Why can't you delete an album on iPhone? Here are the solutions you need to know


It is not always possible to recover and view deleted information from a device. This is how the two-stage memory cleaning system works. On Apple iOS devices, there is an option that allows the user to first delete a photo and then restore it if a certain storage period has not passed. This option is great for those users who often want to recover photos that they deleted earlier and were unable to understand whether they needed it or whether they could simply restore the photos. If the user is sure that he does not need the photo and needs to get rid of it completely, then he can use the special deletion mechanism on iPhone phones.

Quick bulk deletion

Often there is no need to store many pictures for a long time. It happens that you need to quickly capture some moments, a group of files, and then just take and delete them. It turns out that there is no need for this folder at all. Not all photos need to be kept and remembered years later. Regular cleaning of the gallery is the key to the performance of the phone and its processes. To free up space on your smartphone for new data, you can use bulk deletion. This is the simplest method.

To use and clean your smartphone using quick bulk deletion, you need to go to the “Photos” folders, and then do the following:

  1. In the upper right corner of the iPhone, select the “Select” button;

  1. Next, you should look at those images that will be completely destroyed in the future. They will be marked with a bluish tint. Highlighting will help;
  2. After that, click on the trash can in the lower location of the touchscreen, and then confirm the deletion. Photos will be automatically erased from your phone without two-step deletion.

The proposed method will be convenient only if there is a separate folder for unused photos. In other cases, this method may not be used.

As soon as a person taps on the “Delete” button, he automatically confirms his manipulations. Eventually, pictures tagged in albums or in the same album will be destroyed on the phone.

If the user noticed that before or after the procedure for destroying the space on the phone did not increase, this may be due to the fact that not all of the pictures were erased; complete erasure of data did not occur. To complete the deletion, you should go to the “Recently Deleted” section and erase it one more time. After this, all information will be deleted. And then it’s worth talking about this folder - the album in more detail.

Change camera settings

For many users, video content takes up the lion's share of the memory on their device.

Filmed videos most actively fill up free space, and are subsequently reviewed or distributed extremely rarely. Most videos end up being stored on the smartphone.

In the iOS settings (Settings - Camera - Video Recording) the difference in file size with different resolutions is clearly demonstrated. So, by lowering the quality from 4K to 1080p, you can halve the final size of the video.

If you refuse to shoot at 60 frames per second, the video will take up one and a half times less space.

So only by compressing video quality can you reduce the final size of this content by 3 times. Already filmed videos can be easily compressed in this way.

How to clear the Recently Deleted album

On the iPhone, iOS 8 decided to use an album that would store those pictures that the user recently deleted. Usually, a huge number of photos saved on an iPhone take up a lot of storage and space. Therefore, I want to delete unnecessary files to make it easier to use the device. The owner of the device, when erasing unnecessary data, will notice that there is no increase in the amount of free space.

This means that the pictures are not erased, but are accumulated in a special “Recently Deleted” album, so that it can be deleted if necessary, as well as restored.

To completely clean the area, you should do the following:

  1. Click on the “Select” button. This way the user gets the opportunity to view the album and also mark those photos that he would like to permanently delete;

  2. Now we tap on the basket, that is, final deletion;

  3. We confirm that the files are in the trash. Tap on “Delete all”.

Next, the process of comprehensive and high-quality removal will begin. It takes place very quickly, just a couple of seconds, but after this completion the user will not be able to recover all photos.

There is another interesting way to clear an album, which takes a lot of time. It consists in the fact that the user does not need to do anything. He just has to wait until approximately 40 days have passed for the pictures from the phone to be completely erased.

Clear the “other” section

Sometimes the most voracious section of occupied memory turns out to be “other”. It takes into account the system cache, software “garbage” and data from installed applications. Unfortunately, iOS does not provide detailed statistics for this section.

First, estimate the size of applications in the Settings - General - iPhone Storage menu; very often it becomes clear here that the space is being eaten up by downloaded videos on YouTube, downloaded movies in VLC or projects in iMovie. We simply remove unnecessary content and free up space.

Active iPhone users who transfer backups from one device to another and do not set up the system from scratch can drag along gigabytes of unnecessary cache, which also ends up in the “other” section.

The easiest and most effective way to get rid of junk is to make a backup and restore from the copy according to these instructions.

These are the measures you can take to clear unnecessary data from the memory of your smartphone. In most cases, you will be able to free up tens of gigabytes of space. Regular measures described in the article will help you timely monitor the occupied space and download data if necessary.

