations, this feature remains highly beneficial. Below, we will guide you through using this function to merge duplicate photos on your iPhone, whether you wish to address all duplicates at once or selectively handle a few.
If you’re looking for more ways to remove duplicate photos beyond the built-in iOS tools, there are a lot of resources on the web for this, for example, this guide to deleting duplicate iPhone photos. It covers a Mac-based method – perfect if you prefer working on a bigger screen and includes a video tutorial if you’re more into watching than reading.
Merge All Duplicates at Once
If you want to handle all duplicates at once, follow these steps to use the built-in iOS feature:
- Tap the Photos icon on your iPhone to launch the app.
- Once in the Photos app, scroll down until you find the ‘Utilities’ section.
- Tap on the album labeled ‘Duplicates.’ Here, iOS displays all the duplicate photos it has identified.
- At the top of the screen, tap on the ‘Select’ button. After this, choose ‘Select All’ to highlight every duplicate photo currently displayed.
- With all duplicates selected, tap on the ‘Merge button, found at the bottom of the screen. This action will merge all selected duplicates, leaving only one copy of each photo.
- A prompt will appear asking you to confirm the merge action. Confirm it to proceed.
- After merging, you can head to the Recently Deleted album to either permanently delete the photos or restore any if you change your mind.
Remove Duplicates Selectively
If merging all duplicates at once does not suit your needs, you can opt to handle them more selectively:
- Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down to the ‘Utilities’ section.
- Click on the Duplicates album to view your grouped shots.
- Instead of selecting all, you can tap on one group of duplicate photos to view them in detail.
- Tap the ‘Merge’ button. This will usually appear at the bottom of the screen after you select the duplicates.
- Confirm your choice to merge the selected duplicates when prompted. This action leaves one photo and removes the others to the Recently Deleted album.
So, you can use the built-in iOS feature to merge exact duplicate photos on your iPhone. But if you’re trying to free up storage, this method might not be enough, since it doesn’t catch similar photos. And let’s be honest, most of the tips to free up space on iPhone suggest dealing with similar shots, not exact duplicates, because those tend to pile up a lot faster. To get rid of them, you’ll need a cleaner app. We’ll walk you through how to use one later in this guide.
Want to Merge More Images? Use the Duplicate Remover App
A duplicate remover app offers a more advanced solution than the built-in iOS feature. Why? Because it finds exact copies and also spots similar photos. These apps usually use AI to analyze your images, pick the best one in a group, and even allow you to customize the final selection. One big perk over the native iPhone feature is that you don’t have to wait hours (or days) for duplicates to show up – they appear almost instantly.
You’ll find plenty of duplicate remover apps in the App Store, and most of them work pretty much the same. The biggest differences usually come down to their design and pricing. Some offer a free trial, others want payment up front, and only a handful are completely free. Since merging duplicates isn’t something most people want to spend $4–10 on (which is what these apps typically cost), we searched for a free option – and found Clever Cleaner: AI CleanUp App. No subscription, no ads, and it offers features that match what the paid apps deliver. It has four main tools, but for now, we’ll focus on one – Similars.
- Download Clever Cleaner from the App Store onto your iPhone.
- Open the app and allow it access to your photos. Permit it to perform an initial scan. After the scan, the Similars feature will activate automatically.
- You will see groups of duplicates and similar images. If you tap on any group, you will observe that the app automatically selects the best photo and marks the others for deletion.
- To delete all duplicates and similar photos at once, tap ‘Smart Cleanup.’ If you prefer to select photos manually, tap on a group, choose the images you wish to delete, and then tap ‘Move to Trash.’
- A message will appear at the bottom, confirming that the selected photos have moved to the app’s trash. Tap this message to review your choices or restore photos if necessary. To delete the photos, drag the ‘Slide to Delete’ button. If you are confident in your selections, don’t click on the message, simply tap ‘Empty Trash.’
- All selected photos will be moved to your iPhone’s Recently Deleted album, as iOS does not allow skipping this step. The app provides guidance on how to clear this album if you want to free up storage immediately; otherwise, the deleted files will remain on your phone for 30 days.
Сonclusion
Now you know how easy it is to merge duplicate photos on your iPhone, whether you use the built-in feature or a third-party app. Since it’s super easy to end up with duplicates on your iPhone and even easier with similar photos, using an app makes more sense. A few taps and you’re done. That definitely beats double-checking every download or scrolling through your gallery trying to figure out what to delete, right? Still, go with whatever method works best for you. Good luck!
