You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Removing Non-duplicates in Photos Duplicates Folder

I use my iPhone for astrophotography. I take multiple photos of the same celestial body. When these photos are imported into Photos, many of them are tagged as duplicates. I have an many as 44 that are very similar, but not duplicates, and I don't want them merged, nor deleted. I am also not going to edit each one, even slightly, to "fool" the algorithm into seeing them as different.


Is the any other way of removing them from the Duplicates folder? The image names are all different, and that should be enough, but the software appears to ignore that.


The purpose of the multiple, apparently duplicate, images is to "stack" the photos, using special software, to reduce the level of noise, and improve the detail of the object being photographed.

iMac (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Apr 18, 2023 7:35 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 18, 2023 10:11 PM

It is intentional, that the duplicates folder is also showing very similar photos as potential duplicates. Photos offers no way to remove them from there without merging them or modifying or deleting one of the potential duplicates.


You may want to send feedback to Apple with a feature request to add a feature to remove duplicates that we want to keep from the duplicates album. A feedback form is here: Photos for iOS - Feedback - Apple



3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 18, 2023 10:11 PM in response to JayManning

It is intentional, that the duplicates folder is also showing very similar photos as potential duplicates. Photos offers no way to remove them from there without merging them or modifying or deleting one of the potential duplicates.


You may want to send feedback to Apple with a feature request to add a feature to remove duplicates that we want to keep from the duplicates album. A feedback form is here: Photos for iOS - Feedback - Apple



Apr 19, 2023 7:20 AM in response to JayManning

Yes, but Photos wants us to be able to remove duplicates, that have been renamed, or reimported from shared photos. There can be many different versions of the same photo with different filenames, different image formats, different dimensions or sizes, different file creation dates or different adjustments applied.


Photos is showing us all photos it can find, that are very look-alike.


Removing Non-duplicates in Photos Duplicates Folder

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.