(4.36 out of 5, rated: 22)

Delete content downloaded to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Android device.

How to Delete a Photo Using Image Capture on Mac

Specialized applications are assistants for those who want to quickly erase photos. One of the most common applications is Image Capture. The application is distributed on Mac iPad. As soon as the program starts, it will immediately begin checking and display a complete list of photos that are on the phone.

It is worth understanding and weeding out which photos the owner of the device wants to delete. It is possible to select both all and individual images. To do this, you should tap on a separate photo or click on the “Select all” item. The user can use one tap for all photos at once. But before the information is erased, you need to agree to the procedure in the application.

Can turn. off iCloud Troubleshooting

Many people think that iCloud is responsible for getting back deleted photos. Therefore, disabling iCloud should solve the problem as it will stop continuous syncing. But this is far from the truth.

iCloud has nothing to do with this. To understand this better, you need to know what happens when you delete photos from iPhone. While we covered this in detail in our dedicated post (you should read it), we'll give you the gist of it here.

The result of deleting photos depends on two things - whether iCloud is turned on or not. If it is turned off, photos will only be deleted from the phone. But if it is enabled, they will be deleted from all your Apple devices that have the same Apple account. So, there is no question about restoring them using iCloud.

However, many other things may be responsible and solutions for them are mentioned below. But, as with any online tool, an error can appear at any time. So, following the below solutions, you can try to disable iCloud. Read what happens when you turn off iCloud on your iPhone.

Let's check other solutions.

Also in Guiding Tech

Using File Explorer on a Windows computer

This is another option when erasing is carried out without any complications or difficulties. The user should connect the iPhone to the user's Windows computer. Next you should do the following:

  1. The computer (PC) will show that some device is connected using a connector, it will provide some manipulations for the owner of the device in the menu;
  2. Now open the phone view in Explorer;
  3. Click on the DCIM folder and look at all the photos. We select only those that we would like to delete. We delete by clicking on the right mouse button. In this case, a reserve is given for confirmation of deletion on the PC.

This type of deletion is also simple and erases files quite well.

Delete downloaded music

Music lovers are constantly trying to protect themselves in case they end up offline. They download their favorite playlists, albums or tracks directly to the device. As a result, after a couple of months, it is musical compositions that begin to take up a lot of space on the smartphone.

First, disable automatic downloading of tracks to your iPhone that are added to your library. You can do it like this.

Then clean out your library of old songs and music that you rarely listen to. You can find such compositions using special automation commands.

Well, the most radical solution would be to go to Settings - General - iPhone Storage - Music and delete all music downloaded to your smartphone.

Using a Factory Reset iPhone

In modern Apple devices, you can reset your iPhone using factory settings. This is a radical option that not only resets photos, but also resets absolutely all photos on the phone. This function can be used for various purposes, ranging from problems that are difficult to fix to those proposed in this article.

Returning to factory settings allows you to use your phone in a new way, it will have the same settings that it had at the very beginning when you purchased it. To perform such a reset, you should:

  1. Go to "Settings";
  2. After that, click on the “Reset” section;
  3. In the open menu, you must indicate the option in which the procedure will be carried out. You can delete content and settings, then everything will be deleted. Photos will also be erased and cannot be restored.

After the procedure, the user will delete all settings. It will be almost impossible to use the phone any further.

The system will ask the user twice whether he wants to delete the data or not, since it will be impossible to restore it.

At the beginning of the procedure, an image of the block will be shown. It will remain until all data is deleted. If backups have been performed previously, the user can partially restore lost data. If there is no need for restoration, then we delete the backup copy as well.

Download unnecessary apps

One of the iOS features allows you to automatically download unused applications on your smartphone. The system, at its discretion, removes programs and games that have not been used for a long time, leaving settings and data on the iPhone.

So, if you have a connection, you can return the application to your smartphone with one click.

You can trust the system and enable automatic downloading along the path Settings – iTunes Store and App Store – Download unused ones, or you can go to Settings – General – iPhone Storage and manually download several heavy programs that are not needed at the moment.

In the first case, you will not notice the effect immediately; it takes time for the system to identify unused programs, and in the second there will be no risk of being left without a certain program at the right time; you will immediately identify several large programs for downloading and see the effect.

