iOS 10.1: Stop Portrait mode from creating duplicate photos

The iPhone 7 Plus has the ability to take pictures with a new feature called the depth-of-field effect. The depth-of-field effect is possible because of the iPhone 7 Plus’ dual cameras.

Here’s the official description from Apple’s announcement page:

iOS 10.1 brings Portrait mode to iPhone 7 Plus customers starting today, adding a beautiful new photo feature to the world’s most popular camera.

This new feature in the Camera app creates stunning photos and shows off the power of the dual-camera system in iPhone 7 Plus. Easily access Portrait mode from the Camera app, in between Photo and Square modes.

Using both 12-megapixel cameras on iPhone 7 Plus and advanced machine learning, Portrait mode applies a depth-of-field effect to make your foreground subject sharp while creating a beautifully blurred background. This effect, also known as “bokeh” and previously only capable on DSLR cameras, turns the camera you carry around with you everyday into an even more powerful photography tool.

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Unfortunately, one of the side effects of this new feature is that iOS 10.1 creates two versions of your picture. One version uses the depth-of-field effect, while the other does not. Apple has set it up this way so that you can opt to keep either version, and it’s good that it’s the default setting for the users that want two copies of each of their photos.

How to disable Portrait mode’s “Keep Normal Photo”

Some folks might not want the normal version of the photo, however. No worries, it’s easy to change the Portrait mode setting to disable keeping a normal version of your photo.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Tap on Photos & Camera.

3. Scroll down to Portrait mode.

4. Toggle the “Keep Normal Photo” switch to the off position.

And that’s it, that’s all you need to do to avoid having your iPhone 7 Plus keep unwanted duplicates of your photos when you use Portrait mode.

If you change your mind later and want to keep normal versions of your photos, you can just toggle “Keep Normal Photo” back to the on position.

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