iPhone photos WILL NOT delete

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iPhone photos WILL NOT delete

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a Mac user! I user Windows! Please do not post suggestions for MAC users, I am NOT a Mac user.

I've tried to do this on several occasions, never have I had any success. I'm at the point where I'd like to take a hammer to my phone just to remove my ****** photos from my phone.

I have an iPhone 4S. I am on iOS 7, not iOS 8.

I have 6.5 gigs of space being wasted by pictures I've taken with the iPhone camera, all of which are backed up on my computer. I can't do ANYTHING with my phone because there's less than 100 megabytes free.

I have tried the following with ZERO luck.

- Used the "Photos" app on the phone to remove each and every individual photo. My photo stream, albums, etc. are completely empty.

- Turned the phone off and on, twice, after deleting every photo manually.

- Syncing and re-syncing the phone with iTunes. The photos are still not there in my photos app or camera roll, as expected.

- Checking the box in the "Photos" section on iTunes and selecting an empty folder, then syncing. iTunes warned me all photos on the phone would be removed. I told it yes, do it. Still 6.5 gigs being used by "Photo Library" on my iPhone.

As I said, the photos are not there when I look in the Photos app or my Camera roll. Usage section of iPhone settings still reports 6.5 gigs used by "Photo Library." Nothing has worked. I'm extremely irritated with the blatant inability to manage data on my phone. Please, someone save my phone from a hammer. I like iPhone. I don't want to go back to an Android phone.

iPhone 4S, Windows 8

Posted on Jan 10, 2015 8:41 AM

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Answer 1

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ManSinha

Level 6

12,171 points

Jan 10, 2015 8:56 AM in response to Ar7ific1al

If you have all the data you want from the phone backed up - can you consider doing restore as new?

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Answer 2

Ar7ific1al Author

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Jan 10, 2015 9:02 AM in response to ManSinha

One should not have to totally reset their iPhone simply to remove their photos.

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Answer 3

Ar7ific1al Author

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Jan 10, 2015 9:06 AM in response to ManSinha

I replied already but when I refreshed the page, my response was gone. I'll try again.

One should not have to reset the entire phone simply to remove photos.

EDIT: And when I hit reply, the last post was there. What gives?

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Answer 4

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,377 points

Jan 10, 2015 9:09 AM in response to Ar7ific1al

Where are you seeing that there are 6GB used for photos. Have you tried powering the phone off and then back on. If a process is stuck, you can also do a reset, by holding the sleep/wake and home buttons together until you see the Apple logo and then release. This will not affect your other data. The phone will reboot.

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Answer 5

Ar7ific1al Author

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Jan 10, 2015 9:14 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

If you would, please read my original post carefully. It is explicitly stated there where I see there is 6.5 gigs of space used by "Photo Library." You will also see that I have powered the phone off twice after I deleted every photo manually with the Photos app.

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Answer 6

ManSinha

Level 6

12,171 points

Jan 10, 2015 9:53 AM in response to Ar7ific1al

Ar7ific1al wrote:

I replied already but when I refreshed the page, my response was gone. I'll try again.

EDIT: And when I hit reply, the last post was there. What gives?

Gremlins in your devices eating up your space? 😉

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Answer 7

MrPeer

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Jan 10, 2015 2:29 PM in response to Ar7ific1al

I have the same Problem here.

I am using ipohone 5 with iOS 8.1.2.

I think you will get it even you dont speak german. I transalted the obvious 🙂

I Hope we will find a solution.

cheers
MrPeer

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Answer 8

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,377 points

Jan 10, 2015 6:32 PM in response to Ar7ific1al

I read your post quite carefully before I made my response. All you say is Photo Library, not where you are looking at that reading. Are you in Settings? Next, I advised you to do a reset on the phone, which differs from powering the phone off and on. However, it appears you do not like my questions and/or advice, so good day.

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Answer 9

Jan 10, 2015 7:56 PM in response to Ar7ific1al

Same problem here with ios8

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Answer 10

Ar7ific1al Author

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Jan 11, 2015 3:02 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

Like I said, it's all right there. It's in plain English. I'm sorry, but it cannot be put any clearer. It is clearly stated in my post, "Usage section of iPhone settings still reports 6.5 gigs used by 'Photo Library.'"

I also fail to see how "resetting" and powering off are different. They achieve the same thing: power-cycling the phone. Holding the power switch and home button does the same thing as holding the power switch and swiping to turn off the phone, except I don't have to manually turn the phone back on myself.

Despite that, I did try that after you mentioned it and, unsurprisingly, nothing changed.

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Answer 11

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,377 points

Jan 11, 2015 6:56 AM in response to Ar7ific1al

A reset, which is what I described is different than powering the device off/on. However, the next two steps of user troubleshooting are restore from backup, then restore as new.

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Answer 12

Ar7ific1al Author

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Jan 11, 2015 7:16 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

I fail to see how a reset and power off/on are different from one another. Can you please explain? Clearly there is something I've missed if they're two different things.

I refuse to restore my phone to factory default. That's ridiculous. I should not have to do that just to wipe the photos from my phone.

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Answer 13

AKRBTN

Level 6

8,335 points

Jan 11, 2015 7:19 AM in response to Ar7ific1al

Have you come here to get advice, or just argue with every bit you're given?

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Answer 14

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,377 points

Jan 11, 2015 11:15 AM in response to Ar7ific1al

I refuse to deal with your attitude and refusal to complete the necessary user troubleshooting. Why don't you call Apple and when they ask you to perform basic user troubleshooting, just refuse and see how far it gets you. I suggest you make a Genius Bar appointment and just make arrangements to return your device. That should eliminate all of your iPhone concerns.

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Answer 15

Ar7ific1al Author

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Jan 11, 2015 1:15 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

I don't consider a factory reset to be troubleshooting. Of course that'll fix the problem, because the entire phone will be wiped. What attitude is it you think I am giving? I simply said I refuse to resort to resetting the phone to its factory state, as all I wish to do is remove my photos from the phone so I can have some free space. If not accepting that as a solution is rude or something, then I'm sorry.

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