How to Delete and Recover Photos on Your iPhone

Posted on the 04 February 2021 by Thiruvenkatam Chinnagounder @tipsclear

Apple's iPhone continues to push the limits of internal storage, and new models come with up to 512GB. Yet having too many photos on your device can become more of a headache than a convenience. You will have to learn how to remove them effectively, and Apple presents a few simple options for doing so using your iMac or iPhone.

Of course, while deleting some old images, you might accidentally delete one that you intended to keep. Lucky for you, Apple also gives you easy ways to restore photos that you accidentally delete. If you want to learn more about your iPhone, you can also check out our guide on how to reset it.

Delete photos on your iPhone using a Mac

Image Capture is a discreet app that comes with your Mac and does all kinds of handy tasks, including uploading your photos from your iPhone or iPad.

You can plug your iPhone into your Mac to view, download, or delete your photos using Image Capture. Here's how to do it.

  • launch Picture Capture from the Applications folder on your Mac.
  • Connect your iPhone to the computer via USB.
  • Select your device from the list.
  • View photos in thumbnail or list format.
  • Choose the ones you want to save to your hard drive. Drag the slider to change the size of the thumbnail for optimal viewing.
  • Click it Import to context menu, then choose where to save the images or which application to use to open them.
  • To import only some of the images, select them, then click Import. To import all images, click Import everything.
  • You can automatically transfer pictures from your phone to your computer whenever they are connected by clicking the button. Show / hide in the lower left corner of the window or by clicking on the The connection of this camera opens context menu and choice AutoImport.

Delete photos directly from your iPhone

It is easy to delete one or more photos from your iPhone. Simply review all the photos in your Camera Roll and select one or more photos individually or collectively by tapping or tapping and dragging your finger across the screen.

Remove one or more photos from the Photos pane

  • Launch the Photos app and select Pictures in the lower left corner.
  • Tap All the pictures. You can also tap Years, Months, or Days to isolate a subset of photos on your Camera Roll.
  • Tap To select at the top right and tap or tap and drag to select one or more groups of images.
  • Add, subtract or undelete photos by tapping the +/- icon at the top right.
  • Press the Treckless icon in the lower right corner to delete images.
  • To delete a single photo, you can also use 3D Touch on an iPhone 6S or later. Long press a photo to preview it, then tap Delete at the bottom of the menu.

Even if you mistakenly delete an image you want to keep, you have plenty of time to change your mind. When you delete a photo from Camera Roll, it is moved to a Deleted album, like a trash can, except it is not emptied until after 30 days. This means that you can delete photos from the Photos app and still have access to them during a 30-day countdown, which is saved directly to the photo thumbnail.

Delete photos from recently deleted album

This deletion method is useful if you are running out of storage space and have already backed up your photos. When you get rid of deleted photos from Recently Deleted Photos album, it's forever.

  • Go to Recently deleted in your Photos app.
  • Tap To select in the upper right corner.
  • To select Delete everything in the lower left corner, or tap the images you want to get rid of, and then tap To erase.
  • A warning will appear stating that this action cannot be undone, and when you're ready, select Delete photos.

Delete burst photos

Sometimes your finger gets stuck on the shutter button of the camera and you inadvertently take a series of photos when you only want one shot. These burst photos are the result of the touch and hold action that takes a rapid series of photos. Your iPhone's operating system will then automatically select the best photo in the burst, or you can select the best photo manually. Trying to delete 24 or 100 more photos is not as easy or obvious as it should be. You can keep your favorite photo while not taking up space on your phone with accidental burst images. Here's how to do it.

  • Launch the Pictures app.
  • Tap the burst photo (the one with the stacked image icon).
  • Tap To select.
  • Tap a single photo as a favorite to keep it.
  • Tap Finished.
  • Tap Keep only 1 favorite.

Recover Deleted Photos

If you deleted the wrong photo or group of photos by accident, or changed your mind about a photo that you deleted and want to get it back, it's easy to get it back. Below are three options to recover deleted photos on your iPhone.

