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How can I delete photos to free up storage in iPad?

My iPad storage is full and I can’t delete photos.

iPad, iPadOS 13

Posted on Jul 25, 2020 4:31 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jul 25, 2020 8:21 PM

They will still appear in your Photos app as thumbnail images, but are actually stored in iCloud.

To reduce the storage amount you can reduce these images to smaller thumbnail images with iCloud still storing the full resolution images.

You can save space on your device when you turn on Optimize Storage.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

  1. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
  2. Tap Photos.
  3. Choose Optimize [device] Storage.


Best of Luck to You!


5 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jul 25, 2020 8:21 PM in response to mimisfbay

They will still appear in your Photos app as thumbnail images, but are actually stored in iCloud.

To reduce the storage amount you can reduce these images to smaller thumbnail images with iCloud still storing the full resolution images.

You can save space on your device when you turn on Optimize Storage.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

  1. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
  2. Tap Photos.
  3. Choose Optimize [device] Storage.


Best of Luck to You!


Jul 25, 2020 4:49 PM in response to mimisfbay

There are various ways to delete photos depending upon how many you want to delete. The easiest way to delete individual photos is to open the Photos app and select a photo you want to delete. In the upper right corner is a trash can icon which, when you press that icon, will ask for confirmation that you do truly want to delete the photo and will delete it after you confirm.


If you would like other options or a mass delete option just let me know and I will give my best attempt to further offer my suggestion to resolve your need.

Jul 25, 2020 5:08 PM in response to mimisfbay

If you need to free up free data storage space on an iPad/iDevice, you need to start by backing up your iPad to either Apple's iCloud or by connecting your iDevice to a computer running the latest iTunes and/or some other offsite, “cloud” data storage/backup services, like Google Drive/Photos, DropBox, BOX, Amazon Cloud Drive, Flickr ( for photos/images ), etc.


Then, delete any installed apps that you no longer use or use infrequently enough that they aren't missed (you can always reinstalled any purchased or free apps at some time later, as you need them).

A disclaimer to the immediate advice above, if you own a 8 or 9-year old iPad, you SHOULD ONLY delete apps that you have ever seldom used or no longer use as there is NO WAY now, in 2020, to retrieve these old apps from the iOS App Store, any longer.


( Third party iOS app developers have permanently removed all of their older, legacy apps from Apple's iOS App Store servers forever!

There are NO more older, common and popular third party apps for old 8 and 9-year old iOS devices, any longer! )



Then, thin out/delete any music/videos/movies/TV shows/podcasts/screen recordings/images/eBooks/

eMagazine/iBooks/audio books/Documents/PDFs, etc.



If you use a POP email account on your iPad, delete/thin out any old saved emails that maybe saved to your iPad.


To permanently delete photos/images off of your iDevice go into the Photos app and find the Recently Deleted folder/album and permanently delete any photos/images stored in that folder/album.


Also, you can check to see what other stuff is eating up all your valuable data storage space by going into the Settings App,,General Settings Panel, in the right hand column, tap Storage & iCloud usage panel ( in iOS 11, it’s iPad Storage ), in the top Storage Panel, tap the Manage Storage panel, wait for a list of apps to generate that will tell you how much space each app is taking up on your iDevice.


Then, for older iPads or iPads with a Lightning connector, do a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons.


OR


The new hard reset procedure for newer iPad Pro models


Try the new hard reset procedure for the new 2018/2020 iPad Pro models.


1. Press and Release the Volume Up button.


2. Then immediately Press and Release the Volume Down button.


3. Then, Press and Hold the Power Button at the top. You will see the Slide to Power off button, but keep on holding down the Power Button until you see the Apple logo, then let it go.


Once you have performed all the steps, wait for a few seconds and your 2018 iPad Pro will boot up completely to the iPad Pro’s Lock screen.


iOS devices and iOS/iPadOS need to maintain, at the very least, a minimum of between 2-4 GBs of free data storage space, AT ALL TIMES, to insure normal/nominal functionalities/operation and general overall performance of any iOS device running iOS/iPadOS.



Good Luck to You!

How can I delete photos to free up storage in iPad?

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