iOS 16 finally brings two features to Photos that I've been asking for

iOS 16 Photos
(Image credit: Apple)

With iOS 16 available to users with an iPhone 8 or iPhone SE 2 and newer, there are plenty of smaller features that users are already discovering.

One particular such feature for me is found in the Photos app. There are moments when we're taking so many images at once with our iPhone cameras that we forget to delete the duplicates, and they eventually build up.

Since iOS launched in 2007 with the original iPhone, it's been a hassle to weed these duplicates out, until now. There are also some new safeguards involving FaceID for certain albums as well.

With pre-orders for the Apple iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro live, these features could be very useful when customers start to use the improved cameras that these both have.

I'm seeing double

iOS 16 Photos

(Image credit: TechRadar)

As long as you're on iOS 16, go to the Photos app, then scroll down until you see the Duplicates album.

Inside here, you can merge or delete whichever photos or videos that iOS has found, which will free up storage on your iPhone and iCloud account the more you look into this section.

So far I've managed to easily merge and delete around 50 images, mostly from when I got married, so I've already saved myself a headache compared to if I was still on iOS 15 or below.

Alongside this, however, the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums now require FaceID to be displayed, which could be useful for many. With so many images we send and receive to one another on messaging apps, alongside some that could be perceived the wrong way by others, having this extra security measure will be a haven for some users.

Regardless, it's great to finally see some features in Apple's Photos app that have long been requested by many iPhone owners - myself included, especially with the iPhone 14 line about to launch with improved cameras this year.

Daryl Baxter
Software & Downloads Writer

Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he's written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider'. His second book, '50 Years of Boss Fights', came out in 2024, with a third book coming in 2026. He also has a newsletter called 'Springboard'. He's usually found playing games old and new on his Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that's about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.

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