Duplicate photos can take up so much storage space, especially if the original photos are high-definition to begin with. The problem is that not all types of “duplicates” can be detected by the same tool and techniques; this becomes more apparent when you’re dealing with identical photos but not exact copies.
And who wants to delete dozens, hundreds, even thousands of duplicates manually?
Not us. So, here’s the only guide you’ll ever need on how to delete duplicate photos on an iPad, along with similar photos. All convenient, all free.
Table of Contents
Duplicates vs Similars (And Why It’s Important)
While semantically close, there’s a big difference between duplicate and similar photos when it comes to cleaning up your iPad:
- Duplicates: iPadOS specifically defines “Duplicates” as exact copies; they usually occur due to repeated downloads, using the duplicate action in the Photos app, downloading the same image repeatedly, or creating redundant backups. Any filters, minor edits, or variations in quality and metadata usually disqualify photos from this category.
- Similars: If your photos look visually identical, but are two completely separate photos (you didn’t duplicate the same photo or save it twice), they are considered “Similars.” For example, you took a dozen selfies with the same angle, pose, and location–even if they look the same, they are totally different files.
The methods we provide in this guide cover both. It’s important to know the difference so you can diagnose why they appeared in the first place and why some methods of deletion work for some photos while others don’t.
4 Ways to Delete Duplicate and Similar Photos on an iPad
In this section, we’ll cover 4 different methods for deleting duplicate and similar photos on your iPad. Depending on what you need to get rid of, some methods work better than others. All of them are easy, free to do, and allow you to perform bulk actions–so we recommend trying them all for a comprehensive cleanup.
Method 1: Merge Photos Using the Native Photos App
The Photos app has a feature called the Duplicates Album, which can automatically find duplicate photos on your iPad for you (then compiles them). In the Duplicates Album, you can use the Merge tool to automatically delete all duplicates from a set except for the best copy—which also retains the combined metadata of all the photos.
Step 1. Open the Photos app.
Step 2. In the Collections page, scroll down to the Utilities section. Then, tap Duplicates.
Step 3. Tap Merge next to the set of duplicates you want to purge.
Step 4. Finally, tap Merge Exact Copies to confirm the action.
Method 2: Use a Third-Party Photo Library Cleaner for iOS
Unfortunately, the native Duplicates utility has two major weaknesses. First, even exact duplicates don’t show up right away–if you download the same image twice right now, you’ll have to wait for iPadOS to complete another indexing cycle. Second, it can’t detect similar or identical photos that are not exact duplicates.
Third-party iPad cleaning apps are designed to resolve these problems, as well as provide other features that make the task of cleaning up your library much easier. There are many great apps to choose from on the App Store (and we’ve reviewed a lot of them), but we’ll be using an app called Clever Cleaner: AI Cleanup App for this guide.
It’s completely free (as of this writing) and has no ads, so you can download it now and follow along. Most importantly, it has a feature called Similars, which can detect both exact duplicates and identical-looking images. It works with completely different photos that look alike (e.g., a set of selfies), as well as copies of photos with edits and filters added.
Step 1. Download and install Clever Cleaner: AI Cleanup App from the App Store.
Step 2. Launch the app, then grant it full access to your iPad’s photo library (don’t worry, it’s safe!).
Step 3. On the bottom menu, tap Similars. At this point, you can tap the Smart Cleanup button to delete all duplicate and similar photos at once, except for one “best” copy. If you want to choose what photos to keep and delete yourself, tap any photo group to start reviewing.
Step 4. Each group of duplicates and similars will be displayed on-screen, and Clever Cleaner automatically selects the “non-best” photos. You can immediately tap Move to Trash to accept the suggestion, or you can choose the photos you want to delete yourself.
Step 5. Deleting photos from each group will appear in the Trash section at the bottom of the page. Tap it to open Clever Cleaner’s in-app Trash menu.
Step 6. In the Trash menu, you can restore the photos you accidentally deleted, or you can confirm their deletion using the slider at the bottom of the page.
Aside from deleting similar and duplicate photos, Clever Cleaner has several other features that can help you tidy up your iPad library:
- Heavies: Your biggest iPad videos are compiled in one view, and you can sort them by size or date, making it easier to delete large videos. Clever Cleaner also has a compression tool, which can shrink your iPad videos’ file size with minimal impact on visual quality.
- Swipe: For a more precise cleanup job, the swipe feature displays your photos individually in a slideshow, and as each photo appears, you can swipe left or right to delete or keep it. Photos are organized by month, so you can systematically go through your library.
- Screenshots: Clever Cleaner simply compiles all of your iPad’s screenshots, then allows you to delete all of them with one button. It has no other special features, but it allows you to accomplish all cleaning tasks from within the app.
- Lives: You can compress one, multiple, or all Live Photos at once. This converts Live Photos to still images by deleting the audio and video clips, leaving behind a high-quality photo.
Method 3: Delete Duplicate and Similar Photos via Advanced Search
The Photos app on the iPad provides an advanced search tool that allows you to utilize keywords as filters. To put it simply, you can type “car” in the search field, and iOS will do its best to find all the cat pictures in your library for you.
With enough context, iOS should be able to find all similar photos in your library based on the keyword (even if they aren’t exact duplicates).
Step 1. Open the Photos app.
Step 2. Tap the Search button in the top-right corner of your iPad screen.
Step 3. Type any keywords related to the subject of the duplicates. You can even add a date to your keywords for even more precision. Then, tap the Select button.
Step 4. Tap the duplicates you want to delete. You can also drag your finger to select multiple items quickly (make sure to leave at least one copy). Once you’re happy with your selection, tap the trash can.
Step 6. When the popup confirmation prompt appears at the bottom, tap Delete Photos to proceed.
Make sure to delete the photos again from the Recently Deleted album in the Photos app to actually free up storage space.
Method 4: Create Smart Albums on a Mac
If you have a Mac available, you can utilize macOS Photos to create Smart Albums. Smart Albums have an intelligent filtering tool that will allow you to compile photos with very specific conditions (that should help you group likely duplicates together).
For example, you can specify a combination of keywords, file name details, “if” parameters, date ranges, and more. You can also choose which conditions are to be followed at any given time, giving you real-time flexibility with your search when you remove the duplicate photos.
Step 1. Open the Photos app on your Mac (Finder > Applications).
Step 2. On your Mac menu bar, click File > New Smart Album.
Step 3. Choose a name for the new Smart Album and combine the filters until you’ve narrowed down the results enough where manual deletion is no longer tedious. Then, click OK to create the album.
Step 4. From the album, select the duplicates you want to delete. Use the Command + A keys to select all photos in the album or the Command + click combination to select multiple. Finally right-click your selection and choose Delete Photos.
Like on your iPad, the Photos app on macOS also has the Recently Deleted album where you can restore deleted photos or erase them permanently.
Before You Go, Here’s How to Lessen Duplicates (and Similars)
It’s very unlikely to completely prevent the occurrence of duplicate and similar photos in your iPad’s camera roll. Instead, focus on developing at least one of the following data hygiene habits. First, review photos right after capturing them. Then, immediately delete any bad shots and just leave “the best one.”
Second, if you notice yourself putting off deletion, keep a third-party app like Clever Cleaner (since it’s free to download right now) on your iPhone and commit to cleaning up your photo library at least once a month. Using automated features like Smart Cleanup literally takes a few seconds, and you end up with far less clutter over time.
