Can’t delete duplicate photos on iPhone? Discover why this occurs and follow our easy guide to fix it. Solve your duplicate photo problem quickly and efficiently!
Why Can’ I Delete Duplicate Photos on iPhone
I can delete the original but not the duplicate. There is no delete option for the duplicates. Please help me it's super annoying. Thanks.
- Question from Apple Community
Can’t Delete Duplicate Photos on iPhone? Pictures usually take up the biggest space on our iPhone. The space on iPhone is limited and sometimes we need to delete some photos to free up space so that we can take new photos or download apps.
However, when you browse and select the photos you want to delete, you find that there are some duplicate photos that cannot be deleted - there is no Trash Can button. You're pretty sure you didn't copy these photos yourself, where did these photos come from? Next, we will explain why you can't delete duplicate photos on iPhone and the solution to this problem.
The main reason: those duplicate photos were synced from iTunes.
iTunes can help us sync photos from computer to iPhone, but these photos cannot be deleted directly on iPhone. Generally speaking, we can connect iPhone to computer and then use iTunes sync to delete photos.
As we all know, iTunes is a bit complicated and not user-friendly. You may have accidentally turned on the sync option and not found it and thus caused the duplicate photos on iPhone after sync issue.
There are three ways that can help you delete duplicate photos synced from iTunes. If you want to delete selected photos easily, quickly and safely, then Solution 1 is the best choice.
The Photo Deduplication tool of FoneTool can help you find and delete duplicate photos on iPhone quickly. It will list all the duplicate photos on your iPhone, and then you can select the ones you want to delete from your device without worrying about losing any original photos.
By the way, it works seamlessly with iOS, iPadOS, WindowOS, allowing you to delete duplicate photos on all iPhone, iPad models, and your Windows PC. You can follow the below steps to learn how to remove duplicate photos easily!
1. Click the download button to get FoneTool.
2. Choose Toolbox on the left pane, and click Photo Deduplication.
3. Click Scan iOS Device option.
4. Set the filter date range > Click Start scanning.
5. It will list all duplicate photos on your device. You can click Delete button to remove unwanted photos.
To delete synced photos from iPhone, we can sync iPhone with iTunes again to delete all photos or photos in a specific album.
1. Launch iTunes > Connect iPhone to computer via the USB cable > Trust the computer when asked.
2. In iTunes, click the Device icon > Choose Photos option from the left sidebar.
3. Unsync seleted albums or all photos:
Usually, photos synced from computer will be saved in one album named from My Computer. In addition, each sync will delete the previously synced photos. So we can empty all the photos in the album by syncing an empty folder with iTunes.
1. Create an empty folder with no photos in it.
2. Open iTunes and plug in your iPhone.
3. Click the Device icon > Choose Photos option.
4. Select Sync Photos > Click the drop down menu next to Copy photos from > Select Choose folder... to select the empty folder you created before > Click Apply.
If you do not have a computer at hand, you can turn on iCloud Photos to remove the duplicate photos that cannot be deleted. Both iTunes and iCloud offer photo syncing, but the two are incompatible. When you turn on iCloud Photos on iPhone, all photos synced from iTunes will be removed.
Go to Settings > Tap [your name] > Tap iCloud > Tap Photos > Toggle on iCloud Photos > Tap Remove Photos and Videos on the pop-up message to confirm.
The reason you can't delete duplicate photos on iPhone is that they are synced from iTunes. You can delete those duplicate photos via Photo Deduplication tool, iTunes sync or iCloud sync. No matter which method you choose, I hope you can successfully solve the problem. In addition, FoneTool is a multifunctional software that also has the function of transferring and backing up iPhone photos. You can try it!
Which method do you prefer? Did you successfully delete the duplicates? Just leave a comment to let us know.
