How to mass delete photos from iPhone and iPad

There’s no denying that the pictures and videos on your iPhone take up quite a bit of space. I’d even be willing to bet they’re taking up a majority of the storage on your device. 

Especially as the camera gets better with each new model, your photo library is only getting bigger. But improved specs aren’t the only reason this is happening. It’s because it’s easy to snap a pic. That means if you don’t like the face you’re making or the angle you shot it from, you simply take another. And another. Well, you get the point. Chances are, you keep snapping until you get the perfect picture.

If that’s how you use the camera on your iPhone, you’re probably looking for a way to delete pictures en masse. You’re in luck because you’ve come to the right place. This article will show you how to mass delete iPhone photos. And not just one way – but two! So, buckle up and keep reading.

How delete multiple photos on iPhone

As promised, you’ll read about the smart and manual ways to bulk delete photos. Whichever of these methods you decide to use, there’s something to keep in mind if you’re using iCloud Photos. When you delete a picture from your phone, it also removes it from the cloud. So, you’ll want to make sure that you’re only deleting pictures you genuinely want to remove. Not just the ones you want to get rid of to free up storage on your phone.

But all that being said, if your photo library is too cluttered, you’ll probably want also to remove these pictures from the cloud. Letting those photos waste space in the cloud also makes no sense.  

How to delete iPhone photos in bulk the smart way

Deleting iPhone photos in bulk can be tiresome, so I’ve been using the CleanMy®Phone app to remove multiple images on my iPhone. It scans your photo library and helps you quickly delete duplicates, similar images, screenshots, TikTok videos, and more.

With CleanMy®Phone, you can tidy up your photo library with a few taps, saving you the time and effort of manually selecting each picture.

Once you have CleanMy®Phone downloaded on your iPhone or iPad, all you have to do is follow these steps:

1. Open CleanMy®Phone.
2. From the Declutter tab, tap Scan.
3. Let it scan, then tap Blur, Duplicates, Screenshots, or any other category you’d like to declutter.
4. Review the photos preselected for the removal and tap Clean.

When you’re done, tap Organize to find and categorize similar pictures. The app will scan your photo library using AI and sort them into folders, such as Travel, Pets, Food, etc., helping you remove multiple identical images of the same thing.

Tip: iOS keeps the recently deleted pictures on your iPhone for 30 days. So, if you need to free up space immediately, go to the Photos app and tap Albums > Recently Deleted > Select > Three dots > Delete All to erase the deleted items permanently.

How to mass delete photos from iPhone manually

The other way to eliminate multiple photos is to delete them manually. Thankfully, that doesn’t mean you have to open each picture one at a time and tap the trash icon – that would take forever. There is a way you can select the images and videos in a group and then delete them.

Here’s how you can mass delete photos from your iPhone:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap Library > All Photos.
3. Then, at the top, tap Select.
4. Select the photos you want to delete.
5. Once you’ve chosen all of the pictures or videos you want to delete, tap the Trash icon.

Tip: If there’s a big chunk of photos you want to select, you can drag your finger across the group instead of tapping.

Again, just like if you were using CleanMy®Phone, you’ll need to permanently delete the pictures if you want to free up that storage space now. If you skipped that section, here are those steps one more time:

1. In the Photos app, tap Album.
2. Go down and select Recently Deleted.
3. Hit the Select button at the top.
4. Then, hit Delete All.

How to delete multiple photos on iPad

This is one of those instances where it’s a good thing iOS and iPadOS are so similar. Fortunately, you’ll also be able to use both of these methods to help you delete photos in bulk on your iPad. 

And, yes, that includes using CleanMy®Phone on your iPad. In fact, the iPad version has been optimized to utilize that larger screen. So, in some ways, it might be easier to clean up your library using your iPad because you can appreciate the pictures more with that display.

Duplicate photos and large libraries are inevitable on iPhones and iPads. The cameras have become so incredible, and it’s never been easier to start snapping pics, coupled with the fact that you always have your phone with you.

But, thankfully with the help of apps like CleanMy®Phone, you can clean up the clutter quickly and easily. Of course, if you’re one of those people with nothing but time on your hands, you can always use the manual approach to tidy things up too.