Recover Photos from Recently Deleted Album

If you haven't deleted your recently deleted photos from folder, iOS will keep those photos for 30 days. Here's how to restore them.

  • Go to Pictures app.
  • Go to Recently deleted folder.
  • Tap To select in the upper right corner.
  • Tap Recoveror select the individual photos you want to recover and select Recover.
  • If iCloud Photo Library is turned on, you can use it to access your iCloud account and follow the same steps.

Use your Mac to restore from a backup (iOS 13 and macOS Catalina)

If you usually take iPhone backups to your computer, your photos should already be backed up, which means you can restore the lost pictures. Because you are restoring your entire iPhone from a backup, the photos that reappear on your iPhone are the same as the photos that were on your iPhone on the day of the backup. So be sure to back up your new photos somewhere else first, if you want to save them, before restoring from a previous backup.

  • Connect your iPhone to the computer and choose your iPhone.
  • in the Summary tab, choose Restore from this backup and choose the desired backup if there is more than one.

Back up using a third-party application

Using a third-party application increases the protection of your photos. You can never have too many backups of something as irreplaceable as your photos because backup systems can fail at any time. You never want to be in a position where there are no other options to recover lost pictures. Always have both a hard drive backup and an online backup - or more than one.

If you have a Google and Gmail account, the backup is free up to a total of 15 GB. For iPhone, using iCloud is always an option, as is using Apple's Airdrop to download photos to your computer. You can also store photos in Dropbox, although the free storage capacity is limited, like in iCloud.

Google Photos

Google Photos is one of the best ways to automatically back up your entire camera roll while removing clutter from old snapshots on your iPhone. Also, download the Backup & Sync app from Google for your Mac or Windows computer and schedule the app to automatically sync pictures from your computer to the Online Photos app. Once launched, the app lives in the top menu bar of your desktop and you control it through preferences. On your phone, tap to launch Google Photos, and then swipe down. The app immediately starts backing up your camera roll photos and notifies you when it's finished. It then offers the option to delete the photos from your phone. You can do this or you can backup the photos to your hard drive first by importing them to Apple Photos on your Mac. Choose the High quality setting, which will compress photos over 16 megapixels and videos with resolution higher than 1080p, saving you space while maintaining high quality.

Dropbox

Dropbox offers a convenient way to backup your photos and a way to recover photos that you accidentally deleted from your Camera Roll. With the camera upload feature, your phone or tablet will automatically add photos from the camera roll to Dropbox. Dropbox automatically copies your photos when you connect a phone, camera, or memory card to your computer. Dropbox starts with 2GB of free storage, and when you need more, paid plans provide more space for your photos, videos, and other files. Individual plans are 2TB and 3TB, costing $ 10 and $ 17 per month, including 30-day and 180-day backup and recovery respectively.

iCloud

If you need to make room on your device, while still having access to your content when you're on the go, you can do so with iCloud Photos. If you choose to enable Optimize Storage, iCloud will save high resolution images to the cloud, while simultaneously giving you access to photos and videos with smaller file size from your device. With Optimize Storage enabled, smaller, space-saving photos and videos can stay on your device while all original full-resolution photos are stored in iCloud.

This of course comes with the assumption that you have sufficient storage space in iCloud. If you do, you can keep as many photos and videos as your heart wants. Apple gives each user 5 GB of free space, and after that you can buy more if you need it. Follow these steps to get started.

AirDrop

AirDrop, featured in macOS and iOS, is an easy and efficient way to send photos from your iPhone to your hard drive. You have the option of using AirDrop if your phone has Wi-Fi or Bluetooth capabilities. If you were using your own access point, you will need to turn it off. Following this step, go ahead and reassemble the app, press , swipe left or right to select the photos you want, and then select the AirDrop user or the Apple device you want to share with. It's free to store on your hard drive or connected drive.

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