Is It Safe to Delete Duplicate Files on Android, a Complete Guide

Having the mobile phone cluttered with duplicate files is one of the most common issues experienced by people whose Android phone or tablet devices run out of storage space, significantly impacting the performance as it slows down the device. To resolve this, deleting duplicate files is one of the easiest methods to recover storage space and increase performance.

However, finding duplicate files is tiring enough, which is why we have created this step-by-step guide. In it, we will show you some quick and easy techniques to automate the process of finding, shortlisting, and then safely deleting duplicates on Android phone and tablet devices.

Is It Safe to Delete Duplicate Files on Android?

To determine whether to delete the duplicates, it is important to understand how the duplicate files were created and in which directory they are located in your phone’s storage.

Android System and App Data: The operating system and installed apps may create duplicates for some files in the form of backup, especially when updating the app or upgrading to the latest Android OS. In this situation, it is best to keep these duplicates, as the Android system is designed to self-clean them.
Backup Files and Folders: Countless apps store backup files locally on your device; these files are usually identical in size as backups are created regularly, due to which there is a slight variation in the overall data. It is recommended that these backup files and folders be kept as they are temporarily stored.
Burst Mode Photography: Almost every Android smartphone comes with a special yet well-known photography mode, i.e., burst mode. When taking pictures in this mode, your device can easily create hundreds of near-duplicates and identical shots. You can keep the best shot and remove the other versions to take care of this.
Downloading Files and Docs: When downloading files or documents from the Internet, we often mistakenly download one file multiple times, which creates duplicates. These duplicates are generally safe to delete, but only if you know you have kept the original copy.
File Transfers: Transferring the exact same file multiple times can cause duplication. For example, you have transferred one video to the Downloads folder and then accidentally transferred the same video file to the DCIM folder. These file duplications are generally safe to delete, but you need to ensure you have kept their original copies.
Photos Sharing Apps: Social media messaging apps like WhatsApp and Snapchat can create additional copies locally on your device when you share files, photos, and videos with your friends and loved ones. In this case, keeping the originals and removing the shared copies is safe to recover lost storage space.

Usually, it is safe to delete the duplicates you see in folders such as DCIM, Downloads, and Documents. However, please avoid files in folders like Android, Alarms, and Ringtones. Talking about the data stored in the removable SD card, it is typically safe to delete duplicates on the SD card, provided you are not using them as backups.

How to Safely Delete Duplicate Files on Android

The app Cisdem Duplicate Finder makes it easy to manage and delete duplicate files on Android phones or tablet devices. It finds all known duplicates, including photos, videos, documents, and audio files, while balancing efficiency and safety.

For instance, once you have properly configured the app, it is powerful enough to find and select duplicate files automatically. You can then delete all of those with just a simple tap. Moreover, you can modify the selection to ensure that only unwanted copies are removed.

Now that you know about the true power of this duplicate finder app, let’s jump into the guide. We will show you how to use this tool to delete duplicate files on Android safely.

The first step is to download and install the Cisdem Duplicate Finder on your Android device. You can download it from the Play Store. Once installed, open the app.
You can optionally customize the search settings. To do so, tap the gear icon at the top right corner and tap on “Customize Settings.” Here, you will find the “Ignore folder list” option. This allows you to add sensitive folders (like Android and Backup) to the ignore list so that the duplicate finder app won’t look for duplicates in these folders, helping you protect important files.
Once you are ready and all the setup and customization are done, simply tap on the “Start Scan” button located at the center of the interface. The app will scan your device and search for duplicates based on your custom parameters.
Once the scan is complete, you will see the number of duplicates found, their actual sizes, and how much they occupy. To further refine your search results, tap “Images,” “Videos,” or any custom file type to start managing the duplicates for that file type.
Another interesting aspect is that tapping “Images” will display all the duplicate photos found on your device. The duplicate photos are neatly grouped together, and thumbnails make it easy to view what’s been found. To get detailed information about a photo, simply tap it.
To provide efficiency, the app automatically keeps one copy and selects other copies for deletion in each group, so you don’t have to do it manually. To provide safety while deletion, the app allows you to easily customize the selection.
- Select or deselect files manually
- Click the “Retain all” option to keep all the files in a group if needed
- Offer various rules for you to decide which files are to be selected for deletion
Once you are sure that redundant duplicates are selected, tap the “Clean” button. A message will pop up, asking you for the confirmation to delete.
The deletion confirmation popup box is thoughtfully designed and efficiently implemented to prevent accidental deletions.

That’s how simple and easy it is to delete duplicate files, photos, music, and documents. To further find and get rid of other types of duplicates, you will need to repeat the steps mentioned above, especially from step 5 to step 8.

How Does Near Duplicates and Selection Work?

This app also provides a reliable way to deal with near-duplicate photos. If a similar photo function is enabled in Settings, the app will find both duplicates and near-duplicates. It doesn’t automatically select photos for deletion in each group of near-duplicates, as you are the one who knows best which photos are worth keeping and which ones need to be deleted.

However, the app offers a few selection rules specifically designed to handle better near-duplicates, which is a handy feature. For example, you can use settings and apply rules like “Select low-quality” or “Select low-resolution.” Selecting any of these will automatically choose all photos but the one with the largest file size or highest dimensions.

Concluding Thoughts

Duplicate photos, videos, songs, documents, and other file types can accumulate on your Android device over time, taking up storage space. Duplicate media files often take up the most space. Removing them can free up space and potentially improve your device’s performance. However, you should be cautious with the removal. As mentioned earlier, deleting certain duplicates may cause your device or apps to malfunction or lose important files.

Luckily, with a safe duplicate file finder app like Cisdem Duplicate Finder, you can easily find and delete duplicates while keeping important files untouched. By following the steps mentioned in this guide and being mindful of what you will delete, you can quickly recover a lot of storage space while ensuring your Android device doesn’t contain duplicates.