How to Delete All Photos From Your iPhone (And What to Know Before You Do)
Deleting all photos from an iPhone sounds straightforward — but there are a few layers underneath that can trip people up. Whether you're freeing up storage, resetting a device before selling it, or just starting fresh, the process depends on how your photos are set up. Get it wrong and you might delete photos from the cloud across all your devices, or think you've deleted everything only to find a full "Recently Deleted" folder still eating storage.
Here's how it actually works.
How iPhone Photo Storage Works
Before deleting anything, it helps to understand where your photos actually live.
iPhones store photos in two possible places:
- Locally on the device — stored in the iPhone's internal storage
- iCloud Photos — synced to Apple's cloud and mirrored across all devices signed into the same Apple ID
If iCloud Photos is enabled, your iPhone isn't storing unique originals — it's a synced endpoint. Deleting photos on the phone deletes them from iCloud too, which means they disappear from your iPad, Mac, and any other Apple devices using that account. That's the most important variable to understand before you start.
If iCloud Photos is off, your photos exist only on the device and deletion is purely local.
You can check your current setting under Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → Photos.
Method 1: Delete All Photos Directly on the iPhone
This is the manual approach — no computer or third-party app needed.
- Open the Photos app
- Tap Library at the bottom
- Tap All Photos
- Tap Select in the top right corner
- Tap the first photo, then swipe all the way to the last one while holding — this selects all visible photos 📱
- Alternatively, tap Select and then tap the first photo, scroll to the bottom, hold Shift and tap the last photo (on iPadOS-style interfaces this works cleanly; on iPhone it requires the swipe method)
- Tap the trash icon and confirm
Important: Deleted photos are moved to the Recently Deleted album, not permanently removed. They stay there for 30 days and still occupy storage during that time.
To fully clear storage, go to Albums → Recently Deleted, tap Select → Delete All, and confirm. This is a permanent, unrecoverable action.
Method 2: Erase All Content and Settings
If you're preparing to sell or give away the iPhone, this is the cleaner route.
Go to Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Content and Settings.
This wipes everything on the device — photos, apps, accounts, settings — and restores it to factory state. It does not delete photos from iCloud if iCloud Photos was enabled. Those remain in the cloud under your Apple ID.
If you want to fully remove photos from iCloud before doing this, you need to delete them first through the Photos app (Method 1) and clear Recently Deleted, then wait for iCloud to sync the deletion before erasing the device.
Method 3: Use a Mac or PC to Manage Deletion
For large libraries, using a computer can be faster.
On Mac (macOS Catalina and later):
- Connect your iPhone via USB
- Open Finder, select your iPhone
- Photos can be imported and managed via the Photos app on Mac
On Windows:
- Connect via USB
- The iPhone appears as a camera device
- You can access the DCIM folder and delete images in bulk from there
This method works best for photos stored locally on the device only. It doesn't affect iCloud Photos the same way the native Photos app does.
The iCloud Variable: Why It Matters So Much
This is where most people run into surprises. Here's a quick comparison of what deletion does based on your setup:
| Setup | What Happens When You Delete on iPhone |
|---|---|
| iCloud Photos ON | Photos deleted from device AND iCloud, across all linked devices |
| iCloud Photos OFF | Photos deleted from device only — cloud unaffected |
| Shared with Family | Only your own photos are affected; shared albums behave separately |
| Third-party backup (Google Photos, Dropbox) | Those backups are not affected — deletion is independent |
If you've backed up to Google Photos or another service, deleting from your iPhone and iCloud won't touch that backup. Those platforms maintain their own independent copies.
What "Recently Deleted" Actually Means for Storage ⚠️
A common misconception: deleting photos from your main library frees up storage immediately. It doesn't.
Until you empty the Recently Deleted album, those photos remain on the device (or in iCloud) and count toward your storage quota. Apple holds them for 30 days as a safety net. If storage is your primary concern, emptying Recently Deleted is a required second step — not optional.
The Variables That Determine Your Approach
How you should delete all your photos depends on several factors that vary by person:
- Whether iCloud Photos is on or off — changes the scope of deletion entirely
- Whether you have other backups — Google Photos, a Mac library, an external drive
- Why you're deleting — privacy before resale, storage cleanup, or a fresh start each require slightly different steps
- How many photos you have — very large libraries (tens of thousands of images) may behave slowly during bulk selection on-device
- iOS version — the exact UI steps shift slightly between major iOS releases, though the core process remains consistent
Someone selling their iPhone who has a Google Photos backup can confidently erase everything and lose nothing. Someone with no backup who doesn't realize iCloud Photos is on across three devices faces a very different situation. The mechanics of deletion are the same — but the consequences aren't.