Deleting photos from iPad

No, you can't delete photos from the iPad en masse, but you can delete them one by one directly from the iPad.

There were a number of people who could not find any way to easily delete them off of the iPad even using their computer. I was attempting to help those few.

jerryandveva wrote:

No, you can't delete photos from the iPad en masse, but you can delete them one by one directly from the iPad.

Not if they were sync'd to the iPad via iTunes from the computer.

None of the advice found worked for me. I figured out the following on my own. Works great, and don't buy any new apps:

1. Create a "new folder" on your desktop/laptop in your photo folder. The new folder is empty.

2. Plug ipad into itunes.

3. Click the icon for your ipad, then click "photos" at the upper right of itunes.

4. Click "selected folders" on drop down menu.

5. Click "new folder" which is in your hard drive on computer, which your created in step 1.

6. The program will automatically sync when you select appropriate tab at bottom right current screne.

Sync may take a couple of minutes, depending on size of old photo album on ipad.

7. Delete desktop/laptop "new folder" when above is done. Confirm no photo's on ipad.

8. To add photos, put photos in new "new folder", and sync with itunes. DONE.

Dtally, your process has been written down in this thread 4 or 5 times, it seems every couple of pages someone 'discovers' it.

The issue is though, what if you dont have access to a Mac to resync? How then does your answer work?

>>>That I believe is the issue most people are complaining about, and the one that is driving people to discover this thread<<<

They may need the space, or may have other reasons for wishing to remove some photos, and they find (to their maazement/annoyance) that they can't do it unless they have access to their Mac. Thats when a third party app is needed, so don't dismiss the need for one so easily.

Bottom line for anyone discovering this thread, if you dont have access to your Mac to resync, you have to use a third party app to remove synced (as apposed to camera-downloaded) photos.

I don't have a Mac. The steps were written for a PC. I did forget to add that between steps 7 and 8 one may need to disconnect from Itunes, and then reconnect. It seems to assure that the new correct folder will be there.

Kudos to "love tomatoes" I've read every post regarding deleting photos and nothing worked. I even resorted to asking a supposed "Mac Geek" and he couldn't answer the question. Resoring my iPad to its original settings was totally unacceptable and this quick fix with an empty folder worked like magic. This post should be out there in front so you don't have to spend hours trying to figure this quick fix out! Thanks so much!

This thread is almost 2 years old. Isn't it about time someone put a fork in it.

The original question was how do you remove from an iPad a picture that was added via desktop iTunes without removing it from the desktop iTunes database. In other words without having to resync the iPad with iTunes.

The answer is you cannot. An iPad is a $600 device that will not even work out of the box without syncing with iTunes on a computer. Thank you very much Steve Jobs.

Gave my iPad to my daughter and bought myself and Andriod tablet. Is the smartest move I made since I married my wife 25 years ago.

Of course we won't put a fork in it! Not true statement... iPad2 does not need to be synced to itunes right out of the box. I'm a dedicated PC fan but would not buy an Droid. I love my iPad except for the photo issue and now I'm a very happy campter.

Wow, I've just read this entire thread - what an amusing way to kill a bit of time on Christmas waiting for diner. The annoyance I feel about not being able to delete a few photos from my iPad has lessened in reading some of these posts and responses.

For those coming new to the thread who are perhaps still unclear: if photos got on to your iPad through a synch with iTunes you won't be able to delete them without either re-synching with iTunes or using a third party app - and it's not clear to me that the app option does actually work. If re-synching you will have to manage the photos manually.

To those who seem strangely defensive on behalf of Apple, I don't get it. What's your beef? I have a couple of photos that got on there when I did my first synch, now I'm traveling and I'd like to remove them. This should be the simplest thing in the world and given Apple's general ethos they should be embarassed that this thread even exists. It's annoying, and frustrating - but nothing more than that. I think you should stop treating people like they are jerks or stupid because they feel this frustration, it's kind of mean.

It seems clear that using an application, iTunes, that started as a music manager for the original iPod as a general media hub for phones and the hand held media divice that is the iPad is becoming more and more cumbersome. It would be great if they would revise the whole system, but don't hold your breath. I imagine that would be extremely complicated, incredibly expensive, and cause more problems for Apple than they want to deal with. This has always been the trade off with Apple products: simplicity (and beauty) of use vs. versatility and freedom but with a bit more complexity and the necessity of some computer skills.

However, I really do hope they figure out a way for us to delete individual photos from the iPad, regardless of how they got there.

C

The easiest way: Open "Image Capture" from /Applications.

While your iPad is connected. Then you can select all or some of the photos, and press the red delete icon.

I Just deleted 9GB of photos and videos in less than 2 minutes.

cheers

hi. have figured this one out. connect the i pad to the mac. i photo will pop up. click on the photos icon. see the photos on the mac and select the ones you want to delete. press right click and choose 'move to trash' option.

delete as many as you want. then disonnect the i pad and reconnect. it works...cheers

To be clear, the issue here is the inability to delete certain photos from the iPad without having to synch, for instance if one is traveling. The subject heading does not make that entirely clear, but that is the problem we would like to solve.

Cheers

Talk about missing the point, the whole issue is about inability to delete if you cannot connect to a Mac. Jeez.

"hi. have figured this one out. connect the i pad to the mac. i photo will pop up."

Only if there are photos added to the ipad after the last sync.

"click on the photos icon. see the photos on the mac and select the ones you want to delete. press right click and choose 'move to trash' option."

Why should we delete the only photos we have just because we don't want them on the iPad?

That is the library of photos.

And you could simply open iPhoto and delete them.

For the love of God .... it should not be this difficult. It could not possibly be that much of a technological problem to provide a delete button ?! Oh ... and don't expect Apple to listen .... they don't.