User profile for user: Jakub_Z
Jakub_Z Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Photos can't be removed after macos reinstall

I have some photos on my iphone X that were (some time ago) synced by finder from my macbook. After a while I had to repair the macbook and erased all my personal data from it before I gave it to the vendor.

It seems now that I'm stuck with a bunch of photos that I can't delete on my iphone, but my macbook doesn't recognize them as imported from that device (so disabling photo syncing and clicking "sync" does not change the status of them).


Please advice how I can delete, or at least how I can turn them into photos owned by the iphone, not synced.

iPhone X, iOS 16

Posted on Aug 23, 2024 6:12 AM

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User profile for user: Matti Haveri
Matti Haveri
User level: Level 7
20,848 points

Posted on Aug 23, 2024 7:30 AM

So you want to delete previously synced images from the iPhone, right? Try this:


1. Make an empty folder to the Mac's Desktop.

2. Connect iPhone via USB to the Mac.

3. Open your home folder and choose your iPhone in the folder's sidebar, and there choose Photos tab > Sync photos to your device from: Choose folder... > choose the empty folder you made in step #1 > Apply.

4. Wait for the sync to finish.

5. In iPhone check that the previously synced images are deleted. If not, repeat steps #3-5 (if there are numerous old images, deleting them might time out before all images are deleted).

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Matti Haveri
Matti Haveri
User level: Level 7
20,848 points

Aug 23, 2024 7:30 AM in response to Jakub_Z

So you want to delete previously synced images from the iPhone, right? Try this:


1. Make an empty folder to the Mac's Desktop.

2. Connect iPhone via USB to the Mac.

3. Open your home folder and choose your iPhone in the folder's sidebar, and there choose Photos tab > Sync photos to your device from: Choose folder... > choose the empty folder you made in step #1 > Apply.

4. Wait for the sync to finish.

5. In iPhone check that the previously synced images are deleted. If not, repeat steps #3-5 (if there are numerous old images, deleting them might time out before all images are deleted).

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Photos can't be removed after macos reinstall

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