iOS 16 finally brings two features to Photos that I’ve been asking for
Use FaceID for those special captures
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WithiOS 16available to users with aniPhone 8oriPhone SE 2and newer, there are plenty of smaller features that users are already discovering.
One particular such feature for me is found in the Photos app. There are moments when we’re taking so many images at once with our iPhone cameras that we forget to delete the duplicates, and they eventually build up.
Since iOS launched in 2007 with the original iPhone, it’s been a hassle to weed these duplicates out, until now. There are also some new safeguards involving FaceID for certain albums as well.
With pre-orders for theApple iPhone 14andiPhone 14 Prolive, these features could be very useful when customers start to use the improved cameras that these both have.
I’m seeing double
As long as you’re on iOS 16, go to the Photos app, then scroll down until you see theDuplicatesalbum.
Inside here, you can merge or delete whichever photos or videos that iOS has found, which will free up storage on your iPhone andiCloud accountthe more you look into this section.
So far I’ve managed to easily merge and delete around 50 images, mostly from when I got married, so I’ve already saved myself a headache compared to if I was still oniOS 15or below.
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Alongside this, however, theHiddenandRecently Deletedalbums now require FaceID to be displayed, which could be useful for many. With so many images we send and receive to one another onmessaging apps, alongside some that could be perceived the wrong way by others, having this extra security measure will be a haven for some users.
Regardless, it’s great to finally see some features inApple’s Photos app that have long been requested by many iPhone owners - myself included, especially with theiPhone 14line about to launch with improved cameras this year.
Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he’s written a book, ‘The Making of Tomb Raider’. His second book, ‘50 Years of Boss Fights’, came out in 2024, with a third book coming in 2025. He also has a newsletter called ‘Springboard’. He’s usually found playing games old and new on his Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that’s about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.
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