Duplicates Not Showing In iOS 16 Photos App (Fix ?)
Last updated on September 28th, 2022 at 08:24 am
Posted in Errors and Issues by Mike on September 13, 2022
Duplicates not showing in iOS 16
Are Duplicates not showing in iOS 16? Youāve updated iPhone to the most recent release but device isnāt able to find and list duplicate photos in the Utilities section? Is this an early iOS 16 bug? Letās check it out!
Duplicates Not Showing In Photos
This issue has been reported by Michael in our iOS 16 review page:
āHi regarding IOS 16. With reference the photo menus and utilities, my I phone 13pro max does not show duplicates in the menus. Is there a reason for this? I am in the U.K.ā
We couldnāt replicate this issue at the time of writing. However, we found similar reports from the iOS 16 beta stages on Reddit.
Update 1: Thank you all. Numerous confirmations have been posted in the comments! The issue is global. Weāve reported it to Apple. If you want to do the same please use Feedback ID: FB11505534 to make the report stand out and prioritize a fix!
If youāre also missing Duplicates album in Photos, please confirm it in the comments section and we will report this issue to Apple. Do mention your iPhone model and region please.
Update 2: The Duplicates not showing issue sorts itself out within 24 ā 48 hours after updating! Apparently, iOS 16 needs time to index and compare all photos. (Confirmed by Michael, Jim and others.)
Update 3: Apple confirms in a support document released recently that iOS 16 requires time to index your photo library and be able to search for duplicates!
Appleās Recommended Fix For Duplicates Not Showing
- Lock iPhone and connect it to a power source (wall charger, computer etc.)
- Be patient.
Fact: Depending on the tasks that are running in the background and the size of your photo library, it might take up to a few days for the duplicates to show up!
The detection process requires iPhone to be locked and connected to power. Depending on what tasks are running in the background and the size of your photo library, the process could happen quickly or take up to a few days to complete.
How To Fix Duplicates Not Available In Photos
If more than 48 hours have passed and duplicates are still not available please try the following tips:
1. No Duplicates, No Folder
It appears that according to current iOS 16 behavior, the Duplicates album isnāt displayed if no identical photos have been detected in the Photos app.
If you already merged Duplicates as shown here, there might be no other identical photos to show on your iPhone and thatās why the Duplicates folder is not showing up in Utilities between the Imports and Hidden albums.
Create Duplicates Manually
To make sure that you have duplicate photos on your iPhone you can use another iOS 16 feature that allows you to easily duplicate an image:
- Open Photos and select a picture.
- Tap the three-dots icon available in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Go for Duplicate.
- Repeat the process to create as many duplicates as you want.
Tip: Return to the Albums screen and scroll for Utilites. Is the Duplicates folder available?
Update: Thereās a delay caused by image indexing. Photos duplicated manually show up as Duplicates after several hours only. So, check back later and see if you get the new album!
2. Check Duplicates Filter
Duplicates can be set identical Photos, identical Videos or both. The default option is both!
If you tweaked it for Videos and there are not duplicate clips detected on your iPhone, the feature might glitch out and stop showing the Duplicates album altogether.
Fact: Duplicates filter canāt be edited in Settings. You have to return to the Recents folder and manually duplicate videos, as shown above, to force the Duplicates folder to show up again!
3. Are Duplicates Region Restricted?
We couldnāt find any reference that the iOS 16 Duplicates feature might be country restricted. However, we have been only able to test the feature in the U.S.
Update: No, this behavior is occurring worldwide. However, the Photos app seems to require some time until itās able to index all photos and detect Duplicates. Please check for the folder after 24 hours. It might show up without any other action required!
If youāre also missing Duplicates please mention your region and if you upgraded to iOS 16 from iOS 15 or from an iOS 16 beta version!
4. Duplicates Date Bug
This new iOS 16 feature is definitely glitching out. In my case itās showing duplicate photos created one day ago as dating from Dec 31, 1903! š±
Whatās your feedback about Duplicates in iOS 16? Share your experience, suggestions and questions in the comments.
Related: Some users complaining about Duplicates not showing in iOS 16 are also mentioning that they canāt Lift Subject from Background! This is a new Visual Look Up feature. More details and a fixes for this problem are available here!
I donāt have the duplicate option either. Chittagong, Bangladesh. iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Same problem duplicate folder not showing
Thanks for sharing. Have you recently updated to iOS 16.x? Give it a bit of time to index the photos and detect the duplicates.
