How to Delete All Photos from Your iPhone (Without Losing Them For Good)

Since Apple phones only come with a set amount of internal storage that cannot be expanded, you can quickly run out of storage space. At some point, you may receive the dreaded Storage Almost Full alert, which is an all-too-familiar pop-up for any photo enthusiast.

Once this happens, you will have to buy a new model or get rid of apps and images. If you don't, you can't update your phone, add apps, and eventually you'll even have problems receiving text messages.

If you go to Settings on your iPhone and go to Usage, you'll probably see that Photos and Camera will take up one of the top spots in your phone's memory. From there, you have several choices: manually browse and delete the unwanted photos, or delete them all and start over.

The former is a boring and tedious process, while the latter is actually very simple – and if you back up your phone first, you don't have to worry about losing the files for good.

Back up your photos and videos

Before you delete your photos from your phone, you'll probably want to store them all in a safe place where you can still access them directly from your phone. If you've already done this or don't care to save everything, skip to the next step.

Backup using iCloud

Apple gives you 5GB of free iCloud storage and is incredibly easy to use. If you need more than 5 GB, you can buy it for $0,99/month.

Here's how to save your photos to iCloud:

1. Plug your phone into its charger and connect it to a stable WiFi connection.
2. Head into your phone's settings and tap your name at the top.
   
3. Press iCloud.
   
4. Scroll down and press ICloud backup.
   
5. Press Save now.
   
6. When the backup is complete, return to the iCloud page, and press Photos.
   
7. Turn iCloud Photos Disabled.
   

Performing the last two steps listed above ensures that when you delete the photos from your phone, they are not deleted from your iCloud as well.

To verify that your photos are safe in iCloud, visit the iCloud website, sign in with your Apple ID, and click Photos. They should all appear safely in your iCloud.

Backup using Google Photos

There are many third-party backup services for photos, but the most popular is Google Photos. It's versatile and free, but it also lets you view and interact with your photos and videos right from your phone. All you need is the app, a wifi connection and a Gmail account.

Unfortunately, if your phone is running out of storage and fails to download the app, you'll have to delete something else to add it. You will need around 200MB of free space to add the app.

Download the app and sign in to your Gmail account. Once you have completed the installation process, the download will start automatically. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to check your progress. It will count the number of remaining photos to store.

Now that you're all backed up, here's how to delete all photos from your iPhone.

Disable iCloud Photo Sync

Before you start deleting photos, it is important that you turn off the sync photos option in the Parameters. If you neglect to follow these steps, your photos might be deleted from iCloud.

1. Open Parameters on your iPhone and tap your name at the top.
   
2. Tap iCloud.
   
3. Tap Photos.
   
4. Flip the switch disabled so it turns gray.
   

Now that syncing is disabled, you can safely delete photos on your iPhone. We'll show you how to do this in the next section.

How to Delete All Photos from iPhone

Now that we have saved all your important photos, let's delete them from your iPhone.

Delete All Photos Using Google Photos

If you've chosen Google Photos as your backup option, there's actually a button right inside the app that lets you delete any photos that have been backed up to the service.

To delete photos on your iPhone using the Google Photos app, simply open the app and tap the icon in the top right corner.

Now you can tap the option to delete photos that have been backed up. Assuming that you have backed up all your photos, that would mean that all your photos will be deleted.

iOS Photos app – iOS 14 or newer

If you've updated your iPhone to one of the latest software versions, you'll need to follow the steps in this section. Keep in mind that the Recent the folder will not have the 'Select all'option.

Here's how to quickly delete all photos from your iPhone:

1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone and select Albums at the bottom of the page.
   
2. Tap one of the albums containing photos you want to delete.
   
3. Press Select in the upper right corner.
   
4. Tap Select all in the upper left corner.
   
5. Tap the trash can icon in the lower right corner. Next, confirm that you want to delete all photos from the album.
   

You will need to follow the same steps for each album on your iPhone to delete all photos.

iOS Photos app – iOS 13 or earlier

Deleting all of your photos using your iOS device can take a bit of time, depending on how many pictures you have and how many photos each album contains, but it's still faster than manually deleting individual photos. individual photos.

1. Open the Photo app.
2. Tap the album you want to delete your photos from.
   
3. In the upper right corner, tap Select.
   
4. In the upper left corner, tap Select all.
   
5. Tap the trash can icon at the bottom when you're done selecting all the photos to delete. Then press Clear.
   

   

Go through each album on your phone and follow these steps to delete your photos. This is a much faster way to delete all pictures from your iPhone than the one mentioned earlier, although slightly trickier.

Delete all photos from your iPhone using Moments

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap Photos at the bottom.
   
3. At the top, tap Years, then select the year you want. You will then be presented with a collage of image collections called Moments.
   
4. Tap Select in the top right corner and now you can select as many moments as you want.
   
5. Tap the trash can icon at the bottom.
   
6. Repeat the steps for each year.

Delete all photos on your iPhone using your Mac

Thanks to Apple's all-in-one ecosystem, deleting all the photos on your iPhone using your Mac is the easiest and fastest way to get rid of them.

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac using your USB cable.
2. Open the Image Capture app on your Mac.
3. A window should now appear that shows all the photos on your iPhone.
4. In the window, press Command + A and all of your images should now be highlighted.
5. Press the Delete button (circled by a line), then press Delete again when prompted.

Delete your deleted photos

Following the steps above will not free up more storage space on your device alone. Apple will actually keep everything in a deleted folder for 30 days. This means that you will also have to manually delete everything in this folder.

Open the iOS Photos app and scroll all the way to the bottom where you can tap Recently deleted. Then press Delete everything in the lower left corner.

Now you can go back to your phone settings and check the storage. You should see a little liberated. Keep in mind; videos take up the most storage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Deleting all your photos can seem overwhelming. We have more answers to your questions below!

If I accidentally deleted all my photos, how can I get them back?

If you clicked delete and regretted it, the first thing you'll want to do is locate the “Recently Deleted” folder on your iPhone. If your photos are there, just select the option to restore them.

If they are not there, check your iCloud account and Google photos. Fortunately, there was a backup copy on a cloud service or another device; otherwise, you will not be able to recover them.

Can I permanently delete my photos?

Yes. Once you clean your "Recently Deleted" folder, all images will be permanently deleted from your device. If you want the photos gone forever, with no one having access to a recovery option, however, you will have to do some research.

You will need to check all photo storage apps on your phone. This includes iCloud Photos (all of which you can delete using a method similar to those above), Google Photos, Dropbox, Shutterfly, your social media apps, and any other cloud-based services you have downloaded to your iPhone. .

Assuming you've erased the pictures from your device, iCloud, and other apps, there's no way to get them back.

Can I transfer my iPhone photos to PC?

Yes. Using your charging cable, plug the USB into the computer to connect your phone. A pop-up window should appear asking if you want to download your photos to your computer. Another popup will appear on your phone asking if you trust the computer; tap "Trust".

The download should start immediately and stop automatically when complete. You can also download iTunes to your PC and create a full backup of your phone, including photos and videos.