Unable to delete photos or duplicates on iPhone 16

I am not using i cloud. Every time i sync images they duplicate on phone and desktop and i cant delete duplicates! ever! I just upgraded from iPhone 13 to 16 to avoid this problem which Apple support could resolve… and transferred all 100 GB of pictures (a million duplicates ) to my new photo and problem persists !!!!!



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 16 Pro Max

Posted on Mar 12, 2025 5:48 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 12, 2025 10:02 PM

Designfarmink wrote:

I don’t understand why there is no option to delete??? . I actually don’t sync photo from my desktop to my phone I add recent image from phone to my desktop but can not find an option to not have all the duplicates made!
  • Have you ever synced the photos with your computer?
  • Do you have a Mac or PC?


It sounds like your photos are syncing with your computer. This can be done automatically when connected with a cable or even wirelessly. Depending on the type of computer you have, it is worth checking out and if you do find it is being synced, these support articles will tell you how to shut it off too.




3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 12, 2025 10:02 PM in response to Designfarmink

Designfarmink wrote:

I don’t understand why there is no option to delete??? . I actually don’t sync photo from my desktop to my phone I add recent image from phone to my desktop but can not find an option to not have all the duplicates made!
  • Have you ever synced the photos with your computer?
  • Do you have a Mac or PC?


It sounds like your photos are syncing with your computer. This can be done automatically when connected with a cable or even wirelessly. Depending on the type of computer you have, it is worth checking out and if you do find it is being synced, these support articles will tell you how to shut it off too.




Mar 12, 2025 5:53 PM in response to Designfarmink

When you sync photos from a computer to your iPhone, you cannot delete those photos on the iPhone. You must stop syncing the photo from your computer to remove it from the iPhone.


If you take a photo on your iPhone and import it into your Mac and it is placed in a folder that is set to sync to your iPhone, then you will have a duplicate. One is the photo that you took with your camera that can be deleted, and the other that was synced from your Mac that cannot be deleted.

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Unable to delete photos or duplicates on iPhone 16

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