Deleting duplicate iPhone photos from Mac Photos library

Question

Deleting duplicate iPhone photos from Mac Photos library

I began organizing my digital photos on my computer before I got an iPhone. I originally used a digital camera, then an iPod Touch, and gradually transitioned to all pictures being taken on my iPhone. There's a bazillion in there, going back years.

It's worked well for me, but I believe I am wasting storage, as the iPhone photos show up in my Photos Library and then again in their respective "From My Mac" (actually a Windows laptop) albums. Is there any easy way to delete them from the Photos Library? I tried to do it by connecting the iPhone to my laptop. I can see the photos, but it won't let me delete them. I hope I don't have to do it one at a time on the phone.

I originally backed up my phone using iTunes, but I've been lazy about it so I want to switch to iCloud, and that's a whole other thing. Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated!

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: iPhone photo organization

iPhone 13 mini, iOS 18

Posted on Jul 25, 2025 02:12 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 26, 2025 07:38 AM in response to schambersOhio

"From My Mac" may be a problem. Check to see if those pictures can be edited or trashed. Pictures that are transferred to a phone like that typically aren't "owned" by the Photos, even though Photos is used to show them, and so the can't be edited or deleted. They also won't transfer to iCloud. And if you turn on iCloud, you should get a warning that these pictures may disappear. I've not used this for quite a while, so I'm not absolutely sure of the details, but I know you should be careful. It may be that, through revisions and transfers, these pictures have been absorbed by Photos.

Do you have all these pictures on our computer? If you do, then it may be best to use Microsofts' Photos app to transfer the pictures to iCloud.

At least in normal albums, pointers to the pictures are used rather than duplicated files, so that the pictures take up no extra space. The picture of "Aunt Ethel at the Grand Canyon" can be in the "Aunt Ethel" album with other pictures of Aunt Ethel, and it can also be in the "Grand Canyon" album with pictures of other people at the Grand Canyon. And it can also be in a the "September 2015" album with other things that happened then. As you can imagine, this is very powerful in organizing pictures.

Sorry that I'm so unsure about "From My Mac," but I thought I should get a warning in. Let us know if those pictures respond to Edit Mode…

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Answer 2

Jul 26, 2025 11:01 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

All the pictures except the most recent ones are on my computer, sorted into folders. I checked and I cannot edit or delete the "From My Mac" photos on my phone. I am fine with that.

Thank you for the tips! I will look into Microsoft Photos. That may be exactly what I need.

After more trial and error, I did discover I can delete photos from my iPhone using my computer. I can only delete the photos, not their folders. (That confused me at first. I thought I tried to delete individual photos previously, but apparently not.) When I connect my phone to my computer, it shows the pictures in folders by date. If I open a folder, I can delete the photos in it. Once I've deleted the photos, the folders go away on their own.

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