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Abdichoudxyz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 16, 2023
5
3
Rather annoyingly, any images that I receive via WhatsApp etc, get lumped in with my own photos I take with my iPhone. Then when I import them to photos on my iMac, they're al in together. There appears to be no way to prevent this, and to separate my own images form all others. I would like to keep the others (most of them anyway), but just have my iPhone photos in my Photos collection on my iMac. Back in my Android days, I could set folders according to the origination of images. Is there any way I can replicate this on my iPhone/in Photos? Having to manually remove images is a real pain, and I've practically given up. Can I set a script or something to do this? Any help gratefully appreciated.
 

zakarhino

Contributor
Sep 13, 2014
2,307
6,084
Try experimenting with Smart Albums in the Photos app, it is only available on the Mac version of Photos. You could create a Smart Album that only contains photos you've actually shot on your phone or create a smart album for images that were saved from WhatsApp (that way it's easier to find WhatsApp photos and delete them every so often or something) @Abdichoudxyz
 

Abdichoudxyz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 16, 2023
5
3
Thanks, but that doesn't work, as there's no way of just selecting iPhone pics. This is very annoying that Apple haven't considered this, as you can do it in Android (it automatically creates folders according to apps etc). I just want to be able to put 'external' images elsewhere. Shouldn't be impossible, but it seems it is. A major failing of iOS imo.
 

zach-coleman

macrumors 6502a
Apr 10, 2022
857
1,341
Thanks, but that doesn't work, as there's no way of just selecting iPhone pics. This is very annoying that Apple haven't considered this, as you can do it in Android (it automatically creates folders according to apps etc). I just want to be able to put 'external' images elsewhere. Shouldn't be impossible, but it seems it is. A major failing of iOS imo.
You can filter by camera. Filter by taken on your current iPhone model. (Ex iPhone 13 Pro) It won’t be perfect but it will still be a start.
 

unobtainium

macrumors 68030
Mar 27, 2011
2,565
3,811
In Settings, open Messages, scroll down to “Shared With Me” and turn off “Photos”. Repeat for WhatsApp and any other app where you receive photos. That will prevent it from happening in the future. To get rid of ones that already exist, I’ve always wondered if they disappear after a while if you don’t “save to library”. If not, I guess you have to manually delete them.
 
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mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,466
5,475
It’s definitely a strange setting that defaults to on in messages. I have it turned off. I just save what I want from messages.
 

zach-coleman

macrumors 6502a
Apr 10, 2022
857
1,341
In Settings, open Messages, scroll down to “Shared With Me” and turn off “Photos”. Repeat for WhatsApp and any other app where you receive photos. That will prevent it from happening in the future. To get rid of ones that already exist, I’ve always wondered if they disappear after a while if you don’t “save to library”. If not, I guess you have to manually delete them.
I don't think WhatsApp is smart enough to use the shared with me function. It probably just dumps a photo with no metadata into your camera roll.
 

zach-coleman

macrumors 6502a
Apr 10, 2022
857
1,341
Here is an example of a smart album that finds photos taken on a Canon EOS M50.
1695222334092.png


And one that will find most downloaded photos or screenshots...
1695222405859.png
 
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Abdichoudxyz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 16, 2023
5
3
Here is an example of a smart album that finds photos taken on a Canon EOS M50.
View attachment 2270649

And one that will find most downloaded photos or screenshots...
View attachment 2270654
YES! This is brilliant! It works! Thank you so much!

I now have two smart folders; 'iPhone 12', and 'Not iPhone 12'. Now All I have to do is work out how to save all the 'Not' photos to a separate folder OMG YOU JUST DRAG THE SMART FOLDER ICON TO THE DESKTOP AND IT DOES THAT FOR YOU!!!!!

So now I can delete all the 'Not' photos from y Photos library. Fan-tastic.

Thanks to those who contributed. Much appreciated.
 
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