Similar situation here too. Iām in Canada.
iPhone 13 Pro Max.
No duplicate folder in utilities
FB11505534
Thanks for confirming. Wait it out a bit. It might show up after a couple of days.
Same here in the US
Iphone 13 Pro Max
I am using IP 13promax In Malaysia. I just updated the Ios16 from io1s 15.7 yesterday. I know by heart there are duplicate photos; however, āDuplicate is missing from my photo apps.
Be patient. They might take a while to be detected.
I am using an iPhone 13 mini with 61,000 Photos and I donāt see the duplicate button. My region is Germany.
Same here
Wow thatās a lot of them. Give it a little bit more time. It might require a couple of days until it detects and displays them. Keep us updated.
I donāt have the duplicate option either. India. iPhone 13 pro
I am in India i using iPhone 11 , updated the iOS 16 yesterday . DUPLICATE FOLDER MISSING IN UTILITIES PHOTO APPS
Duplicates missing, cannot be be created manually either. Region Europe, Sweden. iPhone 13 Pro Max
Hi Iām from uk,
Recently updated to io16 in my iPhone 13.
Currently isnāt showing an option for duplicates atlthough I have many duplicated photos in recents and albums.
Hi. Iām from the Philippines. iPhone 13 Pro. And Iām also not seeing the duplicates album.
Iām in the US and my phone is not recognizing duplicates and I have a lot. There is no duplicates option under albums even with actual duplicate photos.
Also, the unsend message feature doesnāt work either. Iāve tried to use it multiple times in under 2 minutes and it still doesnāt work.
Thanks for the extended feedback Lisa.
Allow a bit more time for Duplicates to show up. Let us know of they do within 24 hours.
Yes Unsend messages not working seems to be another iOS 16 bug. Weāre taking a look at it.
What about lift subjects from background? Does that work for you:
https://www.iphonetricks.org/lift-subject-from-background-not-working-fix/
Did duplicated a photograph. The menue not showing Duplicate action choice and no duplicate album showing either.
Iām in Canada and upgraded from the latest IOS 15 version.
Im in USA on iPhone 12 Pro and duplicate album doesnāt show up. Iāve duplicated a picture itās still not there
Having the same issue. Washington state, USA
Same issue. Iām in Portugal. Iām
Operating iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone iPhone 12 and iPhone XS Max. Find the usual reboot etc and not showing on any phone.
Just spoke to Apple, very frustrating. They said ios 16 will only show duplicates if there was a problem downloading the photo and it created a duplicate. And not on the same day. This makes no sense to me as it will not show in duplicate folder if I duplicate a photo.
It showed duplicated photos in the folder that I had duplicated so who ever you spoke to at apple does not know what they are talking about. After duplicating a few of my own photos it took about 30hours for the duplicate option to appear in my utilities menu .
Cheers
Mike
Thanks for confirming. Apparently duplicates will show with a delay after all photos are indexed.
I have updated to ios16 and tried manually duplicating photos but i still dont have the duplicates folder in my photos!
Just outside Fredrikstad, Norway. I have 21.000 Photos, so I guess it will take some time, and I guess the phone would like to be connected to power during the night. Pro Max 13.
Sometimes after a trip with lots of pictures taken, the photos app say it needs to work on the photos.
Connect to,power during the night.
Thanks for the tip. Yes, apparently they start showing up after 24-48 hours.
Hi Patricia
I finally have Duplicates on my I phone 13 pro max.
It seems that itās just a waiting game for it to sort its self out and find all the duplicates . I had over 1500 photos for it to compare and sort out.
It has taken approximately 30 hours for it to finally show up in the utilities menu.
I would advise people to wait up to 48 hours before panicking . I would also advise them to create a few duplicates to make sure there are some they know about as I wonder if duplicates would show up in the menu if no duplicates are actually in your albums .
Kind regards
Mike
Thanks for confirming Mike. Glad that it got sorted out!
hi, i dont have the duplicate folder under utilities. I have 10k plus photos. Im using 13 pro max im in the Philippines
When did you upgrade to iOS 16?
The duplicate folder just showed up this morning on my iPhone 13 ProMax. I loaded iOS 16 about on Monday evening or about 30 hours before the folder showed up!!! I have 1,789 duplicate photos. Iāve begun the process of merging/eliminating them and everything seems to be working fine. Good luck to everyone else!
Thanks for confirming Jim. Can you please let us know if you have iCloud Photos enabled or not?
