Photos are a good way to remember high priority events and even moments in our lives. That is why iPhones are built with powerful cameras and large storage photo libraries. While many users enjoy this service, some users find it a nightmare to maximally utilize the photo library for one reason or another.
One reason why you may not be enjoying using your iPhone or the photo library today is because the memory is fully utilized. When your phone’s memory is full, the iPhone begins to misbehave and this throws your experience with the photo library to the dust. Don’t worry, Disk Drill by CleverFiles can get you off the dust!
You can revamp your iPhone’s photo library again. Give it more life and make your experience memorable. One step in this journey is to clear duplicate photos from your iPhone. Remember, duplicates only give you a similar version of your original photos and whatever you do with them, your original photos remain untouched.
You can clear them today or just combine them for a revamped photo library and enhanced experience with your iPhone. In this article, we will discuss some of the best ways to revamp your iPhone’s photo library by removing and combining duplicates.
Why Remove or Merge Duplicates Photos?
Removing duplicates with a photo recovery software or manually helps you leave free from clutter caused by photos jamming up your storage. While removing them helps with storage and the boredom of struggling to find which is the best version, merging them helps free a lot of space.
You may have different reasons for doing this though. We will show you some simple steps to merge iPhone photo duplicates. With the best intention why you are planning on removing duplicates or merging them, consider a safe process that will not interfere in any way with your originals.
Method 1: Remove Duplicate Photos with Gemini Photos App
You may have come across some third-party applications that say they can remove duplicates from the iPhone. Well, some of them may not even be able to detect duplicate photos on your phone. However, with Gemini, you are sure duplicates will be detected, and removed.
With close to 100% accuracy and success rate, this app will help you remove photo duplicates to revamp your iPhone’s photo library. Below is the process you can follow to be able to do this.
- Step 1: Download and install the app and allow it access to your gallery when it asks. This will help you avoid any delays in the process.
- Step 2: Open the app and start scanning your storage. This should start immediately when the app is launched and will take only a short while. When the scanning stops, check the “Duplicates folder” to see what it finds.
- Step 3: Now select a group of photos from the groups that have been created by the app. Click on the selected folder to see duplicate photos.
- Step 4: Select the specific photos you want to delete then hit the “X” button appearing at the top-left corner.
- Step 5: Press “Delete” to end the process.
Method 2: Remove Duplicate Photos Manually with Apple Photos
You may not prefer to use a third-party application for a reason well known to you. However, you can still complete the process manually. This can be done with the assistance of Apple Photos.
The process is however more tedious and time consuming. But it all depends on the volume of duplicates available in your photo library. Once you master the process, you can always make it go faster. Below are the steps.
- Step 1: Open the Photos app.
- Step 2: Choose all the photos available and identify duplicate ones and hit “Select.”
- Step 3: Click on every photo that you want to delete. You should see a small tick in the bottom-right corner.
- Step 4: Hit the “Trash” icon. This is available at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
- Step 5: Hit “delete photos” when prompted.
- Step 6: Repeat the steps 1 to 5 with all the available duplicates until you have deleted all of them.
Method 3: Merge Duplicate Photos
Merging duplicates is as straightforward as removing them. Follow the steps below to complete this process.
- Step 1: Open the Photos app then click on the “Albums” icon.
- Step 2: Scroll the app and locate “Utilities.” Hit the “Duplicates” button. This will bring all the duplicate photos so that they all appear next to each other along with their sizes and dates when they were taken.
- Step 3: Tap “select all” in the top-right corner in order to merge all the duplicates.
- Step 4: Now hit “Select All.” This button is available at the top left corner of your screen.
- Step 5: Choose “Merge (X)” at the bottom. The number “X” represents the total number of duplicates that will be merged in this process.
- Step 6: Click on the “Merge X Copies or Merge X Exact Copies depending on the prompt that you get.
At the end of this process, the Photos app keeps one copy of the duplicates together with the relevant data in your library. This is always the best version of the duplicates. The rest are moved to the “Recently Deleted” folder.
Remember, you can also choose to merge only a particular set of duplicates. This only merges your target photos while leaving the rest alone. Although selective, it can help you achieve your objectives of removing or merging duplicates in the iPhone photo library. Below is the process to follow:
- Step 1: Begin by tapping the “Merge” button next to the particular set of photos you intend to merge.
- Step 2: Choose the “Merge X Copies” or Merge X Exact Copies” depending on the prompt you get.
Note that the type of prompt you get will be different as in step two above. At times you may also get both of them.
According to Apple, “Exact Copies” are duplicates with different metadata. On the other hand, duplicates that are not “Exact” are those that only appear the same but have unique characteristics such as resolutions, file format among other slight differences. Where you perform any action by mistake and end up losing some photos, you can use any photo recovery apps you are comfortable with to recover them.