How to delete all photos from iPhone safely

To delete all photos from an iPhone without losing them, back up your library to iCloud, a computer, or Google Photos first, then select everything in the Photos app and delete it. On a phone with 20,000 photos taking up 40 GB, the whole process takes under 10 minutes. But if iCloud Photos is turned on when you delete, those photos vanish from every Apple device you own: your iPad, your Mac, your iCloud account. Back up first. Delete second.

If you do not need to delete everything, just enough to stop the "Storage Almost Full" notification, freeing up iPhone storage without deleting everything covers less drastic options that can recover 3 to 8 GB in minutes.

If iCloud Photos Is On, Deletions Sync Everywhere

iCloud Photos is not a backup. It is a sync service. When you delete a photo on your iPhone with iCloud Photos enabled, Apple removes it from iCloud, your iPad, your Mac, and every other device signed into the same Apple ID. The deletion propagates within minutes.

To check whether iCloud Photos is active:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap your name at the top.
3. Tap iCloud.
4. Tap Photos.
5. Check whether Sync this iPhone is toggled on.

If that toggle is on, do not delete anything yet. Use one of the three backup methods below first.

Three Ways to Save Your Photos Before Deleting

Each method ends with a verification step. Do not skip it. Confirming the backup exists is the only thing between "I freed 40 GB" and "I lost 10 years of photos."

Option 1: Keep in iCloud, delete from iPhone only

This is the fastest path if you already pay for iCloud storage or your library fits within the free 5 GB tier. Your photos stay in iCloud at full resolution. Your iPhone gets the storage back.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap your name at the top.
3. Tap iCloud.
4. Tap Photos.
5. Turn off Sync this iPhone.
6. When prompted, tap Remove from iPhone.
7. Wait for the removal to finish — a few minutes for large libraries.

Verify: Open a browser on any device and sign into icloud.com/photos. Your full photo library should be there. Scroll to the oldest photos to confirm nothing is missing.

Option 2: Transfer to a Mac or PC first

This is the right choice if you want a local copy with no cloud subscription and no storage cap. A library of 10,000 photos takes 15 to 30 minutes over USB.

On a Mac:

1. Connect your iPhone to the Mac with a USB or USB-C cable.
2. Open Image Capture (in Applications — use Spotlight to find it).
3. Select your iPhone in the left sidebar.
4. Press Command + A to select all photos and videos.
5. Choose a destination folder at the bottom of the window.
6. Click Download.
7. Wait for the transfer to finish. Do not disconnect the cable.

On a Windows PC:

1. Connect your iPhone to the PC with a USB cable.
2. Wake the iPhone and tap Trust if prompted.
3. Open File Explorer.
4. Navigate to This PC > Apple iPhone > Internal Storage > DCIM.
5. Select all folders inside DCIM (Ctrl + A).
6. Copy them to a folder on your PC (Ctrl + C, then Ctrl + V into the target folder).
7. Wait for the copy to finish. Do not disconnect the cable.

Verify: Open the destination folder on your computer and spot-check a few recent photos. Compare the file count to the photo count shown at Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Photos.

Option 3: Back up to Google Photos first

This works if you want cloud backup independent of Apple or accessible from Android devices. Google Photos includes 15 GB of free storage shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos. Above that, Google One starts at $1.99/month for 100 GB.

1. Download Google Photos from the App Store if you do not have it.
2. Open Google Photos and sign in with a Google account.
3. Tap your profile icon in the top right.
4. Tap Google Photos settings.
5. Tap Backup.
6. Toggle backup on.
7. Choose Original quality (full resolution, uses more of your storage quota) or Storage saver (slightly compressed, uses less quota). Both options count against your 15 GB free tier or paid plan.
8. Keep the app open and the phone on Wi-Fi. A library of 10,000 photos typically takes 1 to 3 hours.

Verify: Open photos.google.com on a computer. Scroll to your oldest photos and confirm they are there. The app shows "Backup complete" when finished.

One advantage of Google Photos: it does not sync deletions from your iPhone. Once the backup is complete, you can delete freely from the iPhone Photos app without affecting what is stored in Google.

Which method should you pick?

	iCloud	Mac or PC	Google Photos
Cost	Free with 5 GB; 50 GB for $0.99/mo	Free (you need a cable)	Free up to 15 GB; 100 GB for $1.99/mo
Storage limit	5 GB to 12 TB	Your hard drive	15 GB to 2 TB
Keeps full resolution	Yes	Yes	Only with Original quality
Access from any device	Apple devices + icloud.com	Only the computer you saved to	Any device with Google Photos
Time for 10,000 photos	Already synced if enabled	15–30 min over USB	1–3 hours over Wi-Fi
Works without internet	No	Yes	No
Deletions sync back	Yes (if Sync this iPhone is on)	No	No

Before You Delete Everything: Remove Duplicates

Deleting every photo is the nuclear option. If the goal is to get below the storage warning, there is a faster approach that keeps all your unique photos intact.

