How to Delete Photos from iPhone in Bulk & Individually

Deleting photos from your iPhone is a great way to free up storage, and we'll show you how easy the Photos app makes it to delete multiple pictures at once. We'll also go over how to recover deleted photos from iPhones or permanently delete them.

Jump To:

• How to Delete Photos from iPhone
• How to Permanently Delete Photos from iPhone
• FAQ

How to Delete Photos from iPhone

Here's how to bulk delete multiple photos from iPhone. The Photos app on the iPhone makes it easy to mass delete pictures from iCloud and local storage. Here's how to delete photos from iPhone:

1. Open the Photos app.
   
   
2. Go to the Albums tab.
   
   
3. Select Recents to view your entire camera roll.
   
   
4. Tap Select in the upper right corner.
   
   
5. Tap individual photos to select photos one at a time.
   
   
6. To select several photos at once, swipe your finger across rows of photos you want to delete. Make sure you swipe horizontally first, as swiping vertically will cause the album to scroll up or down. Once you have swiped horizontally, you will be able to swipe vertically without scrolling. Selected photos will display a blue checkmark.
   
   
7. To deselect photos, simply tap those individual photos or swipe across an entire row to remove the blue checkmarks.
   
   
8. Tap the trash icon in the bottom right corner.
   
   
9. A pop-up will ask you to confirm that you want to delete the selected photos from iCloud, Photo Stream, and any other albums containing the photos you are deleting; tap Delete [#] Photos to confirm. 
   
   

If you have an even larger number of bulk photos to delete, check out how to delete a photo album on iPhone, how to delete duplicate photos automatically, or how to delete all photos from iPhone. For more iPhone tips, check out our free Tip of the Day newsletter.

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How to Permanently Delete Photos from iPhone

If you deleted pictures and videos that you don't want sitting in the Recently Deleted album for thirty days, you can permanently delete one, a few, or all these pictures permanently. Here's how to find deleted photos on iPhone:

1. Navigate to the Albums tab inside the Photos app. Scroll down to Utilities and select Recently Deleted.
   
   
2. You will need to use Face ID or your passcode to view this album.
   
   
3. Tap Select on the top right.
   
   
4. You can select individual photos to delete by tapping photos one at a time. Once you are finished selecting, tap the More icon (three dots) on the bottom right.
   
   
5. Select Delete.
   
   
6. When prompted, confirm the deletion by tapping Delete From All Devices.
   
   
7. If you want to restore the photos which means they go back to the Photos album where you deleted them through, tap Recover in step 5.
   
   
8. You'll have to confirm by tapping Recover [#] Photos.
   
   

If you accidentally deleted a photo you meant to keep, fear not! iCloud saves any images you deleted over the last 30 days in the Recently Deleted album of your Photos app. You can use Recently Deleted to restore deleted photos or empty Recently Deleted to permanently delete photos. Learn more about how to find deleted photos on iPhone, or even recover permanently deleted photos from the Recently Deleted Photos album, which isn't always possible.

Now, you know the best ways to delete photos on your iPhone! The same steps can be used to delete videos, retrieve deleted videos, and delete videos permanently. Next, learn how to find hidden photos on iPhones of all models.