WhatsApp and other communication apps have plenty of visual content to keep you busy. It’s easy to spend endless time doomscrolling on mobile devices.

As a result, you are likely to accidentally download the same pictures multiple times from those apps. But that also makes it easier to mix up your copies.

If you aren’t careful, you might accidentally delete the wrong ones, and you’d spend more time trying to recover those copies.

Wiping the extra images from your file manager or gallery app is quicker. Plus, it avoids unnecessary costs when Google Photos is your main photo management app.

It shares 15GB of storage across Photos, Drive, Gmail, and other applications. Exceed this limit, and you’ll pay for additional storage with Google One.

Here’s a detailed tutorial on removing unwanted duplicate photos using built-in tools and third-party apps.

Person holding an Android phone, with the Settings app launched

Google Photos is your device’s cloud-based storage service. It provides smart organization, editing tools, and facial recognition, among other features.

Remove duplicate images in Google Photos

Google Photos groups similar pictures automatically and offers an option to keep the best shot and delete the rest. It involves using the photo stacks AI feature in your settings.

Before proceeding to the steps below, check that this setting is enabled in Google Photos’ preferences.

  1. Launch Google Photos and select an image.
  2. Look for the number of similar shots in the upper-right corner.
  3. Open the image and look for a Top pick message at the top and tap Keep this, delete rest.

  4. Tap Got it to confirm.

Repeat these steps for similar photos and remove similar files in seconds. If you cannot find your photo stacks, ensure you turned on backups. It will also take time for recent photo backups to stack together.

Although Google Photos lacks a built-in feature for removing duplicate files, there’s a tool that removes copies you backed up.

This way, you have more room to save new media on the device. If you haven’t saved images in the cloud, you won’t see the option to free up space.

  1. Open the Google Photos app.
  2. Tap the profile picture in the upper-right corner and select Free up space on this device.
  3. Photos shows the file size it can clean. Tap the Free up button at the bottom of your screen.
  4. Tap Allow for confirmation. The app deletes the backed-up pictures from your device.

Samsung Galaxy smartphones bundle a separate Gallery app in its One UI Android skin. It detects excessive pictures and offers suggestions to clean them up.

Unlike Photos, which is a universal Android app, Gallery only exists for Samsung users.

Here’s how to use the Gallery app to remove duplicate files.

  1. Open the Gallery app.
  2. Tap the menu icon in the lower-right corner.
  3. Select Clean out.

  4. Tap Delete duplicate pictures under Clean out.
  5. Tap Delete duplicates to select all the copies and keep the originals. Uncheck the circle beside any image you don’t wish to erase. Alternatively, tap Select in the upper-right corner to choose the copies to delete.

  6. Tap Delete at the bottom of your screen.
  7. Select Move to Trash for confirmation.

Now, head to Trash in Samsung Gallery and clean it up to free up space on your Galaxy phone.

How to remove duplicate photos with your file manager

Your Android phone has a file manager app for organizing directories in its internal and external storage.

Typically, all pictures should be in the Digital Camera Images (DCIM) folder. The file path may vary depending on the app you use.

The default one on Google Pixels and select Android devices running the near-stock version is Files by Google (formerly Google Files).

Samsung My Files is exclusively for Galaxy devices. Depending on the device you own, you can use either one to clear duplicate pictures. We cover both methods below.

Remove duplicate photos with Files by Google

  1. Open the Files by Google app.
  2. Tap the menu icon in the upper-left corner.
  3. Select Clean.
  4. Tap Select files on the Duplicate files card.
  5. Check the circles on the images you want to delete.
  6. Tap the Move X to Trash button at the bottom of your screen.

  7. Tap the Move X to Trash button that pops up for confirmation.

If you don’t see the Duplicate files card, you may not have excess image copies or the app hasn’t detected them. Give it some time and try again, or use alternative methods.

Remove duplicate photos with Samsung My Files

  1. Open the My Files app.
  2. Tap Manage storage under Utilities.
  3. Select Duplicate files.

  4. You should see all the duplicate media files. Check the circle beside the copies you want to delete.
  5. Tap Delete at the bottom of your screen.

  6. Tap Delete again for confirmation.

How to remove duplicate photos with third-party apps

There are many third-party file managers and duplicate photo removers on the Google Play Store. You’ll find them by searching for “duplicate photo cleaner” or related keywords.

You can also download apps on your Windows, Mac, or Linux computers and connect to your phone with USB cables.

Such apps scan your internal storage or hard drive to identify duplicates.

Be mindful of your privacy and security when installing third-party apps. Read trusted reviews and check the store.

Although the Play Store is generally a safe place to shop for apps, malicious programs can manage to sneak past its detection.

Also, most of these apps contain ads. They may even offer premium features like bulk deletion, cloud storage integration, and ad removal.

Phone Cleaner remains our top pick for removing similar photos and keeping original files intact.

  1. Download Phone Cleaner from the Play Store and open it on your device.
  2. Give it the required permission to access all files on your phone.
  3. Tap Delete Duplicates on the main page.
  4. Let it scan duplicate photos and videos on your phone.
  5. Tap the radio button beside Keep Best Shots.
  6. Select Delete at the bottom.

Apple devices can also remove duplicate content

Manual selection is effective in removing photo duplicates, but it’s time-consuming. The above steps help you rid your Android device of duplicate photos.

One best practice to avoid deduplication is to check for them periodically and remove them. They tend to come back over time.

If you’re not an Android owner, you’ll use different methods to delete duplicate photos on Apple devices because of the varying operating systems and apps.

On your iPhone or iPad, Apple Photos helps you find similar images and merge or delete them permanently.