Merge Duplicate iPhone Photos One Set at a Time
Start with one set. If you imported the same batch of pictures twice, pick a pair you recognize before you touch the rest of the library. You can check which photo remains, then decide whether to work through the other suggestions. Leave similar shots you want to keep alone. The Duplicates collection is for items Photos has already identified.
Merge a set and check what remains
These steps use the current iPhone Photos layout in Apple’s iPhone User Guide. Have the photos or videos in the Photos library on the iPhone you are using. You can start with a small set, even when Photos has found many of them.
- Open Photos on your iPhone.
- Tap Collections.
- Tap Utilities, then tap Duplicates.
- Find the set you want to combine. Tap Merge beside it, then tap Merge [number] Items to confirm.
Return to the library and open the photo or video you expected to keep. For a video, play a few seconds as part of that check. The set you merged should no longer appear as a group of duplicates. Other sets can stay right where they are while you look at the result. That makes one merge a better starting point than a long pass through unfamiliar pictures, especially if you recently imported a collection you have yet to sort.
When Duplicates is missing
Apple says Photos has to index the library and identify matching items before it shows the collection. If you just transferred photos to this iPhone or restored a large library, give it time to finish. Apple’s troubleshooting page says to leave the iPhone locked and connected to power. Indexing can take a few days, depending on the size of the library and the work running in the background.
In Photos, tap Collections and look at the top for a message about indexing. Once the phone has had time on power, go back to Utilities and look again. The collection can still be absent if Photos has found no duplicates. Two pictures that look alike when you scroll past them may be separate shots worth comparing at full size.
If a picture you wanted seems to be missing
Check the surviving item in your library first. If you still need a separate copy, look in Recently Deleted while the recovery window is open. The iPhonePedia guide to recovering deleted iPhone photos shows where to authenticate and how to restore a single item. Look for the specific photo there before taking any action on the whole album. If you recover it, check the library again so you know exactly what you got back.