How To Delete Albums On iPhone

If you are an iPhone user (or any mobile phone user for that matter) then you are surely aware of how useful the photo gallery and album function is.

This feature allows you to collect your photos together into an album, much as you would with real photos.

How To Delete Albums On iPhone

However, what happens if you need to get rid of a bunch of photos? What if you need to get rid of a whole album? The last thing anyone wants to do is painstakingly go through each photo deleting them.

If you have your photos synched to your Cloud, it might even trickier to get rid of these pictures.

But don’t worry, we have all the info that you need for permanently getting rid of all the photos from your iPhone as well as those floating around on the Cloud.

Well, we’ll show you how to delete them using various apps and other features.

Why Would I Want To Delete My Albums?

There are many reasons why you want to get rid of photos. One of the reasons is that you are running out of space on your phone. A great way of freeing up space is getting rid of photos and videos on your phone.

Albums take up a lot more space than individual photos. You can have albums that are filled with hundreds and maybe even thousands of photos. Getting rid of an album is a great method of freeing up space very quickly.

There might also be more personal reasons for getting rid of the photos on your phone. If you have just broken up with someone, then you might want to get rid of some painful memories.

You might also have taken pictures of inspiration for your home furnishings. But now that you’ve moved in all, your inspiration mood board is now useless and just needlessly taking up space on your phone.

This is why you might want to delete them in one go.

Deleting Albums Using The Photos App

The quickest way to delete albums is by going through the photo app. Follow these few steps to delete your photos through this app:

  1. Click on the phone app – this is usually represented by a colored wheel on the home screen of your phone. You can also access this through the settings icon, which is also on your home screen.
  2. Click on albums – scroll to the bottom of the photos page and click on the ‘Albums’ tab at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Click on ‘see all’ – this will give you a grid view of all your albums, with a few select pictures for each album.
  4. Click ‘edit’ – Click on edit in the top right of the screen. You should now see minus icons in the corners of each album. You will need to click these to delete each album.
  5. You will then receive a prompt that will ask you whether or not you are sure that you want to delete your albums. You’ll need to click ‘Delete Album’ to confirm your decision.
  6. Once you have finished deleting all the relevant albums, then you can select ‘done’ in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

It is worth noting that deleting an album will not delete the pictures within that album. You will have to do that individually by going into your gallery.

However, you should be able to mass delete a lot of your photos by holding down your finger over one photo, which will then allow you to tick other photos.

Once you have selected all the photos that you want to delete, then press the trash can icon.

How To Delete Albums On iPhone

Using Other Apps To Delete Your Photos

You can go through third-party apps to delete your photos. This is why they will often ask for permission to gain access to your gallery when you first install them.

With WhatsApp, Twitter or Facebook, you’ll be able to delete the pictures that you upload and also any picture on your device that you have taken through these apps.

Sometimes your iPhone will organize these images automatically into the folder, naming them after the app that you have used to take the pictures.

There will be copies of these photos made in two albums, so you might have to search for them twice to get rid of the copies.

Why Can’t I Delete Certain Albums From My iPhone?

There are albums that cannot be deleted from your phone, mainly the ones entitled ‘Selfies’ and ‘Screenshots’. These are folders that your iPhone uses to automatically store photos that you have taken live.

The only albums that you can delete are the ones that you have created for yourself. These can be created by tapping the ‘+’ sign and are the only albums that you can delete.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Photos Automatically Save To My Albums?

No, any albums that you create for yourself will have to be manually transferred. The only albums that your iPhone will automatically save photos to ‘Screenshots’ and ‘selfies’.

These albums cannot be deleted from your iPhone.

How Many Photos Can I Store In My Albums?

You can store as many photos as you like on an album, there is no limit. You’ll be able to see how many photos are in your album, as the number of photos will appear underneath the album’s icon.

Can I Name My Albums?

Yes, you can choose whatever name you like for your photo albums. These names will also transfer to your Cloud or iOS automatically once they are moved.

Conclusion

We hope that our guide to getting rid of the albums on your iPhone has helped you to streamline your device and free up some necessary space.

You’ll need to make sure that any duplicates of your photos are deleted, but you will have to do this manually.

Remember that deleting albums will not delete the photos in those albums. You’ll have to go back and delete photos manually in your gallery.

If you enjoyed this article, you might like our post ‘Building A 10 Foot UI: Dealing With Platform Diversity‘.

Matt Johnson
Scroll to Top