Back again from Norway. IPhone 13 Pro Max. Had the phone app open, connected to Power. On days I could see the pictures not all the way synced to iCloud. One hour later it was. 2189 duplicates. šš
Things take time.
Thanks for confirming Kjell. Glad it worked.
Experiencing any other iOS 16 issues?
I downloaded iOS 16 and noticed the duplicate feature doesnāt show up in albums. What else is missing?
They should show up within 24 ā 48 hours.
Are you able to lift subject from background?
I am using IPhone 13 pro max no duplicate feature in utilities on my iPhone l I am in Canada
Wait it out a bit more. If they donāt show up more than 48 hours after update let us know.
Iām missing duplicates in ios16 update, Uk based, 13pro .
They will show up. Give iOS 16 a bit more time. Any other issues?
No duplicate section in my iPhone 13.
Wait it out it should pop up soon. Any other issues?
Itās been a few days and I still donāt have the duplicates folder. I have 60k images (I know I knowā¦ iCloud storage is big and Iāve had photos since 2015) too so that might be why itās taking so long. Iām in the USA.
Thanks for sharing. Keep us posted please.
Updated to iOS 16 on the 15th of September, I still donāt have the duplicate option either. London. United Kingdom iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Thanks for reporting. Should appear today.
The āDuplicatesā album did appear. However, it only has two absolutely identical photos (which I had previously duplicated with the app). But in my gallery there are also identical photos that I took a second apart without moving my phone, which means that they look exactly the same, but are not identified as duplicatesā¦
Yes, for those Apple might require iCloud Photos to be enabled on your device!
But free iCloud storage is only 5 GBā¦
True. Another feature that requires a monthly subscription. Apple knows how to cash-in.
Im in the US and had the duplicate folder yesterday and didnāt merge any at the time and now the Utilities folder is gone.
Is the entire Utilities section not available anymore, or just the Duplicates folder from that section?
From Singapore
Phone 13 pro
iOS 16 duplicate missing
New iPhone 13+, updated to ios16 and duplicates not showinh
iPhone 13 Pro Max doesnāt have duplicates folder. I do have more than 32,000 photos, so it will probably take some time. (Just got this replacement from Apple on Wednesdayā¦ it already had iOS 16, but I restored from backup and it took until yesterday morning to finish the restore.)
Thanks for reporting. Please keep us update.
Hi, Iām from the Philippines and the Duplicate folder is not appearing in my iPhone 13 Pro. Iāve updated to iOS16 just this morning and Iāve also tried restarting my phone, but to no avail. Hopefully it will appear after 24 hours.
Iāve tried duplicating some photos manually and tried taking duplicate photos. Will try to see tomorrow if the Duplicate folder shows up.
Yes, they should. Keep us posted!
iPhone 13 Pro Max not showing duplicates in utilities.
I have iPhone 12pro Iām in the US in NY and the duplicates is not showing for me as well. Hoping within the next day or 2 it will pop up as I know I have tons of duplicates that could save me a bunch of space.
Thanks for sharing. Keep us updated.
No duplicates option. Just updated this morning. I have iPhone 11.
My iphone 13 pro max is not showing the duplicates section
I updated my iPhone 13 pro this past morning Sunday and duplicate photo section is not appearing for me.
Duplicate option in photo app is not visible. I am using iPhone X in india. Kindly help
Hi. I am in India and I bought I phone13 pro max. I am unable to see the Duplicate option in Utilities. How I can see in my phone. I moved data from Android and there are so many duplicate photos are showing in my new IPhone 13 Pro Max. Iāve updated to iOS16 just this morning
Pls help
No duplicates folder for me either after making numerous duplicates. Iām in Australia.
Keep us updated please. They might show up soon.
Duplicates option not showing in Utilities section of photos in iOs16. But upgraded from iOs15 only two days ago. IPhone 11, region:Australia. Thanks for helpful article.
Thanks for reporting. Keep us posted if they show up soon.
In US. iPhone SE2. Had iOS 16 a week. Saw Duplicate tool once & it worked. But have about 1K dupes that Iām not being recognized. I no longer see that duplicates tool. Leaving the phone plugged in overnight every night.
1700 photos on iPhone. About 900 on iCloud and iPad and Mac mini. Want the same 900 on the iPhone have called Apple support a couple times and spent hours trying to straighten this out.
Do you have iCloud photos enabled on your device and enough storage in your iCloud plan?