How to Delete Duplicate Photos on Android

Copies pile up on an Android phone: the same picture saved from several chats, a folder copied twice, a photo downloaded again. Two free tools find duplicate files for you: Files by Google on Android 8.0 and up, and My Files on Samsung Galaxy. This guide walks through both, explains what Google Photos does with copies and shows where a cleaner app helps.

On an iPhone? Read how to delete duplicate photos on iPhone.

Step 1: Delete duplicate files with Files by Google

Files by Google is Google's free file manager for Android 8.0 and up, available on Google Play. Its Clean tab has a card just for duplicates:

1. Open Files by Google.
2. Tap Menu → Clean.
3. On the Duplicate files card, tap Select files.
4. One file in each set carries an Original badge, and Google recommends keeping it. Select the copies you want to delete.
5. At the bottom, tap Move x file(s) to Trash, then confirm.

Files in the Files by Google Trash stay there for 30 days, and you can restore them from Menu → Trash. The Trash arrived with Android 11 and is rolling out in phases to other versions. Files you clear from the Junk files card skip it and are deleted permanently.

Step 2 on Samsung Galaxy: use My Files

My Files comes preinstalled on most Galaxy phones and tablets, and its storage analysis finds duplicate files:

1. Open My Files.
2. Tap Analyze storage (Analyse storage in UK English). It sits at the bottom of the main screen, or under the More options menu.
3. Tap Duplicate files.
4. Select the copies you want to remove, then tap Delete and confirm.

Leave one file of each set unticked: Samsung warns that if you select every file, the original is deleted too. Samsung's guide also says the confirmation permanently deletes the selected files, so treat this delete as final.

Duplicate files lists something only when My Files finds duplicates on the device. Screens and menu names can vary with your carrier, software version and model.

What Google Photos does with duplicates

Google Photos backs up and shows your photos, and we found no duplicate finder in its help center. Google's page on connecting your phone's gallery app to Google Photos explains how copies on the phone behave:

• When your phone holds several copies of the same photo, the phone's gallery app shows every local copy, while the Google Photos app shows only one.
• When you delete that photo in Google Photos, it asks whether you want to remove all local copies from your device.
• If you delete a copy from the phone's gallery app instead, it might delete the selected copy on your phone and in Google Photos, but keep the other copies.

Deleting in Google Photos works across devices: the photo is removed from your phone too and, if it was backed up, from every device with backup turned on. It stays in the Google Photos Trash for 30 days. To remove only the copy on your phone and keep the backup, open the photo in Google Photos and tap More → Delete from device.

What the built-in tools leave to you

• You pick which copy stays. Files by Google marks one file as Original. My Files deletes whatever you tick, the original included.
• Bursts and retakes are your call. A burst or two takes of the same scene are different photos, so choosing the keeper is up to you.

Another way: compare copies side by side in Picmori

Picmori (our app) is a free photo cleaner for Android, iPhone and iPad that plays like a game: a pixel-art adventure where every level is made from your own photos. You swipe left to delete and right to keep, with undo, and it gathers copies for you along the way:

• What it groups: exact copies (same file size, dimensions and type, confirmed with a fingerprint of the image) and burst shots taken seconds apart. In Premium sessions it also groups repeated screenshots.
• How you choose: a badge on the card shows a group is nearby. Tap it and the group opens side by side, with a suggested shot to keep, picked by resolution, file size and your favourites. Keep one and let the rest go.
• Nothing is deleted while you swipe: you confirm at the end of the session, then Android asks you to confirm and deletes the photos permanently. There is no trash, so back up first.
• Free or Premium: duplicate groups show up in the free chapters and reviews. The Duplicates mode, which brings only groups, is part of Premium.
• Privacy: photos are analysed on your phone and never uploaded. No account, no ads.

If your gallery syncs with Google Photos, a deletion can reach your backup too (see the warning at the top). Picmori does not group photos that merely look alike and does not detect blurry photos. It needs Android 7.0 or later.

Google Play · App Store

Step 3: Empty the trash

Files by Google, Google Photos and Samsung Gallery keep deleted items in a trash for 30 days before removing them for good. To clear it sooner, check each app you used:

• Files by Google: Menu → Trash, select the files, tap Delete and confirm. Files deleted from Trash are gone for good.
• Samsung, One UI 6.0 and later: My Files → Recycle bin → More → Empty. The Recycle bin in My Files also holds files deleted in Gallery.
• Google Photos: Collections → Trash → More → Empty Trash → Delete permanently.

Photos Picmori deletes on Android skip the trash: Android asks you to confirm, and then they are gone.

Keep going

Duplicates are one kind of clutter. For old screenshots, large videos and failed shots, see how to clean up your Android photo gallery. Helping someone with an iPhone? Send them the iPhone version of this guide.

Questions about duplicate photos on Android

Does Google Photos find duplicate photos?

We found no duplicate finder in the Google Photos help center. What Google does explain is that when your phone holds several copies of the same photo, the Google Photos app shows only one of them, and deleting that photo in Google Photos asks whether to remove all local copies from your device. For copies stored on the phone, use the Duplicate files card in Files by Google, or My Files on a Samsung Galaxy.

Will deleting a duplicate on my phone delete it from Google Photos?

It can. If your phone's gallery app is connected to Google Photos, photos you delete in the gallery app might also be deleted from Google Photos, even if they were backed up. Samsung Gallery synced with your Google Account removes a deleted photo from both apps and from your cloud storage. And a photo you delete inside the Google Photos app is deleted from your phone too, and from every device with backup turned on.

How do I find duplicate photos on a Samsung phone?

Open My Files, tap Analyze storage, then Duplicate files. Select the copies you want to remove and tap Delete. Leave one file of each set unselected: Samsung warns that if you select them all, the original is deleted too.

Can I get deleted duplicates back?

From Files by Google, usually yes: files moved to its Trash stay there for 30 days, and you restore them from Menu, then Trash. Photos deleted in Google Photos also stay in its Trash for 30 days. Samsung's guide says that deleting in My Files permanently deletes the selected files, and photos Picmori deletes on Android are removed permanently too, so back up before you start.