The Photos app in iOS 16.4 detects duplicates in your shared picture library

Update your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, or macOS Ventura 13.3 to have Photos detect duplicates in your shared iCloud library.

• What’s happening? iOS 16.4 updates the duplicate image finder in the Photos app to identify identical items in your shared libraries as well.
• Why care? You can save even more storage space by finding and deleting duplicate images and videos in your shared photo library.
• What to do? Open the Duplicates album after updating to iOS 16.4 to see if Photos found any duplicates in your shared library.

Finding duplicates in your shared iCloud Photo Library

Among the many changes and improvements in iOS 16.4 is the expansion of the Duplicates album in the Photos app. This feature has been extended to find duplicate photos and videos stored in iCloud Shared Photo Library.

Prior to iOS 16.4, it was limited to personal photo libraries.

“Duplicate Photos Album expands support for detecting duplicate photos and videos in iCloud Shared Photo Library,”reads the release notes for iOS 16.4. This enhanced photo sharing feature in iOS 16.4 is also available on iPad and Mac with updates to iPadOS 16.4 and macOS Ventura 13.3.

What is iCloud Photo Shared Library?

iCloud Shared Photo Library lets you create another picture library along with your personal one so you can share photos and videos with up to five other people.

You can switch between viewing shared and personal libraries (or both) in the Photos app. The integration extends to the Camera app, which provides a switch to save captured images directly to a shared library. The Photos app also has a setting to automatically share these items with nearby members.

iCloud Photo Shared Library Requirements

iCloud Photo Shared Library requires iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16.1, and macOS Ventura 13.0 or later. Visit the Apple website to learn how to set up and view a shared iCloud Photo Library across all your devices, including iCloud.com.