Leslie Holmes

Q: How to delete original photos from iPhone after sync with computer

Once upon a time, after syncing my iPhone with my computer (using iTunes) I would get the option "delete originals from the phone?". These days I cannot find any setting that allows me to do that. Is there now any way to automatically delete originals from the iPhone after a sync?

 

If not, is there any way to bulk delete photos from the iPhone, apart from using Select to tick each photo I want to delete? So tedious. Even a "Select All" option would be helpful.

iPhone 4S, iOS 9.2.1

Posted on Feb 29, 2016 7:46 AM

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Q: How to delete original photos from iPhone after sync with computer

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Feb 29, 2016 7:48 AM in response to Leslie Holmes
    Level 9 (51,382 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 29, 2016 7:48 AM in response to Leslie Holmes

    Are you using the iCloud Photo Library?

  • by Demo,

    Demo Demo Feb 29, 2016 7:53 AM in response to Leslie Holmes
    Level 10 (95,986 points)
    iPad
    Feb 29, 2016 7:53 AM in response to Leslie Holmes

    You can not delete synced photos without unsyncing them. Synced photos are photos that you transfer d to the device by using iTunes on your computer. If that's how they got on the phone, you have to unsync them to delete them. See this for more information.

    Sync photos from your computer to your iOS device using iTunes - Apple Support

     

    Photos that are in the camera roll can be deleted directly from the device and they can be batch deleted as well. Open the camera roll, tap on Select, tap on a photo on the left side. Then tap on the photo next to it and drag your finger to the right and down the right side of the screen. That will batch select a number of photos for deletion.

  • by Leslie Holmes,

    Leslie Holmes Leslie Holmes Feb 29, 2016 8:00 AM in response to Demo
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Apple Watch
    Feb 29, 2016 8:00 AM in response to Demo

    Thanks for the second paragraph, that's helpful!

     

    Re my first problem, I am talking about photos being transferred from my phone to the computer, sorry if that wasn't clear. So the originals are on the phone, not the computer. iTunes used to offer the option of deleting originals from the phone after they had been transferred to the computer -- but no more? If that is still possible I'd like to know how.

     

    Thx for your reply.

  • by Demo,

    Demo Demo Feb 29, 2016 8:17 AM in response to Leslie Holmes
    Level 10 (95,986 points)
    iPad
    Feb 29, 2016 8:17 AM in response to Leslie Holmes

    Leslie Holmes wrote:

     

     

    Re my first problem, I am talking about photos being transferred from my phone to the computer, sorry if that wasn't clear. So the originals are on the phone, not the computer. iTunes used to offer the option of deleting originals from the phone after they had been transferred to the computer -- but no more? If that is still possible I'd like to know how.

    Those photos were not imported to your computer using iTunes. You could never import photos from the phone to your computer using iTunes. iTunes works from the computer to the phone with regard to syncing photos. You imported the photos to your computer using iPhoto, Image Capture (if on a Mac) or whatever Windows software allows you to import photos from a camera. At the time that you imported them from the phone to the computer, you were offered the option to delete them then and there. If you say "no" at that point, you have to delete them manually from the phone using the instructions that I provided above.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Feb 29, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Leslie Holmes
    Level 8 (38,298 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 29, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Leslie Holmes

    Leslie Holmes wrote:

     

    Thanks for the second paragraph, that's helpful!

     

    Re my first problem, I am talking about photos being transferred from my phone to the computer, sorry if that wasn't clear. So the originals are on the phone, not the computer. iTunes used to offer the option of deleting originals from the phone after they had been transferred to the computer -- but no more? If that is still possible I'd like to know how.

     

     

    iTunes never offered that option, as iTunes is not involved in transferring photos from the iPhone to a computer. When you connect the phone to the computer it is recognized as a digital camera, so whatever app on the computer that you have set to be launched when you connect a digital camera is the one that will be used. The option to delete after copy is in that app (or it isn't). On a Mac iPhoto offered that option, as does Picasa, Nikon ViewNX and Photoshop Elements. On Windows I'm pretty sure Microsoft Photos does, as well as Photoshop Elements. If your program doesn't have that option you can still do it the way Demo described, on the phone. But if you do it on the phone note that iOS now has the equivalent of a trash folder; it's an album called "Recently Deleted." So to get rid of the photos you need to delete them twice, once from the camera roll and again from the recently deleted album.

     

    All of this assumes you have not turned on iCloud Photos (Settings/iCloud). If you have it turned on photos will sync to iCloud as soon as they are taken, and can be viewed in the Photos app on a Mac or in a web browser. If you delete photos from the phone they will also be deleted from other devices that have iCloud Photos enabled.

  • by Rudegar,

    Rudegar Rudegar Feb 29, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Leslie Holmes
    Level 7 (28,966 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 29, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Leslie Holmes

    so you have no problems deleting them on the phone itself ?