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How to remove duplicate photos on iPhone and keep just one

The short answer

There are two ways to remove duplicate photos on iPhone. The Duplicates album in the Photos app merges each set into one and moves the rest to Recently Deleted. In PicWay, tap Keep one per group and confirm, and the rest are set aside for you to review. If you only want to merge, the Photos app is enough.

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How to do it

  1. Open Duplicate items

    Scroll down PicWay’s Memories tab to More ways to tidy, tap View all, then tap Duplicate items under Smart tidy. You may also see Tidy duplicates under Next up.

  2. Keep one per group

    Tap the button to keep one per group, then tap Set aside in the prompt. PicWay keeps the one you favorited, or else the earliest.

  3. Review in Set aside

    Open Set aside and look through them again. The extra copies are still in your library at this point, and iOS asks you to confirm before anything is deleted.

How to merge duplicate photos on iPhone in the Photos app

Open Photos, tap Collections, tap Duplicates under Utilities, then tap Merge and confirm. Apple says merging combines the best image quality and related data, keeps one photo in your library, and moves the others to Recently Deleted (Delete photos, Apple’s guide).

Why isn’t the Duplicates album showing?

It doesn’t appear if your library has no duplicates. For it to appear, your iPhone also has to index your library and find duplicates first. That requires your iPhone to be locked and connected to power, and it could happen quickly or take a few days (Apple’s support article).

How does PicWay decide something is a duplicate?

Only photos with the same dimensions that look the same when compared, or videos with exactly the same length and file size, go in Duplicate items. For near-matches and bursts, see how to delete similar photos.