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User profile for user: Peter Falk
Peter Falk Author
User level: Level 1
6 points

Duplicate photos in iOS Photos when syncing

I have had this problem for a while.


  • I manually sync my photos between my iPhone and macOS Photos
  • I manually sync all photos with Finder macOS 10.13


I have doubles of most photos on the iPhone.

The 2nd can't be edited nor deleted manually on the iPhone "This photo is not editable. Do you want to duplicate it and edit a copy?"


Is this just because of less functionality for non-iCloud syncing users?


How can I set up the sync so that it don't create doubles?

How can I clean up all the extra photos?

Is there a way to get the organization that I have in macOS Photos to actually be the same on my iOS? "My Albums" in iOS are only the ones created on the phone, "From My Mac" have all kind of junk folders/albums like "People", format folders: Videos, Selfies, Portraits, etc, even "My Photo stream" :/


iPhone 11, iOS 13

Posted on Nov 27, 2019 4:06 AM

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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
195,053 points

Posted on Nov 27, 2019 4:44 AM

Phots you are syncing with the Finder are not really a part of your Photos Library on the iPhone or iPad. They are stored separately, you cannot delete them, you cannot edit them. If you want to edit them, you need to duplicate them and create a regular photo in your Photos Library.

When you are syncing photos from a Mac to an iPhone or iPad using the finder, and there are already versions of these photos on your device, in the Photos Library, the synced photos will create duplicates, because they are not exact copies of the photos. The syncing is creating optimised, smaller version, just for viewing on the iPhone or iPad.


iCloud Photos is currently the the only method for a perfect syncing of the mac and iOS devices. It is keeping the photo libraries identical with iCloud and identical on all devices. The syncing with the Finde res meant to be a method to transfer selected albums to a device for viewing i the device. But is limited compared to a full iCloud sync with iCloud Photos.


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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
195,053 points

Nov 27, 2019 4:44 AM in response to Peter Falk

Phots you are syncing with the Finder are not really a part of your Photos Library on the iPhone or iPad. They are stored separately, you cannot delete them, you cannot edit them. If you want to edit them, you need to duplicate them and create a regular photo in your Photos Library.

When you are syncing photos from a Mac to an iPhone or iPad using the finder, and there are already versions of these photos on your device, in the Photos Library, the synced photos will create duplicates, because they are not exact copies of the photos. The syncing is creating optimised, smaller version, just for viewing on the iPhone or iPad.


iCloud Photos is currently the the only method for a perfect syncing of the mac and iOS devices. It is keeping the photo libraries identical with iCloud and identical on all devices. The syncing with the Finde res meant to be a method to transfer selected albums to a device for viewing i the device. But is limited compared to a full iCloud sync with iCloud Photos.


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Duplicate photos in iOS Photos when syncing

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