Duplicate Photos - End of roll vs beside original

Check how you’re viewing the photos; sorting by all, or sorting by date. All should have the duplicate at the end of the lubrary, and by date adjacent.

Alternatively… Is it possible that the determining duplicate difference here is photo editing? Due to cropping the image, for instance? I’d expect changes to cause the image to be “new”. (And I’ve fumble-fingered the edit button myself.)

Though you don’t mention it, is there possibly a Mac or Windows PC involved here hosting your photo library, and does whether or not you’ve synced photos with that alter the duplicates behavior you’re seeing here?

Here’s another discussion (by léonie, one of the folks that knows this area best) around sorting issues with duplicates (sorting by all, versus sorting by date, this on macOS):

… photos 1.5 does not place duplicate next … - Apple Community

and here’s a means to determine if the photos involved are not exact duplicates:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251007654

Apple has been working in this area too, which means behaviors can change, sometimes unfortunately ir unexpectedly.

I’d here suggest submitting feedback to Apple: Product Feedback - Apple — not only about the duplicate placement, but particularly including your issues with (not) using albums and such to manage and group photos.

artsychick Said:

"This is not helpful."

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From a broader spectrum...

Troubleshooting Duplicate Contacts:

Contact Apple Support:

1. Go Here: If you See Duplicate Contacts after Setting Up iCloud Contacts - Apple Support
2. As it Reads: If you see duplicates in Contacts on iCloud.com, visit Apple Support for help.

Apple Contact Info:

• Contact Us - Choose Locations
• Proceed from there, as necessary
• Why the Wait: Phone calls are taking a bit to go through at the moment, due to lots of calls. With the Coronavirus Pandemic, many are at home at the moment, with much time on their hands to contact Apple. So, just stay on the line, and you will get through :)

artsychick Said:

"Duplicate Photos - End of roll vs beside original: I’ve been using the “Duplicate photo” button to manage my photos for sometime - and until recently, the duplicate was treated as a new photo and sent to the end of my photo roll. [...]Duplicates going to the end was convenient because if I wanted to place several photos next to eachother, I could duplicate them in order and know that they’d all go to the end in that order.[...]So does this happen to anyone else? Is there a way to control where the duplicate goes? Why does it change sometimes, what makes it change?"

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Troubleshooting Duplicate Photos:

Avoid Using Third-Party Apps for this:

Important: Avoid using Third-Party Apps as they may damage your photo library. Find More on this Here: Using Third-Party Apps to Remove Duplicate Photos Might Damage your Photos for macOS Library - Apple Support

See this 2017 Post's Reply: Duplicates in Photo - Apple Communities

Important: Three (supposedly) safe apps are listed there. But being authored 5.5 years ago and with another operating system in the day, I suspect this would not be the same case as of this reply. So, contact those developers, and see what they have to say.

Time Machine Backup:

Important: Today,, Create a Time Machine backup of your Mac(s), so that you can have something to restore your Mac(s) from, should anything go wrong with this.

Photos Backup:

Important: Back up the Library in Photos on Mac so that all stays safe for receiver ---- use an external device.