Free Up Storage with iOS 16’s Duplicates Feature
Let’s be honest: your iPhone‘s camera roll is akin to a chaotic digital junk drawer, brimming with countless screenshots, numerous versions of the same selfie, and an abundance of blurry pet photos. Then you face that dreaded “iPhone Storage Full” alert, and the mere thought of cleaning it up seems daunting.
Before you consider splurging on additional iCloud storage, there’s a surprisingly simple solution built right into your device. If you’re using iOS 16 or later, the Photos app includes a nifty little folder called “Duplicates” that automatically gathers identical and near-identical shots, allowing for quick deletions all at once.
Forget squinting at images to spot differences—this built-in feature can help you reclaim a significant amount of storage with just a few taps. It’s an effective solution you might have overlooked.
How Duplicates Detection Works
Introduced in 2022, the “duplicate detection” feature operates exactly as its name suggests. Leveraging on-device AI, this tool identifies identical images and consolidates them into a user-friendly album within the Photos app. Apple explains that the iPhone doesn’t just identify exact duplicates; it also recognizes photos that are almost the same but vary slightly in resolution, file format, or other minor differences. This includes lower-resolution images you might have saved for social media or bursts of similar shots taken swiftly one after another.
Here’s how to make use of the iPhone’s built-in tool to free up some much-needed space:
1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down to the Utilities section and select Duplicates. Here, you’ll see all the duplicate photos stored on your device, ready for deletion either individually or collectively.
3. To delete all duplicates in one go, tap the Select button, followed by Select All. Alternatively, you can remove them in smaller batches: select Select in the top right corner and then tap the Select button next to the pairs you want to merge. Finally, hit Merge [number] to combine all detected duplicate photos and move them to the trash.
4. If you prefer to delete duplicates one at a time, tap the Merge button next to each pair. Afterwards, tap Merge [number] Copies to delete the duplicates. Continue this for all the similar photos you wish to clear.
Merging retains the best version of the photo in your library, while the duplicates are relocated to the Recently Deleted album.