Apple

iOS 16 will help you manage all of your duplicate photos

This is going to save you so much storage space.

by
Joe Rice-Jones
June 7, 2022

Image: KnowTechie

Every iPhone user probably has multiple copies of the same photos in their library. Apple’s bringing a new tool in iOS 16, that helps you trim down the clutter.

Apple calls it “Duplicate detection” and it does exactly what you would expect it to. Your iPhone or iPad will use on-device machine learning to search your photo library. Then you’ll get a list of all the duplicate photos. Simple.

That list will show up in the Utilities section of the Photos app. From there, you can easily trim the additional storage. It’ll also pick up on duplicate videos, in case you were wondering.

screenshot of ios 16 photos duplicate tool — Image: KnowTechie

To find the feature once iOS 16 arrives, open the Photos app. Then, tap on Albums and scroll all the way down to the bottom. You’ll see Duplicates under the Utilities section. Tapping on that shows you a list of all the duplicates, with the option to delete or merge them into a single copy.

Oh, and if you’ve spent time categorizing your images and added captions, keywords, and the like – don’t worry. Apple says those will all be kept when you merge duplicates. It’ll also keep the highest quality image or video.

If you’re anything like me, you probably have five copies of every meme you ever saved, because it’s easier to copy them again when you see them instead of searching through your photo library. When iOS 16 arrives this fall, you’ll get Duplicate detection, and a whole bunch of other useful new features.

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