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How to Find and Delete Duplicate Screenshots on iPhone

Merge duplicate screenshots with the Photos Duplicates album, see why near-identical captures slip past it, and clear the rest by hand on iOS 26 and 27.

5 min read
Muhammed BasilFounder & maker of Pizazoo

To delete duplicate screenshots on iPhone, open Photos, tap Collections, tap Utilities, then Duplicates, and tap Merge on each set. Photos keeps one copy with the best quality and the combined details, and moves the rest to Recently Deleted. The Duplicates collection is built for copies of the same image, so near-identical screenshots usually need a quick manual pass as well.

The steps below follow Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 27 and iOS 26. The Duplicates collection itself has been in Photos since iOS 16.

Where is the Duplicates album on iPhone?

  • Open Photos and tap Collections.
  • Tap Utilities, then tap Duplicates.

If Duplicates isn't there, Photos hasn't found any duplicates in your library (Apple). It may also still be looking. Apple says your iPhone has to index the library first, which happens while it is locked and connected to power, and can take anywhere from a short while to a few days depending on library size. To check, tap Library and scroll to the bottom: a status message appears while indexing is running (Apple).

How do I merge duplicate screenshots?

  • Tap Merge next to a set, then confirm with Merge Items (the button shows the count) (Apple, Apple, iOS 26).
  • To clear many sets at once, tap Select, tap Select on each set or tap Select All, then tap Merge and confirm (Apple).

Merging is not a blind delete. Apple says Photos "combines the highest image quality and relevant data to keep one photo in your library," and the other copies move to Recently Deleted (Apple), where you can recover them for 30 days (Apple). With iCloud Photos on, changes you make on one device show up on your other devices too, so the cleanup applies everywhere (Apple).

On iPad, the path is the same: Collections, Utilities, Duplicates. Apple's iPadOS 27 guide labels the confirm button Merge Exact Copies with the count (Apple).

On a Mac, Photos lists Duplicates below Utilities in the sidebar, and Command-A selects every duplicate before you click Merge (Apple). With a big backlog, the larger screen helps, and with iCloud Photos the result reaches your iPhone.

Why doesn't Duplicates catch all my duplicate screenshots?

Apple describes the collection as identifying duplicate photos and videos, and doesn't publish how similar two images have to be to count. In practice, think of it as a tool for copies of the same image, such as:

  • the same image saved twice, for example an attachment you saved from Mail or Messages more than once;
  • a copy made with the Duplicate command in Photos, which puts a duplicate next to the original (Apple);
  • the same image imported into your library twice.

Near-identical screenshots are a different problem. Two captures of the same screen a few seconds apart usually differ in small ways: the clock in the status bar, the battery level, a notification banner, how far the page was scrolled. A cropped or marked-up copy saved next to its original differs too. Don't count on Duplicates to pair those up. They are easy to clear by hand, because they are almost always next to each other in date order.

How do I find near-duplicate screenshots manually?

  • Show only screenshots. Open Collections, Media Types, Screenshots (Apple), or in iOS 27 apply the Media Types filter to your Library (Apple).
  • Sort by date. In a collection on iOS 27, tap the Sort and Filter button, tap Sort By, then choose Newest First or Oldest First (Apple).
  • See more at once. In the Library, pinch to zoom out, or tap the Sort and Filter button, View Options, then Zoom Out. Years and Months jump you to a specific time (Apple).
  • Select the extras. Tap Select, tap or slide your finger across the copies you don't need, then tap the Delete button (Apple).
  • Search for repeats of one thing. Photos search can find text such as an email address or phone number, and you can narrow a search by adding a media type to the search field (Apple). Searching for an order number or booking reference brings every capture of it into one list.

Go a month at a time and it turns into a five-minute habit instead of a weekend project. If you would rather clear the whole pile, see how to delete all screenshots on iPhone at once. If the problem is clutter rather than copies, see how to remove screenshots from iPhone Photos without deleting them.

Can Pizazoo find duplicate screenshots?

We make Pizazoo, so here is a straight answer: it is not a dedicated duplicate finder, and it never deletes look-alikes for you. Two things it does do:

  • Exact copies are skipped on import. When Pizazoo scans your photo library, a screenshot whose file is identical to one it already has is not imported a second time.
  • Related shows near-duplicates. Open a screenshot and its Related section lists visually similar screenshots with a match percentage, computed on your device. Tap See All to open them as a grid, select the ones you don't need and delete them together.

It also helps with the manual pass. Pizazoo for iPhone and iPad indexes the text inside every screenshot on-device and sorts them into categories, so searching for an order number or an error message brings every capture of it together. Deleted screenshots go to a Trash with 30-day restore. If you use Remove from Photos after import, your screenshots live in Pizazoo rather than in Photos, so that is where you tidy them.

One narrow case it does handle: Pizazoo's iCloud Sync merges duplicate copies created by reinstalling.

The app is free on iOS and iPadOS 17 or later. iCloud Sync is part of the optional one-time Pro upgrade.

Related guides:

Get Pizazoo for iPhone on the App Store. Free, iOS 17+, on-device.

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