How to Delete Photos on iPhone: Proven Essential

Quick Summary: Easily delete photos on your iPhone by opening the Photos app, selecting unwanted images, and tapping the trash icon. This guide provides simple, step-by-step instructions to free up space and manage your photo library efficiently.

Is your iPhone’s photo library overflowing? Do you find yourself constantly getting that dreaded “Storage Almost Full” notification? You’re not alone! Managing photos on an iPhone can feel a bit overwhelming, especially when you want to clear out duplicates, blurry shots, or just old memories you no longer need. It’s a common issue, but thankfully, it’s also a very solvable one. This guide is here to make deleting photos on your iPhone super simple. We’ll walk you through the easiest ways to free up valuable space, keep your library tidy, and ensure you always have room for new memories. Let’s dive in and get your iPhone storage back in shape!

Why Deleting Photos is Essential for Your iPhone

Keeping your iPhone’s storage tidy isn’t just about avoiding annoying notifications. It’s crucial for your iPhone’s overall performance and usability. When your storage is packed, your iPhone can slow down, apps might crash, and you might even struggle to take new photos or videos. Regularly deleting unnecessary photos is a simple yet powerful way to ensure your device runs smoothly. Think of it like decluttering your home – it makes everything easier to find and use!

Understanding iPhone Photo Storage

Before we start deleting, it’s helpful to know how your iPhone stores photos. Your photos and videos take up space on your device. If you use iCloud Photos, your original photos are stored in iCloud, and your iPhone keeps smaller, optimized versions to save space. However, even with iCloud, your iPhone still needs some space for the photos it’s currently using or has recently downloaded. Deleting photos from your device’s library removes them from that local storage. It’s important to know that deleting them from your device also deletes them from iCloud Photos if you have that feature enabled, so we’ll cover how to manage this carefully.

The Easiest Way: Deleting Photos Directly from the Photos App

This is the most common and straightforward method. It’s perfect for clearing out individual photos or selecting a batch of images.

Step-by-Step Guide to Deleting Photos

1. Open the Photos App: Locate the Photos app icon on your Home Screen (it looks like a colorful pinwheel) and tap to open it.

2. Navigate to Your Library: Once the app is open, you’ll usually see your most recent photos. If not, tap on the ‘Library’ tab at the bottom of the screen. You can browse by days, months, or years.

3. Select Photos for Deletion: Tap the ‘Select’ button, usually found in the top-right corner of the screen. Now, tap on each photo you want to delete. A blue checkmark will appear on each selected photo.

   Tip: To quickly select multiple photos in a row, tap the first photo, then drag your finger across the screen to the last photo you want to select. This is much faster than tapping each one individually!

4. Delete the Selected Photos: Once you’ve selected all the photos you wish to remove, tap the trash can icon. This icon is usually located in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

5. Confirm Deletion: Your iPhone will ask you to confirm. Tap ‘Delete X Items’ (where X is the number of photos you selected).

What Happens After Deleting? The “Recently Deleted” Album

When you delete photos, they aren’t immediately gone forever. They are moved to a special album called “Recently Deleted.” This is a safety net, giving you a chance to recover photos you might have accidentally deleted. These photos stay in the “Recently Deleted” album for 30 days before they are permanently erased. To free up space immediately, you’ll want to empty this album.

How to Empty the “Recently Deleted” Album

1. Open the Photos App.

2. Go to Albums: Tap the ‘Albums’ tab at the bottom of the screen.

3. Find “Recently Deleted”: Scroll down under the “Utilities” section until you find the ‘Recently Deleted’ album. Tap on it.

4. Select and Delete Permanently: Tap ‘Select’ in the top-right corner. Then, tap ‘Delete’ in the bottom-left corner. You’ll be asked to confirm, ‘Delete X Photos’. Tap ‘Delete X Items’ to permanently remove them. This action frees up the storage space they were occupying.

Deleting Photos by Album

Sometimes, you might want to delete an entire album of photos, like screenshots or burst photos. This is very efficient for clearing out specific types of images.

Deleting an Entire Album

1. Open the Photos App and go to the ‘Albums’ tab.

2. Tap ‘Edit’: In the top-left corner of the Albums screen, tap ‘Edit’.

3. Select the Album: Tap the red minus (-) icon next to the album you want to delete. Note that you cannot delete the ‘Recents’, ‘Favorites’, or ‘Videos’ albums, nor albums created by apps.

