iCloud Photos reappear after deleting from iCloud for Windows

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Maha897 Author

Level 1

4 points

iCloud Photos reappear after deleting from iCloud for Windows

Hi,

I’m trying to transfer my iCloud Photos to an external hard drive using iCloud for Windows on Windows 11.

I followed Apple’s instructions to do this. The instructions say:

Make sure that you set up iCloud for Windows and turn on iCloud Photos.
Open File Explorer. In the Navigation pane, click iCloud Photos, then select the images you want to keep on your PC.
Right-click the selection and choose "Always keep on this device."
After the items download, copy them to another folder on your computer. To do this, press and hold the Ctrl key and drag the items to the folder. Include this folder if you back up your computer.

Manage your iCloud storage from your Windows PC - Apple Support

I followed these instructions. I selected a group of photos, chose “Always keep on this device”, waited for them to download, and then copied them to a separate folder on my external hard drive.

I’m doing this in batches. After confirming that the photos were successfully copied to the external hard drive, I deleted the same photos from the iCloud Photos folder in File Explorer. However, a few minutes later, the photos appeared again in the folder with a cloud icon, and they are still visible on my iPhone. I also noticed that the same photos are in my recycle bin.

My first question is:

Why are the photos still on my iPhone after I deleted them from the iCloud Photos folder? What does the cloud icon mean?

My second question is:

Is there a better way of transferring photos than this? The reason it takes so long is that the “Always keep on this device” step takes a long time to download the photos. This means I can’t work with more than around 100 photos at a time, as larger batches take too long.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Posted on Aug 13, 2026 2:40 PM

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Answer 1

WheelieNick

Level 9

52,323 points

Aug 14, 2026 2:03 AM in response to Maha897

Deleting photos from the iCloud Photos folder in File Explorer deletes them from your entire iCloud account and all synced devices, including your iPhone. The cloud icon means the files are synced with iCloud placeholders rather than stored locally, and deleting them triggered a sync deletion sent to Apple's servers, which also moved them to your Recycle Bin.

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Answer 2

Maha897 Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 14, 2026 1:55 PM in response to WheelieNick

Thank you for your response. I’d like to clarify what happened in my case.

I deleted the photos from the iCloud Photos folder in file explorer, and they were initially removed from the iCloud photos folder. However, after a few minutes, the same photos appeared again in the iCloud photos folder.

What I find confusing is that the photos are also still in my Windows Recycle Bin, even though they have reappeared in the iCloud Photos folder.

I also checked my iPhone to see if the photos had been removed there, but they were still present on my iPhone.

So my question is, why did the photos reappear in the iCloud Photos folder, and why were they not removed from my iPhone? Does this mean that the deletion did not sync properly with iCloud?

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