Your iPhone’s photo library is out of control and here’s how to clean it up easily
One of the mysteries of modern life is how our phones fill up so quickly. In one minute you unwrap a new one iPhone Then suddenly it seems like your storage space is running out. And the culprit? The Photos app, which becomes full of photos, selfies, pet photos, and various snapshots of receipts and parking lot numbers. Almost all of these photos can be gotten rid of to free up space — well, maybe not pet photos — but that takes time and effort.
Before you give up and pay Apple for more iCloud storage, you should know that there is a very easy solution already built into your phone. If you’re using iOS 16 or later, the Photos app has a little magic folder called Duplicates. It automatically groups all identical and near-identical snapshots so you can delete them in one go.
Instead of playing the painful game of spotting the differences, you can reclaim a huge chunk of space with just a few clicks. It’s the simple solution you might have been ignoring.
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Remove duplicate photos and videos to get more storage on your iPhone (iOS 26 shown here).
Apple introduced the Duplicate Detection feature in 2022, and it does exactly as its name suggests. The tool uses on-device AI to identify matching photos and group them into an easy-to-find album in the Photos app. Apple says the iPhone classifies duplicates not only as exact copies but also as images that look the same but have unique resolutions, file formats, or other subtle differences. This includes lower-resolution versions you may have saved to share on social media or even near-identical shots taken at the same time.
Here’s how to use the iPhone’s built-in tool to free up storage space:
1. Open photo The app on your iPhone.
2. In iOS 26, tap Groups button. In previous versions, go to the next step.
3. Scroll down to Facilities Section and then press Duplicates. This is where you can view all the duplicate photos on your iPhone and delete them, either individually or all at once.
4. If you want to delete all duplicates at once, click He chooses button, and then click He chooses everyone. You can also remove them in groups of two or more people: tap He chooses in the upper right corner, then press He chooses The button to the right of Pairs.
5. After that, press to merge [number] To merge all the duplicate photos detected by your iPhone and send them to the Trash.
If you want to delete duplicates individually, click to merge The button that appears next to each pair. Then press to merge [number] copies To delete duplicates. Go down the line and repeat this step for all identical photos you want to delete.
Merging keeps the best version of the image in your library. Duplicates are moved to newly Deleted Album.
If you found this iOS feature useful, check out CNET Fast Track Guide to iOS 26 Features and 18 features you may have missed. For more tips on how to save space, read our full list of tips on how to save space Clear your iPhone storage.