Exact, Similar, Near and Burst Duplicates: What to Delete on iPhone

Published October 19, 2026.

A duplicate finder that puts everything in one list leaves you deleting blindly or checking hundreds of groups by hand. HEVCut splits duplicates into four tiers instead: Exact, Similar, Near and Burst. Each tier is found in a different way and carries a different risk, so each deserves a different amount of attention before you delete.

This guide explains what each tier means, how it is detected, how the suggested copy to keep is chosen, and how it fits alongside Apple's free Duplicates album. If you only need the basic steps, start with how to find and delete duplicate photos on iPhone.

Quick answer

Tier	What it means	How it is found	What to do
Exact	Same picture, same file size, same dimensions	Matching fingerprint plus matching size and dimensions	Usually safe to clear with Use suggestions
Similar	Same picture, different size or dimensions	Matching fingerprint, different size or dimensions	Keep the best version; check edits and favorites
Near	Almost the same picture	Fingerprints that differ by 4 bits or fewer	Compare at full size before deleting
Burst	Frames from one burst shot	Photos' own burst grouping	Pick frames yourself; Use suggestions skips them

How HEVCut finds duplicates

HEVCut does not compare file names or capture times. For every photo and video, it takes the small thumbnail Photos already keeps and reduces it to a 64-bit perceptual fingerprint, a compact summary of the image's light and dark areas. Two copies of the same picture produce the same fingerprint even if one was resized or re-saved, and a slightly altered copy produces a fingerprint that differs in only a few bits. This runs on your device.

A few rules keep the groups honest:

Photos are only compared with photos, and videos with videos.
Videos must also match in length. A video's fingerprint comes from its thumbnail frame, and different clips can open on the same frame. If the videos in a group differ in duration by more than one second, the group is dropped.
Very plain images are skipped. An all-black or all-white frame has a fingerprint that would match every other plain frame, so those are left out rather than grouped.
Burst frames stay in the Burst tier. They are not mixed into the other three.

Exact: the same file, saved twice

An Exact group's copies share the fingerprint, the file size and the pixel dimensions. In practice that is the same file arriving twice: an AirDrop you accepted twice, a photo you saved again from a chat, or an import that ran more than once.

Exact groups are the safest to clear in bulk. The one thing to check is what lives in Photos rather than in the file, such as favorites and albums.

Similar: the same picture, a different file

A Similar group's copies share the fingerprint but differ in file size or dimensions. Typical causes are a resized copy, a re-export from an editing app, or a photo that went through a messaging app and came back smaller.

You usually want one of them. Resolution matters here, and so does any edit you made to one copy but not the other.

Near: almost the same picture

A Near group links items whose fingerprints differ in 1 to 4 of their 64 bits. That catches a slight crop, a small color change or heavier recompression. It can also catch two separate shots of the same scene that look almost identical at thumbnail size.

Near groups are built by chaining: if A is close to B and B is close to C, all three land in one group, so the first and last items can differ more than any single link. That is why Near is the tier to review by eye. Sort by Most Confident to see the tightest matches first; Exact, Similar and Burst groups always rank above Near in that sort.

For retakes and look-alike shots specifically, how to delete similar photos on iPhone has a focused walkthrough.

Burst: frames, not copies

A Burst group is every frame Photos filed under one burst. These are successive moments, not copies, so HEVCut treats them differently:

Use suggestions skips them. The button is turned off on the Burst tier. You can still use the sparkle button on one burst group at a time.
Deleting is burst-aware. iOS removes a burst as a whole. When you delete some frames, HEVCut saves the frames you did not select again as standalone photos, keeping their capture date, location, favorite status and albums, and deletes the burst in the same step. You confirm it once.
It needs full Photos access. With limited access, HEVCut cannot see every frame in a burst, so it will not delete burst frames rather than risk losing the ones you meant to keep.

Burst frames are also never offered for compression. For shooting tips and Apple's own Keep Only Favorites method, see burst photos on iPhone.

How Keep Best Copy chooses

Every group shows a suggested keeper, marked with a sparkle, and a one-line reason such as "This copy is a favorite and is the oldest." When nothing distinguishes the copies, it says so: "All copies look identical — we picked one for you."

