How to Automatically Organize Your iPhone Photos and Free Up Space

Want to organize your iPhone photos but don’t know where to start because there are just too many? I get it – I have over 20,000 pictures myself and used to struggle to find a single image. But I found a solution! In this article, I’ll show you how to organize your pictures and free up space on your iPhone at the same time.

Why Should You Organize Your Photo Library?

I never really thought about this before, but when I started spending minutes just to search for a single photo, I realized how much easier life would be with a well-organized, clutter-free photo library. According to statistics I found, the average smartphone user has about 2,795 photos in their camera roll – and that number only grows. After some research, I found some solid reasons why keeping your photo library organized is worth it:

• When you eliminate unnecessary photos and categorize the essential ones into appropriate albums, navigation and searching for needed images become much quicker. You can find what you need in seconds without scrolling through all your images.
• As you go through your photo gallery, you might be surprised at how many useless pictures continue to occupy space on your iPhone. Deleting them not only frees up storage space but can even enhance the speed and performance of your phone.

How to Free Up iPhone Photo Storage

To make things easier, I’ve split this guide into two parts. First, I’ll walk you through decluttering your photos so they don’t get in the way of the next steps. Then, in the next section, I’ll show you the best ways to organize your photos on your iPhone. First, let’s talk about duplicates on your iPhone and the best ways to remove them.

1. Remove Duplicates and Similar Photos

When I started organizing my photos, I realized I had tons of similar shots. I knew iPhones have a tool to merge duplicates, but it only works with exact matches – it doesn’t detect near-duplicates with slight differences in lighting, angles, or framing. That wasn’t helpful for me since I had way more similar photos than exact copies. After some research, I came across recommendations to consider a photo organizer app for iPhone. But with so many options in the App Store – most of them paid – I had to test a few to find a free one that actually worked.

Luckily, I found a free Clever Cleaner app with no annoying third-party ads, which was a relief after testing several others. What stood out was its ability to detect both duplicates and similar photos, group them, and automatically pick the best one in each set. This app allows you to either delete all the extras in one tap or manually select which ones to keep.

To remove duplicate & similar photos on your iPhone:

1. Downloaded Clever Cleaner: iPhone Cleaner App from the App Store.
2. Open Clever Cleaner and granted it full permission to access my photo gallery.
3. The app automatically opened in the “Similar” tab and scanned my gallery. It then displayed the results in groups of found duplicates and similar photos.
4. Review several groups and was satisfied with the best photos selected, so I pressed the ‘Smart Cleanup’ button, which deleted all the photos marked for deletion.
5. For more control, you can adjust the automatic selections made by the app. Tap the collection, manually select the photos you wish to remove, and repeat these steps for each group. Then, tap ‘Move to Trash.’

6. All photos initially move to the trash within the app, where you can review them again and restore any if you change your mind. After reviewing, move the ‘Slide to Delete’ slider.
7. Finally, the app notified me to clear the Recently Deleted folder. I chose to wait for it to clear automatically, but if you need space urgently, you might prefer to clear it manually.

Besides deleting similar photos, Clever Cleaner can also remove screenshots, delete Live Photos while keeping their still versions, and identify large media files like videos for deletion. To look at its features, check out a detailed video review that breaks down each function.

2. Delete Unwanted Photos

Besides removing duplicates, I also cleared out other unnecessary photos to keep my gallery organized – I recommend doing the same. This includes old pictures from years ago, random screenshots, and blurry shots. If you haven’t cleaned up your photo library yet, here’s how to get started:

1. Start with the oldest photos in your library. Open the Photos app and scroll to the top to view your oldest photos. Evaluate each photo to decide if it still holds value.
2. Often, screenshots become irrelevant after their immediate need passes. To find screenshots, scroll to the ‘Media Types’ section, then select ‘Screenshots’. 
3. Navigate to the photo or photos you wish to delete. Tap ‘Select’ in the top right corner of the screen, then select each photo you want to remove.
4. Once selected, tap the trash icon and confirm by selecting ‘Delete Photo’. This process allows you to delete multiple photos at once efficiently.

