Sometimes you just want a clean slate: sell the phone, start fresh, or clear years of clutter in one go. Here’s how to delete all photos on your iPhone quickly, what happens to iCloud when you do, and the version where you keep the shots that matter.
The quick answer
Open Photos > Library > Select, drag a finger across the grid to sweep rows, tap the trash icon, then empty Albums > Utilities > Recently Deleted. If iCloud Photos is on, the deletion removes the photos from every device. Back up first if you might want any of them.
Before you wipe everything
Two things decide whether this ends well:
- iCloud Photos users: deleting locally deletes everywhere. Back up first if there’s any doubt.
- Favorites first: open Favorites and make sure everything you love is actually hearted, because once the wipe starts there’s no picking through.
Method 1: Sweep-select in Library
- Open Photos > Library.
- Tap Select.
- Drag one finger across the grid; rows highlight as you sweep.
- Tap the trash icon, confirm, then repeat until the library is empty.
- Go to Albums > Utilities > Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All to free the space immediately.
The sweep gesture is the fastest built-in way to select thousands of photos without tapping each one.
What this gives you: a whole library cleared in minutes. What this does not give you: a way to undo after you empty Recently Deleted, or protection for iCloud copies.
Method 2: Delete day by day
In Library, each day has its own Select button in the top-right corner. Tapping Select next to a date grabs that whole day’s set at once. This is tidier for partial wipes: clear specific months or trips rather than everything.
Method 3: The favorites-first reset
If your goal is a fresh start rather than total loss:
- Spend a session hearting every photo worth keeping (or use an existing Favorites album).
- Wipe the library with Method 1, but stop whenever you spot hearted photos and unselect them first.
- What remains is a small library you actually chose.
This works best after a proper cleanup pass, because there’s far less to sort through.
What if you only want to free the iPhone, not iCloud?
With iCloud Photos on, there is no “delete from this device only” button. Your options:
- Turn on Optimize iPhone Storage in Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos so full-size originals live in iCloud and small versions stay on the phone.
- Turn off iCloud Photos for this device and choose to remove local copies, once you’ve confirmed the full library is in your backup.
The details, and the traps, are in delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud.
Selling or giving away the phone?
Deleting photos isn’t enough. Use Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings. That wipes photos, apps and accounts and signs the phone out of your Apple ID. It cannot be undone, so back up first.
Don’t forget the last step
Nothing is truly gone until Recently Deleted empties. Deleted photos sit there for up to 30 days still holding your storage hostage. Here’s how to clear Recently Deleted, including the checks to run before confirming. Changed your mind? Undo a deletion while the window is open.
When wiping isn’t really what you want
Full wipes usually come from feeling overwhelmed by volume. If that’s the real problem, consider the middle path: keep the memories, remove the repetition. Duplicates, burst frames and screenshots can make up a large share of a bloated library, and clearing those alone can free gigabytes (how to find them). If thousands of photos are the issue, see how to delete thousands of photos on iPhone. A swipe-based tool like Odoa gets through a big library quickly while keeping each decision yours.
The bottom line
Library > Select > sweep-drag deletes everything fast, and Recently Deleted must be emptied before the space returns. Protect favorites beforehand, back up if iCloud syncs your deletions, use Erase All Content and Settings when you’re selling the phone, and consider trimming instead of nuking if overwhelm was the trigger.