After importing iphone photos to pc from icloud how can i delete the imported photos from both icloud and iphone simply in one action?

iphone xs

ios 15.6


My process is as follows for importing photos from my iphone to pc...


1 - I backup photos from iphone to icloud. (my storage is small and the amount of photos i have is way larger than this amount so i guess im going to have to backup photos multiple times to get everything)

2 - using icloud in a chrome browser on pc i'll download as many photos as i can until all photos in icloud are on the pc.

3 - somehow delete the photos on both icloud and on iphone (hopefully at the same time) that i just downloaded from icloud to the pc .

4 - repeat process until all photos are in pc and not iphone.


My problem here is step 3 , is there a way to delete imported photos (the ones downloaded to my pc) from both icloud and iphone at the same time? i know that the photos i delete from icloud after downloading them will match the photos downloaded on pc , i want to delete these photos from both icloud and iphone ideally at the same time and be sure they are the same photos, so i hopefully don't have to go through manually selecting each photo and deleting them from iphone. Is this a feasible endeavor?

This is literally the first time i'm importing any photos for saving them because i've never had to clear photos for storage saving reasons before, so this is all new to me.

Posted on Jan 10, 2024 5:55 PM

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Posted on Jan 10, 2024 7:41 PM

If it were me I would:


Upgrade my iCloud storage, even if just for a month or two

Sync all of my photos between devices using iCloud for Windows or Photos on the Mac

Turn off iCloud sync on the Mac/PC

then select all photos on the iPhone and delete (which will also delete everything in iCloud but not on your computer as you've previously turn off syncing on the computer).

You can then downgrade iCloud storage if you wish


10,000 photos might take a little bit of time to sync completely the first time.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 10, 2024 7:41 PM in response to dyingforanswers69

If it were me I would:


Upgrade my iCloud storage, even if just for a month or two

Sync all of my photos between devices using iCloud for Windows or Photos on the Mac

Turn off iCloud sync on the Mac/PC

then select all photos on the iPhone and delete (which will also delete everything in iCloud but not on your computer as you've previously turn off syncing on the computer).

You can then downgrade iCloud storage if you wish


10,000 photos might take a little bit of time to sync completely the first time.

Jan 10, 2024 6:42 PM in response to dyingforanswers69

What is the end goal? If you simply wish to have zero photos on your device, eg. remove them all after taking photos, simply sync to your PC. Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC - Apple Support


If you wish to automate some of the process, install iCloud for Windows to automatically sync photos to your computer. Once you move those photos from the iCloud location. they should delete in iCloud too.

Jan 10, 2024 7:23 PM in response to muguy

the end goal is hopefully that when I download from icloud to pc , then delete from icloud , that those deleted from icloud would also delete from my iphone as well at the same time, because i have about 10000ish photos and i have a feeling that going through on my iphone on the photos app and selecting and deleting will be kind of tedious and time consuming. Also, since my icloud storage is lower than the storage required for the amount of photos i have, i want to be absolutely sure that the photos i've imported are deleted after on both icloud and iphone - 1. so there can be space on icloud to make the next transfers and 2. so that i know im not getting duplicates when backing up the rest of my photos to icloud to repeat the process i laid out in the original question posted, or 3. that i accidentally delete photos that weren't backed up on icloud. So it'd be nice if deleting from icloud also deleted those same photos from my iphone at the same time to avoid having to do all this duplicate checking and tedious deleting manually.

But now thinking about it a little more, if the pricing isn't too unaffordable for more icloud storage i could just do that and move everything in one fell swoop then check that the photos/files number is the same on iphone and icloud and then on pc as well after downloading and just bite the bullet and go through selecting and deleting everything manually.

And thanks for the reply, you're idea is probably a good one going forward from here, i kind of f'd myself by being a photo hoarder and not just trying to figure this stuff out when i had like only 100 photos.

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After importing iphone photos to pc from icloud how can i delete the imported photos from both icloud and iphone simply in one action?

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