Can't delete iCloud photos; Shared Albums are disabled

i can’t delete photos from iCloud because of shared albums it says u havw to disable it first but when I go to disable it it’s already disabled

Posted on Jun 11, 2026 3:31 PM

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Posted on Jun 14, 2026 8:54 AM

mohanad153 wrote: …No I want photos to be fully on my phone no iCloud and it’s turned off and I downgraded my plan and want to delete the iCloud Photos and it’s not letting me cuz shared libabry but that’s turned off idk what’s happening

This is a bit confusing. You started out talking about Shared Albums. But instead, you created a Shared Library and you want to delete it now? See this:

Leave iCloud Shared Photo Library - Apple Support

Go down to the section "Delete your Shared Library"

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 14, 2026 8:54 AM in response to mohanad153

mohanad153 wrote: …No I want photos to be fully on my phone no iCloud and it’s turned off and I downgraded my plan and want to delete the iCloud Photos and it’s not letting me cuz shared libabry but that’s turned off idk what’s happening

This is a bit confusing. You started out talking about Shared Albums. But instead, you created a Shared Library and you want to delete it now? See this:

Leave iCloud Shared Photo Library - Apple Support

Go down to the section "Delete your Shared Library"

Jun 12, 2026 9:00 AM in response to mohanad153

mohanad153 wrote: …i can’t delete photos from iCloud because of shared albums i

This does not say Shared Albums, but rather it refers to your Shared Library. A Shared Library would be very difficult to maintain on 5 GB of iCloud strorage. Are you sure you need a Shared Library?


It's not clear what you are wanting to do. Do you want to delete a few pictures? Do you want to turn off iCloud Photos? You must see that you are pushing the iCloud storage to the max, and it may be getting hard to handle.


You should read about Shared Libraries here:

How to use iCloud Shared Photo Library on iPhone or iPad - Apple Support


Jun 13, 2026 6:31 AM in response to mohanad153

mohanad153 wrote: I just want to delete all photos from iCloud I have device storage now

Then you should just turn off iCloud Photos. Go to Settings>[name]>iCloud>Photos to see this:

and turn off iCloud Photos.


If you have Optimize iPhone Storage checked, the you may not have all your pictures fully on your phone. In that case you will be asked if you want to download all your pictures-- say "yes."

Can't delete iCloud photos; Shared Albums are disabled

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