How to Delete Duplicate & Similar Photos on iPhone

lobsterghost1 wrote:

I'm not aware of anything (that doesn't mean it doesn't exist) which chooses similar photos for deletion. You'll just have to use the merge duplicates option and choose the similar photos you don't want and delete them.

Interesting. It is completely different on my devices. In the Duplicates Album on my Mac and iPhone are mostly similar photos, not exact duplicates. Photos for Mac is checking for exact duplicates on Import and giving a warning, when I try to import the same photo twice.

The only exact duplicates are the photos I duplicated intentionally, either because I needed the same photo twice in a slideshow in different positions, or because I wanted two differently edited versions of the same photo. But for the Duplicates Album it is comparing what the photo is showing.

So the Duplicates Album is mostly showing similar photos, either

• Photos of the same scene taken in quick succession, but not quick enough for a Burst
• Photos of the same location taken years apart, but looking very similar
• Differently edited versions of the same photo, or versions in a different format or different resolution
• Occasionally I have seen potential duplicates that are very different photos, just the filenames are the same

Because Photos comparing the content of the photos, it is taking so long, before the first duplicates will be shown. The Photos.app is waiting for the scene analysis and object recognition to finish before it is searching for duplicates.

I do not yet trust the algorithm that decides which version to keep, for several reasons:

• The potential duplicates will usually have different metadata. If the dates or locations are different, Photos has no way to know which date is the correct one and should be used. If the keywords or captions, titles are different, Photos does not merge the individual metadata and is just keeping the photo with the most metadata.
• For slightly different photos I want to keep the version with the best composition. Photos tends to keep the worst photo of a group of similar photos. For example, if there are two photos showing a photo of a church, and in one photo is the top of the tower cut off, Photos will keep the one with the cut off tower, if there is a person in the photo as well. While I would keep the photo where the building is complete and no stranger walked into the photo. Or for group photos of people, I have seen Photos pick the photo where for one of the people the hands or feet have been cut off.

I strongly recommend to pick the "keepers" yourself and not to trust photos to have the same taste for the best composition of the photos as yourself. Also, we need to compare the metadata and merge them, before we throw one photo away.

Okay, so I was drowning in like 20K photos, half of them being the same shot but slightly different angles. Here’s how I cleaned up way faster without going insane:

1. Go to "Months" View – Instead of scrolling forever, open the Photos app → Library → Months. This groups similar pics together so you can delete in batches.
2. Use Select + Swipe – Tap Select, then just swipe across rows instead of tapping each one. Game changer.
3. Check Media Types First – Open Albums, scroll down to Media Types, and nuke all the screenshots, bursts, and live photos first. So much junk piles up there.
4. Zoom Out for Grid View – Pinch to zoom out in Photos so you see more at once. Helps spot duplicates way faster.
5. Sort by Search – Type a place or event (e.g., “Hawaii 2023”) and quickly clear out all the 500 pics you took of the same sunset.

1. Use a Third-Party App (Best for Similar Photos)

If you want to delete both duplicates and similar photos, you need an app. Some good ones:

• • Free Clever Cleaner App (AI-powered sorting, no ads, no paywalls, App Store link here )
  • Gemini Photos (CleanMyPhone) (good and old app but $$$)
  • CleanUp App - highly popular, but asks you to pay like $7 per week, CRAZY!

How they work:

• Scan your gallery
• Show groups of similar images (not just exact duplicates)

Pros: Actually finds similar shots, not just 1:1 duplicates.

2. Use the Built-in "Duplicates" Album in Photos App (Basic, but Limited)

If you're on iOS 16+, Apple has a "Duplicates" section in the Photos app (under Albums >

Utilities). It finds exact duplicates, but it's not great for similar photos. If you only need an easy

way to clear identical images, this is fine.

How to use:

• Open Photos app
• Scroll down to Utilities > Duplicates
• Tap Merge to combine them (it keeps the highest-quality one).

Pros: Free, no extra apps.

Cons: Doesn't catch similar shots, like burst mode spam or slightly different angles.

3. iCloud Trick: Offload & Re-Sync for Bulk Cleanup

This is a bit of a hack, but it works well if you're using iCloud Photos. Basically:

1. Turn off iCloud Photos (Settings > Photos > iCloud Photos > Off).
2. Your phone will keep a local copy, but sometimes it purges duplicate/similar images when re-syncing.
3. Turn it back on and let iCloud clean things up.

