How to delete photos from iPhone: all at once or many at a time
Short answer
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. Deleted photos stay in “Recently Deleted” for 30 days.
Delete multiple photos on iPhone at once
- Open the library. Open the Photos app and scroll to your library grid.
- Tap Select. Tap Select in the top-right corner.
- Drag to select. Tap the first photo, then drag your finger across and down without lifting it – every photo you pass gets selected.
- Delete. Tap the trash icon and confirm with Delete Photos.
- Empty Recently Deleted (optional). To free the space immediately, open Collections → Recently Deleted (under Utilities), tap Select → More (•••) → Delete All.
1. Drag-select many photos in the Photos app
This is the fastest built-in way to delete a big block of photos – for example a whole holiday you already backed up elsewhere.
- Open Photos and go to the library grid.
- Tap Select.
- Tap the first photo and, without lifting your finger, drag sideways and then down. Everything you pass is selected; the screen scrolls by itself.
- Tap the trash icon and confirm.
It is quick, but you are deciding about a whole block at once. If the block contains a few photos you want to keep, you have to tap each of them to deselect it.
How to delete all photos from iPhone
There is no “Delete All” button for the whole library, but drag-select gets you there: tap Select, tap the newest photo and drag up through the grid until everything is selected, then tap the trash icon. With thousands of photos it is easier on a Mac with iCloud Photos turned on: open Photos, press ⌘-A and then Delete.
Before you mass delete: with iCloud Photos turned on, deleting on the iPhone also deletes from iCloud and all your other devices. If you want to keep the photos somewhere, copy them to a computer or external drive first – or read how to delete photos from iPhone but keep them in iCloud.
2. Swipe through your photos one by one (fastest for real clean-ups)
Most camera rolls are a mix: a great photo, then three almost identical ones, a screenshot, a blurry one. Deciding about each one in the Photos app means tap, look, select, tap again. A swipe app turns that into one gesture per photo.
With Gallery Guru it works like this:
- Pick a month – your library is split into months, with a progress ring for each.
- Swipe left to delete, right to keep. Each card shows date, file size and resolution, so you see what is worth deleting.
- Tap Review, check the photos you swiped left, rescue any you want to keep, then delete them all at once.
Nothing is deleted while you swipe, and on iPhone everything you delete goes to “Recently Deleted” for 30 days. Gallery Guru is free with 50 swipes a day; Pro removes the limit.
3. Delete by type: screenshots, videos, selfies
The Photos app groups your library by media type. Open Photos, tap Collections, scroll to Media Types and pick Screenshots, Videos, Selfies or Screen Recordings. Inside, use Select and drag-select as above.
Screenshots are the easiest win – most of them are useless a week later. See how to delete all screenshots. Videos free the most space per item: how to find and delete large videos.
4. Merge exact duplicates
Since iOS 16 the Photos app finds exact duplicates by itself. Open Photos → Collections → Duplicates and tap Merge. The album only appears if duplicates exist. It does not catch “almost the same” shots – for those, swiping through the month is quicker.
5. Delete on a Mac with iCloud Photos
If iCloud Photos is on, you can also clean up in the Photos app on a Mac: select with Shift-click or ⌘-A and press Delete. The deletions sync to your iPhone. This is handy for very large blocks, less so for deciding photo by photo.
Why the storage isn’t free yet
Deleted photos are kept in Recently Deleted for 30 days and still take up space. To get the space back right away: Photos → Collections → Recently Deleted → Select → ••• → Delete All. This cannot be undone. More in Recently Deleted explained.
Frequently asked questions
How do I select all photos on iPhone?
There is no “Select All” button in the iPhone library. Tap Select, tap the first photo and drag your finger down the screen – the grid scrolls and selects everything you pass. In an album, Select → Select All is available. On a Mac with iCloud Photos, ⌘-A selects everything.
Does deleting photos from my iPhone delete them from iCloud?
Yes, if iCloud Photos is turned on: deleting a photo on one device removes it from iCloud and all your other devices. If iCloud Photos is off, deleting only affects the iPhone.
Why is my storage still full after deleting photos?
Deleted photos stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Empty that album to free the space immediately. Also check Settings → General → iPhone Storage – apps, messages and system data can be large too. iPhone storage full: what to do.
How do I permanently delete photos from my iPhone?
Delete them as usual, then open Photos → Collections → Recently Deleted, unlock it and tap Select → More (•••) → Delete All (or select single photos and tap Delete). Only then are they gone for good and the storage is free. Recently Deleted explained.
Why won’t my iPhone let me delete some photos?
Usually because the photos were synced from a computer, belong to someone else’s shared album, or the library is still syncing. All causes and fixes.
What is the fastest app to delete photos?
For deciding photo by photo, swipe apps are the fastest because each decision is one gesture. Gallery Guru adds month-by-month progress and a review step before anything is deleted, and it works offline without uploading your photos.
