| Feature | PicWay | iPhone Photos app |
|---|---|---|
| Where your photos go | Browsing, analyzing, compressing, organizing, and deleting all happen on your phone, with no account, ads, or tracking. Only the Private Vault can leave your phone, while its iCloud sync is on: it’s encrypted first, then stored in your own iCloud. | With iCloud Photos on, photos and videos upload automatically and are stored in their original format at full resolution. You can see them on your other devices and in a web browser. Source |
| Deleting and recovering | Photos you don’t want get set aside, stay in your library, and can be put back anytime. To really delete, you review them first, then iOS asks you to confirm. Deleted photos go to Recently Deleted too. | Deleted photos and videos go to Recently Deleted for 30 days. You can recover them or delete them permanently during that time. Source |
| Duplicates, similar shots, and bursts | Duplicate items keep one per group. Similar shots and bursts each get their own groups, and you choose what to keep. Extras are set aside first. | The Duplicates album identifies duplicate photos and videos. Merging combines the best image quality and related data, keeps one, and moves the others to Recently Deleted. Source |
| Photos that move | Combine several Live Photos into one collage that moves: All at once, One by one, or Spotlight. | Add Loop, Bounce, or Long Exposure effects to a single Live Photo. Source |
| Videos and Live Photos | Turn a video into a Live Photo by picking the stretch you want. There’s a maximum length, but you can tap No Time Limit, and you can change the speed. | Save a Live Photo as a video, and trim it, change its key photo, or mute it. Apple’s guide doesn’t cover turning a regular video into a Live Photo. Source |
| Freeing up space | Compress videos at Standard or Strong. The new version gets set aside first, and you delete the original only after you confirm. Spatial and Cinematic videos are skipped automatically. | With iCloud Photos on, Optimize iPhone Storage is on by default: full-resolution photos and videos stay in iCloud, and your iPhone keeps space-saving versions. Source |
| Making Live Photos smaller | Compressed Live Photos stay Live, with both the photo and the motion smaller. You can also convert them to still photos. | Turn off Live to make a Live Photo a still of its key photo. Source |
| Photos just for you | The Private Vault encrypts on your phone before saving and opens with a pattern you set. Face ID can’t open it. If you forget the pattern, 12 words can get you back in. It won’t open during screen recording, and it locks on its own after a while. | Hidden photos move to the Hidden album, which is locked by default and opens with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode. You can also keep the album from showing. With iCloud Photos on, they’re hidden on your other devices too. Source |
| Things you’d rather not see | Turn on No screenshots or documents in memories, and Moments, Review, On This Day and widgets leave out screenshots, screen recordings and animated images. They stay in your library as usual. Memories to skip lets you skip by date range, album, or single photo, and no photos are deleted. | Feature a person less or never, or turn off holiday events, featured content, and memories. Source |
| Looking back at old photos | Photos taken away from home over several days become a journey automatically. PicWay can remind you on days that have On This Day photos, at 9:30 AM by default. | The Memories collection shows significant people, pets, places, activities, or events from your library. You can play memory movies and add them to your favorites. Source |
| Starting from the Share menu | Select photos in the Photos app and tap Share to make a collage, make a Live Photo, compress, or save to the Private Vault, without opening PicWay first. | Select photos or videos, tap Share, and send them with Mail, Messages, AirDrop, or another app you’ve installed. PicWay’s actions appear here too, so the two work together. Source |
Which to use
If you only want to merge duplicates, hide a few photos, and let iCloud reclaim space, the Photos app is enough. To revisit old photos, tidy up group by group, compress videos, make collages that move, or lock private photos with a separate pattern, add PicWay.
When the iPhone Photos app is enough
If you only merge duplicates now and then, hide a few photos, or want iCloud to sync across your devices and show your photos on the web, the Photos app does this well, and you don’t need another app.
When to add PicWay
- You want to look back through old photos a set at a time, keeping what you love and setting the rest aside.
- Your videos take up too much space, and you don’t want to just delete them.
- You want to make a moving collage from several Live Photos, or turn a video into a Live Photo.
- You want a separate pattern to lock photos and videos that are just for you.
Can I use both?
Yes. PicWay reads the same photos in your library, and set-aside photos stay there too. When you really delete, iOS asks you to confirm, and deleted photos go to Recently Deleted in the Photos app, where you can recover them for 30 days.
Everything about the Photos app comes from Apple’s support documents, checked on November 1, 2026. Names can vary by iOS version.