Delete a single photo in three steps

Open Google Photos on your phone or computer. Find the photo you want to remove, tap or click it to open it full-screen, then tap the trash icon (it looks like a bin) at the bottom of the screen. The photo moves to your Trash folder and stays there for 60 days before Google deletes it permanently.

On a computer, the trash icon appears at the bottom right of the full-screen photo. On a phone, swipe up from the bottom if you don't see the icon right away — it may be hidden until you tap the screen. Either way, one tap sends the photo to Trash.

If you change your mind within 60 days, you can restore the photo. Open the menu (three horizontal lines on the left side of Google Photos), select Trash, find the photo, tap or click it, then tap Restore. The photo goes back to your library in the same album it came from.

Key Takeaways

  • Deleted photos sit in your Trash folder for 60 days before Google removes them permanently — you can restore them anytime during that window.
  • You can delete multiple photos at once by selecting them with checkmarks, then tapping the trash icon once.
  • Deleting a photo from Google Photos does not delete it from your phone's camera roll or from other cloud services like OneDrive or iCloud.
  • Photos you have shared in a shared album stay visible to other people even after you delete them from your own library.

Delete multiple photos at the same time

Select several photos by tapping the first one, then tapping the circle that appears in the top left corner. A checkmark fills the circle. Tap the circles on other photos you want to delete — each one gets a checkmark. When you have selected all the photos you want to remove, tap the trash icon.

On a computer, click the first photo, then hold Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) and click other photos to select them. You can also click one photo, hold Shift, then click another photo to select everything in between. Once you have selected the photos you want, click the trash icon at the top right.

Google Photos does not have a "select all" button, so if you want to delete hundreds of photos, you will need to select them in batches. Select as many as fit on your screen, delete them, then repeat.

Understand what happens when you delete

Deleting a photo from Google Photos removes it only from Google's servers. If the photo came from your phone's camera roll, it stays on your phone unless you delete it there separately. If you back up photos to Google Photos from your computer, deleting them in Google Photos does not delete the files on your computer.

This matters if you use multiple backup services. A photo stored in Google Photos, OneDrive, and iCloud will remain in OneDrive and iCloud even after you delete it from Google Photos. You have to delete it from each service separately if you want it gone everywhere.

Photos in shared albums work differently. When you delete a photo from a shared album, it disappears from your view, but other people in the album can still see it. If you want to remove a photo so nobody can see it, you have to delete it from the shared album itself, not just from your library.

Empty your Trash folder to delete permanently

Photos in Trash stay there for 60 days, then Google deletes them automatically. If you want to delete them sooner, open the menu, tap Trash, then tap Delete All at the top right. This permanently removes all photos in your Trash folder — you cannot undo this action.

You can also delete individual photos from Trash without emptying the whole folder. Open Trash, tap the photo you want to delete permanently, then tap the trash icon again. The photo is gone immediately.

If you are running low on storage space in your Google account, emptying Trash is one of the fastest ways to free up room. Photos in Trash still count toward your storage limit, so deleting them permanently makes space available for new uploads.

Recover a deleted photo from Trash

Open the menu on the left side of Google Photos, then tap Trash. Scroll through and find the photo you want to keep. Tap it to open it full-screen, then tap Restore at the bottom. The photo returns to your library and goes back into whichever album it was in before you deleted it.

You have 60 days from the deletion date to restore a photo. After 60 days, Google removes it permanently and you cannot get it back through Google Photos. If you have a backup elsewhere — on your phone, computer, or another cloud service — you can re-upload it.

Restoring a photo does not restore any edits you made to it in Google Photos. If you edited a photo before deleting it, the restored version will have those edits. If you want the original unedited version, you will need to restore it from your phone or computer instead.

Delete photos on your phone versus on your computer

The steps are the same on both, but the interface looks slightly different. On a phone, tap a photo to open it, then look for the trash icon at the bottom of the screen. You may need to tap the screen once to make the icon appear. On a computer, the trash icon sits at the top right of the full-screen photo.

One advantage of deleting on a computer is that you can select multiple photos more easily using keyboard shortcuts. Hold Ctrl and click (or Cmd and click on Mac) to select photos one by one, or click one photo, hold Shift, and click another to select a range. On a phone, you have to tap each circle individually.

Deleting from either device affects your Google Photos library everywhere. If you delete a photo on your phone, it disappears from Google Photos on your computer too. The change syncs across all your devices within a few minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does deleting a photo from Google Photos delete it from my phone?

No. Google Photos and your phone's camera roll are separate. Deleting from Google Photos removes it only from Google's servers. The original file stays on your phone unless you delete it from your phone's Photos app or Files app separately.

Can I recover a photo after the 60-day Trash period ends?

No. After 60 days, Google permanently deletes photos from Trash and you cannot recover them through Google Photos. If you have a backup on your phone, computer, or another service, you can restore it from there.

What happens to photos I delete from a shared album?

When you delete a photo from a shared album, it disappears from your view but other people in the album can still see it. To remove it so nobody can see it, you must delete it from the shared album itself using the album's settings.

Do deleted photos still take up storage space?

Yes, photos in your Trash folder count toward your Google storage limit. Permanently deleting them or waiting for the 60-day period to end frees up that space.

Can I undo a permanent deletion from Trash?

No. Once you tap "Delete All" in Trash or a photo's 60-day period expires, it is gone permanently. You cannot recover it through Google Photos, but you may be able to restore it from a backup on your phone or computer.