Pros: Works without an app, forces some cleanup.

Cons: Not 100% reliable and takes time to re-sync.

4. The "Manual But Effective" Method: Sort by Date & Mass Delete

If you have hundreds of similar shots, go old-school:

• Open Photos > Library > Select "Months" or "Days" view
• Scroll through your burst shots, slight variations, etc.
• Use "Select" to quickly tap and delete the bad ones.

Bonus Tip: Use "Favorites" (❤️) on your best shots so you don’t delete them by accident.

Pros: 100% free, no apps.

Cons: Time-consuming AF.

iOS does have that built-in duplicate remover in Photos > Albums > Duplicates, but yeah - it only works for exact copies, not near-duplicates. Apple really missed an opportunity there.

For similar photos, you’ll need a third-party app. Most of them are paid. If you're looking for a free way to remove duplicate photos automatically, you'll probably need to use something like a Clever Cleaner App, it does not have paywalls and ads. 

AI might be cool for sorting pics, but let’s be real - only you know which photo is actually the best. The right angle, the perfect smile, the vibe - AI doesn’t get that. So yeah, modern tech isn’t always the move for this.

Also If you're cool with semi-automating, try using Favorites - quickly tap the best ones while scrolling through a set, then delete the rest in bulk. Saves a ton of time.

I'm not aware of anything (that doesn't mean it doesn't exist) which chooses similar photos for deletion. You'll just have to use the merge duplicates option and choose the similar photos you don't want and delete them.

Here is a screenshots of the remaining "Duplicates". The marked ones are just similar photos, the others are duplicates I created intentionally.

The first spair is showing two Live Photos taken at nearly the same time, with different Live effects applied, to the left a long exposure to smooth the waves, to the right a Loop to make the waves come out.

The two photos of the seagull below have been taken in a different format, one is 3D shot, the other a normal Heic file.

The iPhone does not show an explanation about the Duplicates, but my Mac is showing this message below the Duplicates album:

I have removed most similar photos too, but have been glad to hand pick the keepers myself.

léonie wrote:

lobsterghost1 wrote:

I'm not aware of anything (that doesn't mean it doesn't exist) which chooses similar photos for deletion. You'll just have to use the merge duplicates option and choose the similar photos you don't want and delete them.

• Interesting. It is completely different on my devices. In the Duplicates Album on my Mac and iPhone are mostly similar photos, not exact duplicates. Photos for Mac is checking for exact duplicates on Import and giving a warning, when I try to import the same photo twice.

The only exact duplicates are the photos I duplicated intentionally, either because I needed the same photo twice in a slideshow in different positions, or because I wanted two differently edited versions of the same photo. But for the Duplicates Album it is comparing what the photo is showing.

So the Duplicates Album is mostly showing similar photos, either

Photos of the same scene taken in quick succession, but not quick enough for a Burst

• Photos of the same location taken years apart, but looking very similar

• Differently edited versions of the same photo, or versions in a different format or different resolution

• Occasionally I have seen potential duplicates that are very different photos, just the filenames are the same

• Because Photos comparing the content of the photos, it is taking so long, before the first duplicates will be shown. The Photos.app is waiting for the scene analysis and object recognition to finish before it is searching for duplicates.

I do not yet trust the algorithm that decides which version to keep, for several reasons:

The potential duplicates will usually have different metadata. If the dates or locations are different, Photos has no way to know which date is the correct one and should be used. If the keywords or captions, titles are different, Photos does not merge the individual metadata and is just keeping the photo with the most metadata.

• For slightly different photos I want to keep the version with the best composition. Photos tends to keep the worst photo of a group of similar photos. For example, if there are two photos showing a photo of a church, and in one photo is the top of the tower cut off, Photos will keep the one with the cut off tower, if there is a person in the photo as well. While I would keep the photo where the building is complete and no stranger walked into the photo. Or for group photos of people, I have seen Photos pick the photo where for one of the people the hands or feet have been cut off.

I strongly recommend to pick the "keepers" yourself and not to trust photos to have the same taste for the best composition of the photos as yourself. Also, we need to compare the metadata and merge them, before we throw one photo away.

Well, that is most definitely NOT my experience. I currently don't have a duplicate photos album at all as I merged all duplicates long ago and since there are no duplicates, I certainly don't get similar photos.

Hmm, interesting! Check out my duplicates gallery - these aren’t just similar, they’re identical copies!