Managing storage on your iPhone or iPad is essential for keeping your device running smoothly. The Photos app can quickly fill up with memories, screenshots, and videos that take up valuable space. While deleting unwanted media seems straightforward, iOS has a two-step deletion process that many users don't fully understand. In this guide, I'll walk you through how to permanently delete photos and videos from your iOS device, ensuring they're gone for good.

Why Photos Don't Disappear Immediately When Deleted

When you delete photos or videos on your iOS device, they don't actually disappear right away. Instead, they move to a "Recently Deleted" album where they remain for 30 days before being automatically removed. This safety feature helps you recover accidentally deleted media, but it also means your storage isn't freed up immediately.

If you're trying to clear space quickly or remove sensitive images permanently, you'll need to take additional steps to bypass this 30-day waiting period.

Step-by-Step Guide to Permanently Delete Photos

Method 1: Delete Photos and Then Empty the Recently Deleted Album

This is the most common method for permanently removing photos from your iOS device:

1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad
2. Find the photo or video you want to delete
3. Tap "Select" in the upper right corner
4. Tap on each photo or video you want to remove, or swipe to select multiple items
5. Tap the trash icon at the bottom of the screen
6. Confirm by tapping "Delete X Photos" (where X is the number of items selected)

At this point, your photos have only been moved to the Recently Deleted album. To permanently delete them:

1. Scroll down in the Albums tab until you find "Recently Deleted"
2. Tap on "Recently Deleted"
3. Tap "Select" in the upper right corner
4. Tap "Delete All" in the bottom left corner
5. Confirm by tapping "Delete X Items"

Method 2: Delete Individual Photos from Recently Deleted

If you only want to permanently delete specific photos from the Recently Deleted album:

1. Open the Photos app
2. Go to Albums and scroll down to find "Recently Deleted"
3. Tap "Select" in the upper right corner
4. Tap on the specific photos or videos you want to permanently delete
5. Tap "Delete" in the bottom left corner
6. Confirm the deletion

Method 3: Delete Photos Directly from Albums

You can also delete photos from specific albums:

1. Open the Photos app
2. Go to the Albums tab
3. Select the album containing photos you want to delete
4. Tap "Select" in the upper right corner
5. Tap on the photos you want to delete
6. Tap the trash icon
7. Confirm deletion
8. Go to Recently Deleted album and follow the steps to permanently delete them

Bulk Deletion Techniques for Large Photo Libraries

If you need to clear out hundreds or thousands of photos, there are more efficient methods:

Delete by Date

The Photos app organizes images by date, making it easy to delete old photos in bulk:

1. Open Photos and tap on "Library" at the bottom
2. Tap "Days" at the top of the screen
3. Scroll to find the date range you want to delete
4. Tap "Select" in the upper right corner
5. Tap to select multiple photos from that day
6. Tap the trash icon and confirm deletion
7. Go to Recently Deleted and permanently remove them

Delete by Media Type

iOS automatically categorizes your media, making it simple to delete specific types:

1. Open Photos app
2. Go to the Albums tab
3. Scroll down to "Media Types"
4. Select a category like "Screenshots," "Selfies," or "Videos"
5. Tap "Select" and choose the items you want to delete
6. Tap the trash icon and confirm
7. Empty the Recently Deleted album

Removing Photos from iCloud While Keeping Them on Your Device

Sometimes you might want to keep photos on your device but remove them from iCloud to free up cloud storage. Here's how:

1. Open Settings on your iOS device
2. Tap on your name at the top
3. Tap "iCloud"
4. Tap "Photos"
5. Turn off "iCloud Photos"

When prompted, you can choose "Download Photos & Videos" to keep a copy on your device before they're removed from iCloud.

Alternative: Selective iCloud Photo Storage

If you want to keep using iCloud Photos but be selective about what syncs:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap your name, then "iCloud"
3. Tap "Photos"
4. Enable "Optimize iPhone Storage" instead of "Download and Keep Originals"

This keeps full-resolution photos in iCloud while storing smaller versions on your device to save space.

Deleting Photos from Shared Albums

Shared albums work differently than your main library. To delete photos from shared albums:

1. Open the Photos app
2. Tap on "For You" at the bottom
3. Tap "Shared Albums"
4. Select the shared album containing photos you want to delete
5. Tap "Select" in the upper right
6. Tap the photos you want to remove
7. Tap the trash icon
8. Confirm deletion

Note that if you created the shared album, deleting photos removes them for everyone. If someone else created the album, you can only remove photos you added.

Preventing Accidental Photo Deletion

While this guide focuses on deletion, it's important to protect photos you want to keep:

How to Favorite Photos

1. Open the photo you want to keep
2. Tap the heart icon at the bottom
3. The photo will be added to your "Favorites" album

How to Hide Photos

For photos you want to keep but not have visible in your main library:

1. Select the photos you want to hide
2. Tap the Share button (square with arrow)
3. Scroll down and tap "Hide"
4. Confirm by tapping "Hide Photo"

Hidden photos move to a "Hidden" album, which you can find by scrolling down in Albums.

