Guides: clean up photos & free up storage
Step-by-step help for anyone whose phone or iCloud storage is full. Every guide starts with the short answer.
How to delete photos from iPhone: all at once or many at a time
To delete many or all photos on an iPhone at once, open Photos, tap Select, drag your finger across the photos to select a whole block, then tap the trash icon and confirm. To decide photo by photo without all the tapping, use a swipe app such as Gallery Guru: swipe left to delete, right to keep, then delete everything at once.
6 min read →iPhone storage full? How to get more storage – photos first
When your iPhone storage is full, open Settings → General → iPhone Storage to see what uses the space. On most phones Photos is the largest item, so start there: delete large videos, screenshots and bad shots, then empty “Recently Deleted”.
7 min read →How to find and delete large videos on iPhone
Videos are usually the biggest space users on an iPhone: one minute of 4K at 60 fps takes about 400 MB. Open Photos → Collections → Media Types → Videos to see all videos with their length; long ones are the big ones.
5 min read →iCloud storage full? What to do and how to free space
If your iCloud storage is full, open Settings → [your name] → iCloud to see what uses it. Usually it is Photos, followed by device backups and Messages.
6 min read →Recently Deleted on iPhone: restore photos or free the space
Photos and videos you delete on an iPhone go to the “Recently Deleted” album and stay there for 30 days before they are removed for good. Open Photos → Collections → Recently Deleted and unlock with Face ID or your passcode.
4 min read →How to delete all screenshots on iPhone
Your iPhone collects all screenshots in one place: open Photos, tap Collections, scroll to Media Types and tap Screenshots. Tap Select, drag your finger across the screenshots to select them in bulk, tap the trash icon and confirm.
3 min read →Which kind of photo cleaner app do you need? Swipe app vs. duplicate finder
Photo cleaner apps come in three kinds. Swipe apps (like Gallery Guru) show one photo at a time and you decide with a swipe – best for everyday clutter.
6 min read →How to delete photos from iPhone but not from iCloud
With iCloud Photos turned on, you can’t delete a photo only on the iPhone – the library is synced, so deleting removes it from iCloud and all devices. To free space but keep everything in iCloud, make sure “Optimize iPhone Storage” is on (the default): the originals stay in iCloud, the phone keeps small versions.
5 min read →The best apps to delete photos: 5 swipe apps compared
The best-known apps to delete photos by swiping are Swipewipe, Slidebox, Slider, Clever Cleaner and Gallery Guru. All are free to download with paid upgrades.
8 min read →iPhone won’t let you delete photos? Causes and fixes
If your iPhone won’t let you delete photos, the most common reason is that they were synced from a computer with Finder or iTunes – those can only be removed from the computer. Other causes: the photo is in someone else’s shared album, it’s from Messages, the library is still syncing with iCloud, or the storage is completely full.
5 min read →Slidebox alternative: Gallery Guru vs. Slidebox, compared honestly
Slidebox is a photo app by Slidebox LLC: swipe a photo up to trash it, down to favorite it, or tap an album to sort it. Gallery Guru is the better fit if you mainly want to delete: it splits your library into months, shows date, file size and resolution on every card and lets you check everything in a review grid before deleting.
6 min read →Swipewipe alternative: Gallery Guru vs. Swipewipe, compared honestly
Swipewipe (by MWM) and Gallery Guru work alike: go through your photos month by month, swipe right to keep, left to delete, review before anything is deleted. Swipewipe does more – duplicate piles, On This Day, an AI photo enhancer and more tools – and needs iOS 18.
6 min read →How to organize photos on iPhone (and clean them up first)
To organize photos on an iPhone, clean up first, then sort what is left. Delete screenshots, bad shots and old videos, then use Apple’s built-in tools: Favorites for the best photos, albums for topics, People & Pets and the Map for faces and places, and Hidden for private photos.
7 min read →
Free up gigabytes in minutes
Gallery Guru puts your camera roll into months. Swipe left to delete, right to keep – review, then free up space in one tap.
Free download · no account · no ads