How to find and delete duplicate photos on Android or iOS
Clean up your photo library and free up space on your phone.
These days, most of us feel overwhelmed by our digital photos. The ease with which we can take a picture and save it to our smartphone means we can amass dozens or even hundreds of photos a day, most of which we'll never see again (unless they pop up on social media as a year-end recap). Need more space? Learn how to find and delete duplicate photos on Android or iOS.
MigNews will share a simple guide that will save you time and help you do it yourself in the future.
Why is it important to regularly delete duplicate photos on your phone?
The sheer volume of images we accumulate these days, as well as the frequency with which we switch between multiple devices and share photos with friends and family, leads to a huge number of duplicates. Before you know it, you’ll have seven copies of the same meme or your niece’s school photo on your phone.
Duplicate photos serve no purpose other than taking up space on your smartphone (and in your cloud storage).
Excessive duplicate photos can slow down your computer’s performance. This can lead to slower response times, lag, and even crashes. By removing duplicates, you can optimize your gadget’s performance.
Having multiple copies of the same photo can lead to confusion and disorganization. It can be difficult to find specific images and create unnecessary clutter in your photo library. Removing duplicate photos will help organize your photo collection and make it easier to manage.
How to Find and Delete Duplicate Photos on Android
Use Files by Google to Find Duplicates on Android, Source: David Nield
Android phones vary by manufacturer. But most Android users probably use Google Photos. You may not realize it, but Google Photos has a built-in duplicate detection feature. If you try to upload an image that's exactly the same as an image already in your library, it won't be saved. You can test this feature by copying the image to your computer and then trying to upload both copies to Google Photos online.
If you find identical photos in Google Photos, it's likely that they're just too similar or have different sizes. It's also worth remembering that while Google Photos won't upload the same photo twice to the cloud, it doesn't affect images stored locally on your phone, so duplicates can still appear there. For example, you might take a photo and then send it through a messaging app, which will create its own backup of the file.
To check for duplicate files (including photos) on your Android phone, you can use the Files by Google app. Open the app, then tap the Clean icon in the toolbar at the bottom. If you do have duplicate files on your phone, you’ll see a suggestion to delete them using the Select Files button. Tap it, and you’ll be able to choose which duplicates you want to delete. To delete them all, tap All Duplicates. Note that only copies of the files will be deleted; the originals will remain untouched.
Samsung offers a similar feature on its Galaxy phones through the Samsung My Files app. Scroll down the app’s front screen, then tap Storage Management and Duplicate Files. If you have duplicates on your phone, you’ll be able to see them listed next to the originals. Select the copies you want to get rid of and tap the Delete icon at the bottom.
If none of these options work for you for some reason, there are plenty of third-party tools on the Google Play Store to do the job. One of the best is Duplicates Cleaner. It’s fast and free, though if you upgrade to the premium version, you’ll get more advanced search tools and get rid of ads.
How to Find and Remove Duplicates on iOS
In the Photos app for iOS, you’ll find a folder called Duplicates. Source: David Nield
On an iPhone, most people will use the stock Photos app that comes with iOS. If you use Google Photos, the above still applies: duplicates cannot be uploaded to the internet, even if you have somehow accumulated duplicate images on your iPhone's local storage.
When you open Apple Photos on your iPhone, you can tap Albums in the bottom toolbar, then scroll down to Duplicates to see if there are any on your device. If there are, you'll see the original images alongside the duplicates in chronological order. The oldest ones will be at the top. Tap the three dots (top right), then Filter to show only photos, only videos, or both.
Tap the Merge button next to any duplicate pairs to get rid of the extra ones. Apple says this keeps the “highest quality version” of the photo, while moving the rest to your Recently Deleted album, where you can restore them if needed. If you want to select multiple duplicate pairs at once, tap Select at the top. Then tap Select next to each pair you want to merge.
If you select the duplicates instead of just tapping the Merge button, you’ll get access to some additional features. Tap the three dots in the bottom right corner (if you have one or more pairs selected). You will have the option to delete both copies of the image, copy them to another location, add them to an album, and change the metadata associated with them (such as the date and time they were taken).
As with Android, there are plenty of third-party apps that will do the work of finding and removing duplicate photos on your iPhone for you. Remo Duplicate Photos Remover is the best free app for iOS. It will quickly find identical images on your phone and help you remove them.
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