Comparing Deletion Methods

Deletion Method	Best For	Speed	Recovery Option
Standard Delete + Recently Deleted Clear	Everyday use, selective deletion	Medium	None after Recently Deleted is cleared
Bulk Delete by Date	Clearing old photos	Fast	None after Recently Deleted is cleared
Delete by Media Type	Clearing specific categories (screenshots, etc.)	Fast	None after Recently Deleted is cleared
iCloud Removal Only	Keeping photos on device while freeing cloud storage	Varies	Photos remain on device

What Happens When You Delete Photos from Your iOS Device

Local Deletion vs. iCloud Deletion

Understanding how deletion works with iCloud is crucial:

• If iCloud Photos is enabled, deleting a photo from your device also deletes it from iCloud and all your connected devices
• If iCloud Photos is disabled, deleting a photo only removes it from the device you're using
• Photos in the Recently Deleted folder still count against your storage until permanently deleted

Storage Recovery Timeline

After deleting photos, storage space isn't always recovered instantly:

• Local device storage is typically freed up immediately after emptying Recently Deleted
• iCloud storage may take a few minutes to several hours to show updated available space
• If you have "Optimize Storage" enabled, you might not see a significant change in device storage

Advanced Photo Deletion for Privacy

Removing Location and Metadata

For privacy-conscious users, simply deleting photos might not be enough if you've already shared them. Photos contain metadata including location information. Before sharing sensitive photos:

1. Use a third-party app like "ViewExif" or "Metapho" from the App Store
2. Open the photo in the app
3. Remove metadata before sharing
4. Save a copy without the metadata
5. Delete the original using the steps outlined earlier

Secure Deletion for Sensitive Photos

Modern iOS devices use encryption and secure deletion techniques by default. When you permanently delete photos from the Recently Deleted album, they're typically unrecoverable. However, for extremely sensitive material:

1. Delete the photos using the standard method
2. Clear the Recently Deleted album
3. For extra security, perform a backup, then reset your device and restore (this overwrites freed space)

Quick Tip to ensure your videos never go missing

Videos are precious memories and all of us never want to lose them to hard disk crashes or missing drives. PicBackMan is the easiest and simplest way to keep your videos safely backed up in one or more online accounts. 

Simply download PicBackMan (it's free!), register your account, connect to your online store and tell PicBackMan where your videos are - PicBackMan does the rest, automatically. It bulk uploads all videos and keeps looking for new ones and uploads those too. You don't have to ever touch it.

Troubleshooting Common Photo Deletion Issues

Photos Reappearing After Deletion

If photos keep coming back after deletion:

1. Check if you have "iCloud Photos" enabled on multiple devices
2. Make sure you're emptying the Recently Deleted album
3. Check if photos are being synced from another service like Google Photos
4. Turn off "My Photo Stream" in Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Photos

Unable to Delete Photos

If you can't delete certain photos:

1. Check if the photo is in a system album (like Wallpaper)
2. Restart your iOS device
3. Check for iOS updates
4. Try deleting through a different view (Years, Months, Days instead of All Photos)

Photos App Storage Management Tips

Using the Built-in Storage Analysis

iOS has a helpful tool to identify storage-hogging photos:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap "General"
3. Tap "iPhone Storage" or "iPad Storage"
4. Wait for analysis to complete
5. Tap on "Photos"
6. Review recommendations for freeing up space

Offloading Photos Before Deletion

Before permanently deleting photos, consider backing them up:

• Export to a computer using a cable connection or AirDrop
• Upload to a cloud service like Google Photos, Dropbox, or OneDrive
• Save important photos to an external drive

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I recover photos after deleting them from Recently Deleted?

No, once photos are removed from the Recently Deleted album, they cannot be recovered through the Photos app. If you have a backup of your device (via iCloud or computer), you might be able to restore that backup to recover the photos, but this will revert your entire device to that backup point.

How long do photos stay in the Recently Deleted album?

Photos and videos remain in the Recently Deleted album for 30 days. After that period, they're automatically and permanently deleted from your device and iCloud (if iCloud Photos is enabled).

Will deleting photos from my iPhone also delete them from my iPad?

If you have iCloud Photos enabled on both devices, then yes – deleting photos from one device will remove them from all devices signed in with the same Apple ID. If iCloud Photos is turned off, deletions will only affect the device you're using.

Why is my iPhone storage still full after deleting photos?

If your storage hasn't freed up after deleting photos, check if you've emptied the Recently Deleted album. Also, the Photos app might be still processing the deletions, especially for large batches. Wait a few minutes and check again. Other apps and system files might also be using the storage space.

Can someone else see my deleted photos if they use my iPhone?

If you've only deleted photos to the Recently Deleted album, anyone with access to your unlocked phone can view and recover those photos. To ensure privacy, always empty the Recently Deleted album after deleting sensitive photos. For additional security, consider using the Hidden album with Face ID/Touch ID protection (available in iOS 16 and later).

Conclusion

Permanently deleting photos and videos from your iOS device is a two-step process that involves removing them from your main library and then clearing them from the Recently Deleted album. This system provides a safety net against accidental deletions while giving you the option to permanently remove content when needed.

By following the methods outlined in this guide, you can efficiently manage your photo library, free up storage space, and ensure sensitive images are completely removed from your device. Remember that once photos are permanently deleted, they cannot be recovered through normal means, so always back up important memories before removal.

Whether you're freeing up space, organizing your library, or removing sensitive content, these techniques will help you take full control of the Photos app on your iOS device.