Why are there duplicate photos on my iPhone and how do I stop this from happening?

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Level 1

9 points

Why are there duplicate photos on my iPhone and how do I stop this from happening?

There are duplicate photos on my iPhone of random sets of photos. That is, not every photo is getting duplicated, just some photos are. This is only apparent in the Moments tab in the Photos app on the iPhone. The duplicated photos do not show up in the Camera Roll album. Further, the duplicated photos are missing the favorite button (which is present with the original copy of the photo), and when I delete them, they do not show up in the Recently Deleted album on my iPhone. The photos that I delete that do not make it to the Recently Deleted album also do not seem to disappear from the Photos app on my mac.

I have an iPhone 7 running iOS 10.1.1 and a late 2012 Retina MacBook Pro, running macOS Sierra, Version 10.12.1.

Additionally, there is no specific set of steps I can follow to repeat this phenomenon. It seems to happen randomly, and only with some of the photos that I took this past summer.

I have iCloud Photo Library turned off, but My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing are both turned on. It is through Photo Stream that my photos sync to my mac.

My phone backs up automatically to iCloud, but I do sometimes initiate backing up to iCloud and to my computer through iTunes (yes, both to iCloud and locally on the computer. I switch the option on iTunes to have both backups done) when I plug my phone in. When I open the Photos app on my mac, there are typically no photos to import, and the option to sync photos to my phone is not checked on iTunes.

So there are many threads that address a similar issue with duplicate photos, and the explanation for that issue is that photos get synced to the computer by photo stream without deleting the originals. The computer then syncs with the phone, sending photos to the phone, effectively creating a duplicate set of the photos.

This is not the case here.

My photos do not (and should not) sync back to my phone. My phone should, instead, be keeping the original local copy of the photo and my computer should not be sending any photos to my phone. And, for the most part, this is the case. But for some reason, I still get duplicate copies of photos. I have never synced my photos from my computer to my phone. I have just kept them in their original form on my phone.

I'm not sure what is causing this or how to resolve it. I would be happy to provide more details or clarify anything. Please help!

iPhone 7, iOS 10.1.1

Posted on Nov 30, 2016 8:23 PM

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Answer 1

LACAllen

Level 8

43,422 points

Nov 30, 2016 8:42 PM in response to szymkosz

My photos do not (and should not) sync back to my phone. My phone should, instead, be keeping the original local copy of the photo and my computer should not be sending any photos to my phone.

This would not be true if you were placing photos into shared albums on your Mac. They would sync to your phone.

Assuming of course, you are referring to your phone here for settings. I'll also assume that you have a routine for copying your photos from the Photo Stream elsewhere outside your Photos Library on your Mac before the 30 day storage limit is reached.

I have iCloud Photo Library turned off, but My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing are both turned on. It is through Photo Stream that my photos sync to my mac

Other than that, I can't see how you are getting duplicates.

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Answer 2

szymkosz Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 30, 2016 10:28 PM in response to LACAllen

This would not be true if you were placing photos into shared albums on your Mac. They would sync to your phone.

I am not putting photos into shared albums on my Mac. They are pretty much untouched on my computer.

Assuming of course, you are referring to your phone here for settings.

The settings are both for my phone and my computer so that the photos that I take on my phone immediately sync to my computer.

I'll also assume that you have a routine for copying your photos from the Photo Stream elsewhere outside your Photos Library on your Mac before the 30 day storage limit is reached.

They are just saved automatically within the Photos app on my mac. I don't touch the photos at all on my mac. I usually would only open the Photos apps to double-check that my most recent photos have appeared there. Otherwise, no, I don't move them or anything.

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