How to quickly delete photos from iPhone using iTunes

If the user finds photos that cannot be deleted, this means that the images were uploaded through the iTunes service. This is a program that is downloaded to a computer. Thanks to it you can control your iPhone.

The procedure for deleting such photos is carried out according to the following algorithm:

  • First, you need to connect your iPhone to your desktop PC;
  • Now on the computer click on the program;
  • Go to settings, and then to “Photos”;
  • Now you need to check the box opposite the “Synchronize” item;

  • When a pop-up window appears, tap on delete photo;
  • In the right corner of the screen we find the “Apply” button.

Now there is no such album on iPhone that cannot be deleted.

What happened to my photos after turning on iCloud Photos?

After you turn on iCloud Photos in your iPhone's settings, you may notice that some albums have disappeared. Don't worry! Your photos and videos are still there, but they're organized a little differently in iCloud Photos. To access them, open the Photos app, switch to the Photos tab (not albums!), and then select All Photos. It was there that I found my video, although it was no longer in the album where it was previously.

Open All Photos

Removing photos from iCloud

iCloud is a backup cloud that makes it easy to use extra space on your phone. This is a secure storage for all your photos. In rare cases, they cannot be deleted on the phone, but the problem arises that the photos still remain in the ICloud cloud server. To completely remove it, you must also clear the storage. To do this, you must first delete photos through it, and then clean the device itself:

  1. In the list of ICloud sections, find the “Photo” item and go to this folder;
  2. Now the user will see a vertical menu on the left side. In it, select “Recently deleted”;
  3. Now another folder will open. Below each photo is the number of days they have left. Select those that need to be erased and tap on the delete button.

After completing the procedure, the photos will be erased not only from the iPhone, but also from other devices that are connected to this Apple ID.

How to enable iCloud Photo Library

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings -> Apple ID [your name] -> iCloud -> Photos and toggle iCloud Photo Library to On.

On a Mac, open the System Preferences app and go to iCloud. Click Options next to Photos and check the box next to iCloud Photo Library.

On your Apple TV, open the Settings app and navigate to Accounts -> iCloud -> iCloud Photo Library.

On your Windows computer, install and launch the iCloud app for Windows. Then click the Options button next to Photos and select iCloud Photo Library. Click "Done" and "Apply".

ON TOPIC: How to clear memory on iPhone or iPad: 40 ways.

Best Way to Delete Photos from iPhone Completely

The best option for complete removal is to use a computer:

  1. First you need to connect your iPhone via USB to your computer;
  2. A message will appear stating that personal data will be available from this computer;
  3. Next, the system asks whether the user’s computer should be used and trusted. Tap on a positive answer;
  4. As soon as the phone joins, the system recognizes it;
  5. Removal is carried out using a file manager;
  6. We launch and view the disks. Select iPhone;
  7. On iPhone, select “Photo”;
  8. In it you can delete photos in the usual way;
  9. In the directory, go to “File System”, and then to “Media” and “DCIM”;
  10. This is where the grouped data is located. In accordance with the order from the appearance, you can erase unnecessary ones.

Cleaning up your Media Library

To delete photos uploaded to your library, you need to use iTunes, i.e. via computer. We connect the phone to the computer, go to “My Computer”, open the phone’s memory and find a folder with photos. But there are some nuances here. If you delete all the photos at once, then errors may occur in the future when connecting the phone to the computer. Therefore, during the deletion process, you must leave at least one photo, or check it for images before connecting your phone to the computer the next time. This is a question of synchronization. People who have deleted music or contacts on their phone know this mechanism for deleting synced files.

Check third party apps

In most cases, the problem is actually with a third-party app, and we blame the Photos app.
You should check the photos that appear again. If they are specific to a specific app, uninstall that app from your phone and then install it again. Many iOS users have pointed out that this is mostly Instagram's fault. So, remove it. This will not delete your Instagram account or any photos posted to it.

Bid Adieu Forever

We hope you were able to permanently delete photos on your iPhone using the above methods.
However, be careful before you click the final delete button as you may lose your precious photos that you didn't intend to delete. Further:

The Apple Photos app offers many cool features that remain hidden from regular users. Find out what these cool features are with these tips and tricks mentioned in the following link.

The article above may contain affiliate links that help support Guiding Tech. However, this does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

Rating
( 2 ratings, average 4 out of 5 )
Did you like the article? Share with friends:
For any suggestions regarding the site: [email protected]
Для любых предложений по сайту: [email protected]