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User profile for user: Tahunga
Tahunga Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

After deleting photos, memory in my iPad is still used. WHY?

When connecting my iPad mini to iTunes on my MacBook Air it shows that I have 2489 pictures on the iPad and am using 28.4 GB for all those pictures. When I open the Photos app on my iPad it shows that I do not have ANY pictures on the iPad, which would be correct, as I have deleted them all. So why are they still using up all that memory? How can I clear the memory to make it available again? BTW, My iPad Settings>General>About agrees with iTunes. It shows that I have 2452 pix (why not 2489 as above?), and am using 28.4 GB for them. So again, HOW CAN I CLEAR THE UNUSED MEMORY, or get rid of the pix if they are indeed still hiding somewhere on my iPad?

My iPad mini is running iOS 8.1.1


Thanks for any help....

iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Dec 8, 2014 9:34 PM

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25 replies
User profile for user: Lois Green
Lois Green
User level: Level 1
87 points

Dec 9, 2014 11:16 PM in response to Tahunga

Hi, Tahunga,

May be you need to do a comprehensive first.


Firstly, be aware that the phone can sometimes take a while to update free space after deleting large items. I have often wondered whether iOS is making the user experience a bit 'nicer' by reporting the item deleted instantly, while doing the actual deleting in the background. Or perhaps its just the time taken to update databases used to record/report used/free space. In any case, try giving it a few minutes (maybe an hour) and see if its 'settled down'.


Next up, in the Photos app, check the albums 'tab'. Is the camera roll reporting entirely empty? Are there any other albums?


Finally, plug the iPad into your computer, and open up an app like Apple's Image Capture or whatever you use on Windows/Mac/Linux to import photos from a camera. Check that there's actually no photos in the 'camera' that is your iPad. After clearing out my pad, I found a bunch of small, unreadable movie files and a few photos left over in this app. I don't know how or why, given the iPhone wasn't showing them, but they were clearly taking up space. You may have somehow ended up with a lot of these.

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User profile for user: Tahunga
Tahunga Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Dec 11, 2014 5:02 PM in response to Lois Green

Hello Lois,

thanks for trying to help. But I believe my issue goes much deeper. Here the answers to your suggestions:

  • We are talking "days later" not just hours, and the 2489 pix are still shown in terms of using up memory on the iPad mini;
  • In total I currently have only two folders, namely "camera role" and "recently deleted". Both of these are completely empty.
  • I use Aperture as my photo app. When connecting my iPad mini to Aperture and try to import anything and everything off the iPad, Aperture tells me that there are no pictures available.


Bottom Line: I might have to re-set my iPad to factory status and see if that might do it. It's just too bad that one of the applications was obviously programmed by people who did not understand the concept of freeing unused memory. 😟

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After deleting photos, memory in my iPad is still used. WHY?

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