4. Tap ‘Delete’: After selecting the album, tap ‘Delete’ on the right side of the screen. You’ll be asked to confirm if you want to delete the album and its contents. Confirming will move all photos within that album to the ‘Recently Deleted’ album.

Important Note: Deleting an album does not delete the photos themselves from your main library (Recents). It only removes the album organization. To truly delete the photos and free up space, you’ll need to go into the ‘Recently Deleted’ album and empty it as described earlier.

Deleting Photos from Specific Locations

Your iPhone organizes photos in various ways. You might want to delete photos from specific sections like ‘Videos’, ‘Selfies’, or ‘Screenshots’.

Using the “Media Types” and “People & Places” Sections

1. Open the Photos App and go to the ‘Albums’ tab.

2. Scroll down to the “Media Types” section. Here you’ll find categories like ‘Videos’, ‘Selfies’, ‘Portraits’, ‘Panoramas’, ‘Time-lapses’, and ‘Slow-motions’.

3. Tap on a category (e.g., ‘Videos’).

4. Select and Delete: You can now select multiple videos or photos from this category and tap the trash icon to delete them, just like you would from your main library.

5. Explore “People & Places”: Under the “People & Places” section, you can find albums for each person or pet recognized by your iPhone, and also by location. This can be useful for deleting photos of a specific event or person if you’ve organized them that way.

Deleting Burst Photos

Burst mode is great for capturing action, but it can create many similar photos, eating up storage. Here’s how to clean them up:

1. Open the Photos App and go to the ‘Albums’ tab.

2. Find the “Bursts” album under the “Media Types” section.

3. Tap on “Bursts”.

4. Select a Burst: Tap on one of the burst sets. You’ll see the option to ‘Keep Only One’ or ‘Review All’.

5. Choose ‘Review All’: This lets you see every single photo in the burst. Tap ‘Select’ at the top, then tap on the individual photos you don’t want to keep. Once selected, tap the trash icon and confirm deletion. This moves the unwanted photos to ‘Recently Deleted’.

6. Alternatively, ‘Keep Only One’: If you’re confident you only need one shot from the burst, tap ‘Keep Only One’. Your iPhone will intelligently select the best shot and delete the rest, moving them to ‘Recently Deleted’.

Deleting Photos via iCloud.com

If you use iCloud Photos, you can also manage your library from a web browser on any computer. This is a great option if you have a lot of photos to delete or if you prefer using a larger screen.

1. Go to iCloud.com in a web browser on your computer.

2. Sign in with your Apple ID and password.

3. Click on the Photos app icon.

4. Select Photos: Click on the ‘Select Photos’ button (or just click on individual photos). Hold down the ‘Command’ key (on Mac) or ‘Ctrl’ key (on Windows) to select multiple photos. You can also click and drag to select a range.

5. Click the Trash Icon: Once selected, click the trash icon in the top-right corner. Confirm the deletion.

Important: Any photos deleted from iCloud.com will also be deleted from your iPhone and any other devices signed in with the same Apple ID that use iCloud Photos. They will also be moved to the “Recently Deleted” album on iCloud.com, which you can then empty to permanently remove them.

Deleting Photos Using iTunes/Finder (for Older Backups)

While not a direct way to delete photos from your current iPhone library, if you’re looking to remove photos that might be part of an older iTunes or Finder backup, this is where you’d manage that. However, for deleting photos from your live device, the Photos app is the primary tool. This method is more about managing your device’s sync settings if you ever sync photos from a computer.

If you ever synced photos from a computer to your iPhone using iTunes or Finder in the past, you might have a “Synced from Computer” album. To remove these, you would typically sync your iPhone again with your computer and choose to sync no photos, or select a different set of photos.

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer.

2. Open Finder (macOS Catalina or later) or iTunes (older macOS or Windows).

3. Select your iPhone when it appears.

4. Go to the ‘Photos’ tab (in Finder) or the ‘Photos’ section (in iTunes).

5. Uncheck “Sync Photos”: If you want to remove all synced photos, uncheck the “Sync Photos” box. If you want to replace them with a different selection, choose a different folder or album to sync.

6. Click ‘Apply’ or ‘Sync’.