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Photos taking up space when put into albums?

In the photos app, both on my iPhone and on iCloud, when I put photos into albums, are they now in the app twice taking up double the amount of space?

iPhone 5s, iOS 10

Posted on Jul 13, 2023 3:34 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 13, 2023 6:15 AM

As helma145 points out, pictures aren't exactly "in" an album. When you put a picture into an album, its name is added to a list of pictures to display when the album is clicked. So two albums can both have the same picture name in their lists, and that picture will show up when you click either album. And when you remove a picture from an album, its name remains in the lists of other albums, and the file still remains in your Library. 


So albums gives a specific view of your pictures. My Grand Canyon album, for instance, offers a view of pictures taken on various trips to the Grand Canyon, and my Trip to California album shows the pictures on that trip, some of which are the same pictures as shown in the Grand Canyon album. Both albums are each pointing to a single file stored in the Photos Library.


The Library View shows all of the pictures in the entire Library. You can't remove a picture from the Library View without deleting it entirely.

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 13, 2023 6:15 AM in response to Stacib88

As helma145 points out, pictures aren't exactly "in" an album. When you put a picture into an album, its name is added to a list of pictures to display when the album is clicked. So two albums can both have the same picture name in their lists, and that picture will show up when you click either album. And when you remove a picture from an album, its name remains in the lists of other albums, and the file still remains in your Library. 


So albums gives a specific view of your pictures. My Grand Canyon album, for instance, offers a view of pictures taken on various trips to the Grand Canyon, and my Trip to California album shows the pictures on that trip, some of which are the same pictures as shown in the Grand Canyon album. Both albums are each pointing to a single file stored in the Photos Library.


The Library View shows all of the pictures in the entire Library. You can't remove a picture from the Library View without deleting it entirely.

Photos taking up space when put into albums?

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