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Level 1

58 points

Photo Library - iCloud duplicates how to remove

All, anyone know anything about OSX/IOS "Photos" app ability to detect and remove duplicate photo9? My "Photos" library has 63,299 photos & 2135 videos as of May 2016 and at least 10,000 + of these photos are duplicates (based on a scan by Photosweeper). I have checked the result of the Photosweeper scan by doing a manual visual comparison and check of original image files in iphoto library (using show location function) and confirmed these 10,000+ photos are identical duplicate images with different file names located in different parts of photo library database.

So what is going on and how do I stop 10-15% of my image library being duplicate files!!! I will raise this directly with apple support as paying for the 1TB icloud service to cover my very large "Photos" library which should probably just be a Large Photo Library!!!!

Some other comments for those who have a duplicate problem:

- The old iPhoto application used to "detect duplicates" when importing but the new "Photos" app does not do this. Anyone know about this?

- I saw some documentation from apple saying that the icloud scans for duplicates in "Photos" when in the icloud but clearly not working or it does not work if the duplicates also exist in the imac version of the "Photos" library.

- Watch out for apps that claim to find duplicate "photos" and are recommended on various websites, a number of these only work with the old iphotos app not the new "Photos" app (as I found out after paying and downloading them). If you need a photos duplicate remover that work with "Photos" check review and stay away from any app that does not clearly and expressly state that it works with "photos" and has been reviewed since the release of the Photos app.

+ I paid US$10 for "Gemini" the duplicate finder and was a complete waste of time as did not work with "Photos" app (this was not clear from documentation or support and when I raises this with Macpaw support they told me gemini does not support photos and told me to buy another macpaw app - I told them to go jump in a lake).

+ I found Photosweeper very good as you can set for exact match or variables (eg accidental burst photos that are 0.1s apart but 99.99% identical) and you can then right click to view original file / image in library to manually check for duplicate (if you are paranoid like me) - there are lots of other paid apps that also do this so shop around

Posted on May 27, 2016 5:31 PM

Best reply

MrHk Author

Level 1

58 points

Posted on Nov 2, 2017 10:13 PM

All, I spoke to Apple support today (3 Nov 2017) and they confirmed that as of today Apple Photos App has no way to identify or find duplicate photos in your photo library or icloud library.

If you would like to change this please log a "Photos Feature Request" or "Photos Enhancement Request" using Apple "Photos" app feedback form below to help resolve this problem

Apple support "photos" specialist confirmed following 3 Nov 2017:

1) The new Photos app and old iphoto app had a way to search for duplicates on import this does not work once the duplicate photos are imported into library (by error or otherwise)

2) Apple photos has no way to search for duplicate photos, they suggested that users "manually search for duplicate photos".

3) Apple support do not recommend third party apps to remove photos as they can damage the library.

4) They acknowledged this approach is less than ideal when you have 20,000+ photos (or in my case 80,000 + photos) and suggested that all users who have concerns should log a new feature request using apple feedback form (URL below for IOS and OS Mac Photos feedback form).

Please log a "Photos Feature Request" or "Photos Enhancement Request" using Apple "Photos" app feedback form below to help resolve this problem

Submit Enhancement Request using Apple IOS "Photos" app feedback form

https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos-ios.html

Submit Enhancement Request using Apple Mac OS "Photos" app feedback form

https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

Cheers MR HK

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22 replies

Nov 24, 2016 5:12 PM in response to BrickCurve

Hi just thought I would update you.

I deleted everything from photos app, deleted photos in the the deleted folder and even my trash bin.

I then went through every single folder of my photos with PhotoSweeper, twice!

I have just uploaded around 3.500 images to Photos app to check everything ok before I upload my other 12000+ images.

Guess what?!!!!

The images I uploaded are duplicating again!!!! 😠 Not just duplicating but some have three times or even four times.

I have checked and double checked the folders with the images in and there are definitely no duplicates in them.

Not happy. It has taken me since 10th November most days and staying up till 3-4am to sort these photos and the problem is still happening.

Dec 3, 2016 8:33 AM in response to MrHk

Try this free app. I just used it and it got all my duplicates and it's FREE

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photos-duplicate-cleaner/id592704001?mt=12

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Dec 3, 2016 8:41 AM in response to BrickCurve

You could try exporting all your library to a folder on your Mac

Except you lose all work you have done organizing and and lose editing and metadata changes you have made as well as all projects

Not to mention risking an error that loses photos and spending a great deal of time doing it

using one of the three tested, safe duplicate elimination solutions loses nothing and is much quicker and has no risk

There are a few duplicate programs that are tested as safe with Photos including PowerPhotos, PhotoSweeper for Photos and Duplicate Annihilator for Photos - do not use one not tested and documented as safe

Dec 18, 2016 8:10 PM in response to warrior200

Is there a reason you ran photo sweeper on the exported file and then imported (which Photos made duplicates of), rather than just running photo sweeper on the Photos library directly?

(I'm about to buy and run PhotoSweeper to find duplicates. And about to reimport folders full of a different old library Masters that disappeared after a disk error a month ago. So hope not to have duplicates (or missing files) in the end...)

Dec 20, 2016 1:06 PM in response to Greg Alexander1

Hi Greg. I ran photo sweeper on the exported images because I wanted to reduce my images size first that's all. So I exported all my images to a folder, reduced the sizes of the images, ran Photo Sweeper then imported smaller sized images to Photos app.

Photo Sweeper works great with Photos app or any other of your folders.

Jan 18, 2017 6:34 PM in response to warrior200

Warrier2000, it's pretty obvious why it occurs. Apple wants to encourage (force,) it's users to purchase extra cloud space.

Jan 31, 2017 3:27 PM in response to larsgarmbouf

Tried this suggestion but it only found 18 duplicates. I then ran the app I mentioned above and it found 115.

Also you you can adjust criteria for your searches with PS.

Photo Library - iCloud duplicates how to remove