The free way: Photos' Duplicates collection
Since iOS 16, the Photos app finds duplicate photos and videos by itself and lets you merge them:
- Open the Photos app.
- Tap Collections (on older iOS versions, Albums).
- Under Utilities, tap Duplicates.
- Tap Merge next to a set, then confirm Merge [number] Items.
If there is no Duplicates collection, Photos hasn't found any duplicates in your library. Apple's guide for iOS 16 explains what a merge does: it keeps the highest-quality version, combines the relevant data from the copies into it, and moves the other copies to Recently Deleted.
That last part matters: merging doesn't free the space straight away. The copies stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days. To get the space back now, empty Recently Deleted.
What Duplicates doesn't cover
Duplicates is about copies of the same photo. It doesn't group the five nearly identical shots you took of the same moment, or a retake with slightly different framing. Those are the ones that usually pile up, and they need a person to choose which to keep. In Photos you can do that by hand: open the photos, tap Select, pick the ones you don't want and delete them.
Doing it with Oxid Photos
Oxid Photos (not released yet) looks for exact copies and for photos that look the same, on your iPhone — nothing is uploaded and nothing is downloaded from iCloud to do it. It shows each group with the photo it suggests keeping and the reason it picked that one; you can choose a different one, leave any photo out, or mark a photo as never to be suggested.
- Every group keeps at least one photo.
- Favourites, hidden and edited photos, photos in your albums and photos from the last 30 days are never selected automatically.
- The suggestions go to a Review Pile. Nothing is deleted until you open the pile and tap Delete, and iOS asks you to confirm.
- Deleted photos go to Recently Deleted for 30 days like any other; the app says so and shows that space as pending, not freed.
Reviewing groups one by one is free. Pro, $2.99 once, adds “clean all suggestions” in one tap — still through the Review Pile — and a setting for how strict a match must be. About Oxid Photos.
Related
Free up iPhone storage · Why storage didn't go down after deleting photos
Sources
The iPhone steps on this page were checked on 13 October 2026 against Apple's own support pages. Menu names can move between iOS versions; if yours differs, Apple's page for your version is the one to follow.
- Merge duplicate photos and videos on iPhone — Apple Support
- Merge duplicate photos and videos on iPhone (iOS 16 version) — Apple Support
- Delete or hide photos and videos on iPhone — Apple Support