How can I stop iPhone from reusing file names of deleted photos?

Is there a way to stop the iPhone from reusing file names of deleted photos?


My understanding is that when iPhone photos are deleted, the file name (which points to the stored file) is freed up for reuse, and the reused file name overwrites the old photo location.


I use SyncBackPro to a back up my PC and it downloads the photos from the cloud and backs them up, too. I was hoping I could delete photos on my phone to free up space and still access the old photos in my backup, but if the file name on the phone gets repurposed, the backup will get overwritten.


Looks like I'll have to come up with a different way to archive my photos. SyncBack was easy.



[Re-Titled by Moderator]


Posted on Apr 25, 2025 12:50 PM

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Posted on Apr 26, 2025 8:36 AM

jbbmillar wrote: … My understanding is that when iPhone photos are deleted, the file name (which points to the stored file) is freed up for reuse, and the reused file name overwrites the old photo location.

I haven't seen this, but I haven't really needed to look. In any case, it would be counter productive to keep Photos from having multiple pictures with the same filename, anyway. Photos is required to handle that. For instance, I have people send me pictures in Messages or Mail, taken by their own cameras, which have similar filenames. I myself have had multiple cameras. I just tried a search for IMG_2155.jpg, and I have two, one from my old iPhone 12, and one from my new iPhone 16. In fact, because these numbers come up over and over, in Photos the filenames aren't used for anything other than a sort of reference to the history of the picture. Those filenames aren't used by Photos except in searches.


So I don't think that it makes sense to look for a solution that forces Photos to have only one of each filename. I think you should either talk to the SyncBackPro people or find a more useful backup system.



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3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 26, 2025 8:36 AM in response to jbbmillar

jbbmillar wrote: … My understanding is that when iPhone photos are deleted, the file name (which points to the stored file) is freed up for reuse, and the reused file name overwrites the old photo location.

I haven't seen this, but I haven't really needed to look. In any case, it would be counter productive to keep Photos from having multiple pictures with the same filename, anyway. Photos is required to handle that. For instance, I have people send me pictures in Messages or Mail, taken by their own cameras, which have similar filenames. I myself have had multiple cameras. I just tried a search for IMG_2155.jpg, and I have two, one from my old iPhone 12, and one from my new iPhone 16. In fact, because these numbers come up over and over, in Photos the filenames aren't used for anything other than a sort of reference to the history of the picture. Those filenames aren't used by Photos except in searches.


So I don't think that it makes sense to look for a solution that forces Photos to have only one of each filename. I think you should either talk to the SyncBackPro people or find a more useful backup system.



Apr 25, 2025 9:27 PM in response to jbbmillar

If you have enough iCloud storage space for all of your photos, you could keep them there – and turn on "Optimize iPhone Storage" on the iPhone.


Your phone would still store copies of all of your photos, but this would let it substitute lower-resolution local copies for full-size local copies in order to free up device storage.


Manage your photo and video storage - Apple Support


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How can I stop iPhone from reusing file names of deleted photos?

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