The pick weighs these signals, from most to least important. Resolution and file size count for much less than the others and mostly break ties:

Favorite. You marked it, so it matters to you.
In your Shared Library. Other people in the library see that copy.
Has a location.
Is edited.
Is a Live Photo.
Higher resolution.
Larger file.

If two copies still tie, the older one wins.

Two limits are worth knowing. Keep Best Copy does not look at faces, focus or composition, so in Near and Burst groups, open the copies and decide yourself. And it does not merge anything: unlike Apple's Merge, deleting the other copies does not move their location, edits or albums onto the keeper. That is why the ranking favors the copy that already has them.

Work through the tiers

Review duplicates tier by tier

01
Open HEVCut and tap the Duplicates tile on Home. Groups appear once the scan has fingerprinted your library. The scan runs while the app is open; if you leave, it picks up where it left off.
02
Start with the Exact tier, which opens first. Read the one-line reason under each group to see why HEVCut suggests that copy.
03
Tap Use suggestions to mark every extra copy in the tier you are viewing, or use the sparkle button on a single group to do it one group at a time.
04
Switch to Similar, then Near. Open copies with the info button and compare them at full size before you leave anything selected.
05
Review Burst groups one by one. Tap the frame you want to keep, check which frames are marked, and change anything that is wrong.
06
Tap Delete and confirm the iOS prompt. Deleted items move to Recently Deleted in Photos.

Inside a group, tapping a copy when nothing in that group is selected keeps that copy and marks the rest. Tap again to change individual copies. The delete bar shows how many items are selected and how much space they free.

Scanning and browsing Duplicates is free. Deleting the copies you've reviewed needs HEVCut Pro.

Try free

HEVCut and Apple's Duplicates album

Photos has a free Duplicates album on iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1 and later. Apple says to open Photos, tap Collections, swipe up and tap Duplicates under Utilities. Merge "combines the highest image quality and relevant data to keep one photo in your library", and the other copies move to Recently Deleted (Apple Support).

Apple also says detection requires the iPhone to be locked and connected to power, and can take up to a few days depending on library size and background activity. If the album is missing, your iPhone either hasn't finished indexing or hasn't found duplicates (Apple Support).

The two work well together:

Use Apple's Merge for straightforward copies when you want Photos to combine their data into one.
Use HEVCut to see what Apple's pages don't describe: Near matches and bursts, how much space each group frees, and why one copy is suggested over another.

There's a fuller side-by-side in HEVCut vs Apple Photos.

Before you delete

Deleted items go to Recently Deleted for 30 days, then they are permanently deleted. With iCloud Photos, deleting on one device deletes on your other devices too (Apple Support). Keep a separate backup of anything irreplaceable before a large cleanup.

Frequently asked questions

Is it safe to delete Exact duplicates?

It is the safest tier: the copies share the fingerprint, file size and dimensions, which in practice is the same file saved twice. Check that the copy you keep is in the albums you care about, because deleting a copy also removes it from its albums.

Why is a photo listed as Similar when it looks identical?

Similar copies look the same but have a different file size or dimensions, usually because one is a resized or re-exported version. Keep Best Copy favors the higher-resolution copy unless another one is a favorite, in your Shared Library, has a location, or is edited.

Does HEVCut pick the sharpest photo or the one where everyone is smiling?

No. Keep Best Copy ranks copies by favorite status, Shared Library, location, edits, Live Photo, resolution and file size. It does not judge faces, focus or composition, so compare Near and Burst groups yourself.

Why doesn't Use suggestions select burst frames?

Burst frames are separate moments, not copies, so picking one automatically would be a guess. You can still use the sparkle button on a single burst group, then check the result.

If I delete some frames of a burst, do the frames I keep survive?

Yes. HEVCut saves the frames you did not select again as standalone photos, with their capture date, location, favorite status and albums, in the same step that deletes the burst. This needs full Photos access.

Does HEVCut find duplicate videos?

Yes. Videos are fingerprinted from their thumbnail frame and only grouped with other videos of nearly the same length, within one second, so two clips that open on the same title card aren't treated as copies.

Can I delete duplicates for free?

Scanning, browsing and selecting duplicates is free. Deleting from Duplicates needs HEVCut Pro. Apple's Duplicates album in Photos is free and needs no extra app.