Oliver Haslam·

iOS 16 Duplicate Photos Not Showing? Apple Explains Why

Apple’s iOS 16 update included a new feature that allows the Photos app to highlight any and all photos that are duplicates, but a number of people who have updated to the new software have reported that they don’t yet see any duplicates at all. In fact, the album is missing entirely.

With iOS 16 installed, a new Duplicates album should appear below the Utilities section whenever duplicate photos have been found.

You won’t see the album if you don’t have any duplicates, but Apple says that there is a reason you might not see it even if you do — and it says it’s all a matter of time.

A new support document, says that the iOS 16 update requires a full re-indexing of a user’s photo library in order to check for duplicates. None will be displayed until that process is complete, and it might take a while depending on yow big your library is. Also, it only runs in specific situations, too.

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.

So there we have it. If you’re using a brand new iPhone 14, or have updated to iOS 16 within the last few days, this could well be the reason you aren’t yet seeing any duplicates. Don’t worry, they’ll pop up eventually.

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