Q: Sync Photos Mac Album to iPad creates duplicate photos

I see this as well. I believe it views the synced photos from iTunes as separate photos from the iPhone default albums (camera roll, photo stream). So if what you sync from iTunes already exist on the iOS device in one of it's albums, it will show as duplicates in Moments.

iTunes sync is copying photos to the phone, so it's seen as a new photo different from what already exists on the iOS device.

The Photos Collections list is not the same between devices. They are unique to each device.  If they contain the same photos, it would be because they are both storing the same images on each device. The only way they would be linked as the same is if you were using the iCloud Photo Library. In that case, all devices would auto sync and would be the same.

My Collections on my computer contains 5000 photos. Collections on my phone only contains about 100 photos, the ones from the Camera Roll & PhotoStream on the iPhone and the ones from my synced album through iTunes. Any picture I synced through iTunes that is same as what's in PhotoStream or Camera Roll on the iPhone are duplicated in Moments on the iPhone. It views photos added from a different source as different pictures.

In reality, they are duplicate photos because there was the original copy stored on the phone and the copy synced from iTunes.

I just delete my camera roll after photos get put on the computer. I don't rely on PhotoStream to keep photos for viewing for any length of time, so that's why I sync only the photos i want on each device with iTunes. I only keep a limited amount of photos on my phone and iPad, so I only use one album which I add the pictures i want to view.

You can just select each album individually in iTunes to add to a device. I actually never even view the Moments timeline on the iOS devices.

You're Welcome for the help.

I'm experiencing the same thing. This never used to happen with iPhoto. Now, any photo that has automatically been uploaded to My Photo Stream by Photos for Mac will appear as a duplicate in Moments if that photo is then synched back to the iOS device as part of an album. I do not have iCloud Photo Library enabled, but have My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing enabled on all devices.

Here's my typical workflow:

• Dump DSLR camera to Photos on my MacBook Pro
• Photos immediately starts uploading to My Photo Stream
• Pictures are now available in the My Photo Stream album on all iOS devices, and also appear in Moments
• Create an album in Photos with only the best pictures
• Sync that album back to iOS device using iTunes
• All photos within that album appear as duplicates within Moments

There are two exceptions to this behavior, which leads me to believe it's a bug:

1) Photos taken with my iPhone, which have been synched to Photos, deleted from the camera roll, and synched back as part of an album DO NOT appear as duplicates within Moments, even though they are in My Photo Stream as well as a synched album. It only happens with photos from a non-iOS camera.

2) Albums created using iCloud Photo Sharing do not produce duplicates in Moments.

I realize that Moments thinks that these are different photos because they come from two sources (My Photo Stream, synched from my Mac), but they are not. Since all of these photos are managed through the Photos app, there should be an easy way to de-dupe.

Obviously, if I wait long enough, the photos disappear from My Photo Stream, and the duplicates are gone. But I'm constantly creating "best of" albums and synching them back to my iOS devices. Since I use the Moments view more that anything else, I would love to see Apple fix this issue.

 

1) Photos taken with my iPhone, which have been synched to Photos, deleted from the camera roll, and synched back as part of an album DO NOT appear as duplicates within Moments, even though they are in My Photo Stream as well as a synched album. It only happens with photos from a non-iOS camera.

When you delete a photo from an iOS device's camera roll, it also deletes it from PhotoStream. Or deleting from PhotoStream on an iOS device will also delete it's original from the camera roll. So, there is no copy on the iOS device to be seen as a duplicate.

Read the last 2 points here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201317

The reverse is also true. If you import pictures to a computer from another device such as a camera, those photos get put to PhotoStream from that computer. If you delete the photo from that same computer, it will also delete it from PhotoStream as well. One difference is, from a computer, you can actually just remove a photo from the PhotoStream album (not delete) where it remains in the Photos Library. You can't choose "remove from album" on an iPhone, but you can on a computer.

 

2) Albums created using iCloud Photo Sharing do not produce duplicates in Moments.

iCloud Photo Sharing are not part of any library until they are imported, and will not show up in Moments unless they are part of the Library. PhotoStream seems to be the exception to this on an iOS device.

In reality, I think PhotoStream should also not show in Moments, then you would not have the duplicate issue.

Remember, iTunes is not keeping the 2 libraries synced up. You are using iTunes to copy specific photos or albums from one device's photo library to another. It is a true separate copy from what exists on the iPhone's camera roll or PhotoStream. So apparently, devices do not check the metadata to screen for duplicates when pictures come from different sources.

So, maybe that's a feedback point to send to Apple.

Thanks, Glenn. Now I understand why my iPhone pictures don't show up as duplicates. It's still a bummer that the exact same picture in My Photo Stream and a synched album will show up twice in Moments. This never happened with iPhoto. Perhaps there was different metadata applied to the photos that helped iOS determine duplicates. I also really miss the ability to delete all camera roll photos (including ones previously imported) from within iPhoto's import screen. I have to use Image Capture now.

They made changes to PhotoStream also to make everything more compatible between devices and to create the iCloud Photo Library. Who knows how everything will work out in the end.

You can delete from the iPhone when you do manual imports, but you have to select it before importing. Fact is, if you use PhotoStream, the photos will already be on the computer and no need for a manual import.

So, there is no perfect solution in any case.

One thing is for sure. Nothing stays the same. Look for improvements and changes in the future.