5. To permanently remove the photos from your device, open the ‘Albums’ tab, scroll down to ‘Recently Deleted’, tap ‘Select’, and then tap ‘Delete All’ to clear all the photos.

With these two methods, you can free up space on your iPhone and get your library ready for better organization. However, if you’re happy with how your photo app looks at this point, you can stop here and enjoy a cleaner, more streamlined gallery.

How to Organize Your iPhone Photos

Well, if you continue reading, then you are interested on how to organize photos on your iPhone without duplicates in a more structured way.  That’s great! I didn’t stop at just cleaning up either; I organized my photos exactly how I wanted. Now, I’ll walk you through the methods I used.

1. Add Your Photos to “Favorites” Album

The Photos app has a handy “Favorites” album where you can save pictures based on your needs. Personally, after taking multiple shots, I add the best one here for easy access when editing later. You can use it to store your favorite photos or the ones you need most often.

1. Launch the Photos app on your iPhone.
2. Navigate through your photos to find the ones you want to mark as favorites.
3. Tap on the photo you wish to add to your Favorites album and tap the heart icon on the photo. This action marks the photo as a favorite and automatically adds it to the Favorites album.
4. To view all your favorite photos, you should go to the ‘Pinned Collections’ tab and open the ‘Favorites’ album.

2. Use the Album for Hidden Photos

Another handy feature in the Photos app is the Hidden album. When you add photos there, they won’t show up in your main feed – they’re only accessible by unlocking the album with your Apple ID or password. Not that I have anything to hide, but if you have photos or screenshots of planned gifts for the family, hiding them is a great way to keep the surprise.

1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone again.
2. Navigate through your gallery and choose the photo or photos you want to hide.
3. Tap on the three dots icon, then select ‘Hide.’ When prompted, confirm your choice by tapping ‘Hide Photo’.
4. To view your hidden photos, go to the ‘Utilities’ tab and scroll down to find the ‘Hidden’ album.

3. Create Albums and Folders

What helped me make the Photos app look the way I wanted was the ability to create custom albums. It all depends on how you want to organize everything. I created albums for all my animals and notable trips, which allowed me to access these photos quickly and easily.

1. Launch the Photos app on your iPhone.
2. Go to the ‘Albums’ tab at the bottom of the screen.
3. Tap the “Create” in the upper left corner, then select ‘New Album’.
4. Enter a name for your new album and choose the photos you want to include in this album and tap ‘Done’.

In the Photos app, you can create a folder to organize multiple albums. I made one folder for animal photos and added several albums there, and other folders for different years to store all my travel albums. The process is similar to creating an album – you just select “New Folder” instead of “New Album.”

4. Utilize Photo Search in the Photos App

Another feature that really helped me organize my photos was the search function in the Photos app. It might not always be perfect, but it makes it much easier to find the right pictures to add to an album. For example, when I wanted to create an album for photos of my dog, I simply used the search tool.

1. Launch the Photos app on your iPhone.
2. Tap on the ‘Search’ tab at the top of the screen.
3. I typed “dog,” but you can type any relevant keyword into the search bar. The app will display photos associated with the entered keyword.
4. Browse through the search results. Tap ‘Select’ in the upper right corner of the screen, then choose the photos you wish to add to your album.

5. After selecting the necessary photos, tap on the three dots and select ‘Add to Album’, then choose the album or create a new one for these photos.

Conclusion

That’s how I got my photo library into great shape. Remember, these methods are just a starting point – you can repeat them as needed and customize your organization to fit your preferences.

There’s no magic button on the iPhone that will instantly perfect your Photos app with just a few clicks – it takes some manual work. However, there are some excellent cleanup apps in the App Store that can speed up the process. I hope my experience has been helpful and that you’ve found a solution that works for you in this article.