Most iPhone libraries accumulate hundreds of redundant copies over time: burst sequences where all 8 frames survived, retakes of the same scene, screenshots of the same confirmation page taken seconds apart. The built-in Duplicates album (Photos > Utilities > Duplicates) catches exact copies and typically frees 1 to 3 GB when you merge them. For the near-duplicates iOS misses, such as burst leftovers and visually similar shots, Orden groups them using perceptual image matching so you can keep the sharpest frame and delete the rest. In my testing across libraries of 10,000 photos and up, removing both exact and near-duplicates typically frees 3 to 7 GB total. The full walkthrough is in the guide on deleting duplicate photos on iPhone.

If that 3 to 7 GB clears the "Storage Almost Full" warning, you can skip the nuclear option entirely. Beyond photos, videos are usually the single largest storage category, and a minute of 4K at 30 fps uses about 170 MB. Compressing iPhone videos can cut file sizes by 50 to 80 percent without visible quality loss on a phone screen. And if your library is heavy on Live Photos, each one stores a hidden 3-second video clip that roughly doubles the file size compared to a standard still, so converting Live Photos to stills recovers that space.

How to Select and Delete All Photos on iPhone

Once your backup is verified, here is how to clear the library.

Select all photos

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Make sure you are in the Library view at the top of the screen.
3. Tap Select in the top right corner.
4. Tap and hold the first photo in the grid, then drag your finger to the right and downward. iOS highlights every photo your finger crosses.
5. Keep dragging in rows until you reach the bottom of the library. For large libraries, drag in batches — the selection holds between drags.

For libraries over 10,000 photos, the drag gesture gets tedious. A faster approach: pinch to zoom out on the photo grid until photos are grouped by month, then tap each month header to select an entire month at once.

Delete selected photos

6. Tap the trash icon in the bottom right.
7. Confirm by tapping Delete [N] Items.

Empty Recently Deleted

8. Go back to the Photos app main screen.
9. Scroll down to the Utilities section.
10. Tap Recently Deleted.
11. Authenticate with Face ID or your passcode.
12. Tap Select.
13. Tap Delete All.
14. Confirm.

The storage is now free. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to verify — the Photos bar should be gone or nearly gone. The counter can take a few minutes to update after a large deletion.

If You Want a Completely Fresh Start

For the nuclear option — wiping the phone entirely, not just photos:

1. Back up your iPhone to iCloud or a computer.
2. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone.
3. Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
4. Enter your passcode and Apple ID password.
5. Confirm.

This deletes everything on the phone: photos, apps, messages, settings. Use it when selling the phone or starting from zero — not as a photo cleanup method.

FAQ

Will deleting photos from my iPhone delete them from iCloud?

Yes, if iCloud Photos is turned on (Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos). Deletions sync across all your Apple devices within minutes. To delete from the phone only, turn off Sync this iPhone first and choose "Remove from iPhone" when prompted. Verify your library is intact at icloud.com/photos before touching anything on the phone.

How do I select all photos on iPhone?

Open the Photos app, go to the Library view, and tap Select in the top right corner. Then tap and drag across the photo grid from the first thumbnail toward the bottom, and iOS highlights every photo your finger crosses. For large libraries, pinch to zoom out and tap month or year headers to select entire time periods at once.

How do I delete all photos from iPhone but keep them in iCloud?

Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos, then turn off Sync this iPhone. Choose "Remove from iPhone" when prompted. Your photos remain in iCloud at full resolution. The phone copies are deleted, but the cloud copies are untouched. Verify at icloud.com/photos from a browser before doing anything else.

How long does it take to delete all photos from iPhone?

The selection and deletion takes 2 to 5 minutes depending on library size. Emptying the Recently Deleted album adds another minute. The storage counter in Settings > General > iPhone Storage may take a few minutes to update. Total time from start to confirmed free space: about 5 to 10 minutes, not counting the backup step.

Can I recover photos after deleting them from iPhone?

For 30 days, yes. Deleted photos sit in the Recently Deleted album, protected by Face ID or Touch ID. After 30 days, or after you manually empty that album, they are permanently gone from the device. Backups in iCloud, Google Photos, or on a computer are unaffected by what you delete on the phone (as long as iCloud Photos sync is turned off before deleting).

What happens to shared albums if I delete all my photos?

Shared albums are stored separately from your personal library. Deleting your personal photos does not remove anything from shared albums, whether you created them or were invited to them. They remain visible to everyone in the group.

Sources

• Apple Inc., "Delete or hide photos and videos on iPhone", 2024.
• Apple Inc., "Set up and use iCloud Photos", 2024.
• Apple Inc., "Import photos and videos to your Mac", 2024.
• Apple Inc., "Check your iPhone or iPad storage", 2024.
• Editorial testing, June 2026.