How can I mass delete all of my iPhone camera roll photos?

How can I mass delete all of my iPhone camera roll photos?

Looking to clear up some space on your iPhone camera roll? Deleting multiple photos is great, until you need to delete thousands of photos in one shot. So how can you clear out the camera roll and remove a batch of photos and videos?

To select and delete some or all of your iPhone camera roll photos, you must use an application on your computer with the iPhone connected via USB.

On a Mac, you can use the application Image Capture. This will show all of the photos on your iPhone camera roll. Image Capture can be used to import the photos to your computer or delete multiple pictures all at once.

On Windows, freeware called iExplorer can be downloaded (available for Mac as well).

Once installed, connect your iPhone to the computer and open iExplorer. Photos can be found on your device in the directory Media/DCIM. You will see one or more folders titled "100APPLE". The images and videos stored in these photos are on your camera roll. Select multiple images then click the Delete button to remove them all at once.

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UPDATED for iOS 8: Learn the fastest way to delete multiple photos from your camera roll using the Photo app here, or you can try third-party apps like Purrge.

tags: 
Camera Roll
Camera Roll

Comments

Anonymous replied on

did that with iexplorer and the images are still in camera roll??
bad quality images, but there still there
need a working solution

Just use iOS Da... replied on

You should use professional iOS data eraser app to erase your personal data.

Erase data from iOS device:
http://www.erasephone.com/ios-data-eraser.html

Anonymous replied on

iOS 9 enables you to 1-click select multiple photos by date, and in this method, you can quickly delete pictures on your iPhone. However, if you wanna delete all pics by a few clicks, you have to use some iPhone manager, such as AnyTrans, https://www.imobie.com/anytrans/

LoucyCCC replied on

Well, the Erase ll of iPhone will not completely overwritten your personal data on iPhone, but just make it inaccessible. However what if the hacker crack it?!!!
To ensure the infos secure, we'd better totally overwritten them, like what iMfone Umate Pro does.
http://bit.ly/2n8Yqzi

Pavel Atanassov replied on

There's a new way of doing so.
First, if you want to simply delete all photos from your iPhone Camera Roll (which the Photos app can't do because there's no "Select all" button in the Camera Roll), you can do this with the Utiful app (which has a different purpose but can be used also this way). When you start Utiful, tap the "Add photos" button (which generally allows you to physically move photos out of the Camera Roll to the Utiful folders) and you'll see the Camera Roll. Simply tap "Select all", then tap the delete button and confirm the deletion. Done.
If you instead want to wipe all photos from a specific Photos album (which the Photos app can't do because when you delete them from the album, they still remain in the Camera Roll), you can again do this easily with the Utiful app. Again, tap "Add photos" to open the Camera Roll, then tap on the Camera Roll and choose the desired Photos album instead. Then tap "Select all", the delete button, and confirm. Done.
The Utiful app however allows you to MOVE photos from the Camera Roll to the Utiful folders, so that you get rid of the photos in the Camera Roll but without losing them. If you want, you can also efficiently organize them in the folder structure of Utiful.
Note: Don't forget that iOS never physically deletes photos but moves them to the "Recently deleted" album in the Photos app and wipes them only after 40 days. You can still wipe them manually though: Open the Photos app, go to the Albums tab, open the "Recently deleted" album, tap "Select" and "Delete all".

Anonymous replied on

I always forget about Image Capture - thanks for the tip!

happylili replied on

I just did this using Image Capture on my Macbook Pro. You have to make sure that you click the box "delete after import" in the lower left corner of the screen. I had over 5000 pics and videos on my iPhone 5 camera roll. Took over one hour to download, but now I have 8 GB of space on my phone!! THANK YOU!!!!!

vic replied on

What if this feature does not delete after import? I naturally select it but lo and behold no pictures are removed after import - any ideas?

Anonymous replied on

Don't get iExplorer, not worth it and the free demo doesn't really work. Apple is a little cryptic, but use Image Capture.

Here is how:
http://www.mactrast.com/2012/12/how-to-remove-all-photos-from-an-iphone-at-once/

Anonymous replied on

If you wana delete a lot but not all photos try this: plug in iphone open iphoto (there's probs a similar option on windows, someone, please confim if you know) import the photos you want to DELETE from iphone, when it's done the option comes up 'delete or keep imported photos on iphone' click delete - done!

Anonymous replied on

why dont i have permission to delete

Anonymous replied on

same problem here. I can select them but I DELETE is greyed out.

Pete replied on

iTunes on a Windows PC - if like me you've been struggling to find a way of mass deleting your photos from your iPhone camera roll (iPhone 4S/5S & Windows 7) you can use Windows own photo editor - Windows Live Photo Gallery -
I've never used this program for anything else and like you have been extremely frustrated by Apple's lack of support for owners of their expensive phones who prefer not to use their mac hardware. (Before any die-hards jump up and squeal, I use macs extensively through work but prefer PC for personal use at home).
With your iPhone connected to your PC, start up the Windows Live Gallery, make sure your phone is shown as one of the devices connected. Select 'Import'
In the 'pop-up' window select the phone, the program will search for all relevant files i.e any images.
Check 'Import ALL new items now' but also open the 'More options' link at the bottom left of this pop-up. In here you can decide where to import the images (I make a new folder via the Browse button)
BUT more importantly there is an option here to 'check' the 'Delete files from device after importing'!!

This is what you've been looking for :) it's the option Mac users have with their iPhoto etc
Now you can go ahead, safely clear your phone of thousands of images safely in the knowledge that you have them backed up to your computer/alternative storage (I suggest transferring to the PC internal hard disk, i.e a folder within 'My Photos' first, then afterwards move them to external hard drive simply for speed of transfer, otherwise you may have to leave your phone connected for ages if data 'write' speeds are too slow getting to an external storage).

Unfortunately this is not common enough knowledge, most official Mac technical help people are not aware of it either because generally they're only trained up for Mac advice. So spread your own knowledge now when you can.

I was trying to set up a new iPhone 5S from my 'back-up' on iTunes but was furious that all the images from my old phone insisted on living on the new one as well, no end of checking/unchecking boxes in sync options etc was helping, so I was ending up with a brand new phone already full of data. So, yes, you do begin with a load of images to delete from a new phone if you've just restored it but at least now you know how to clear them off and start afresh..... now make a new back up of your new phone but with a nice clean Camera Roll.

DebD replied on

Excellent resource--thank you!

Jay replied on

You sir, are a genius! Exactly what i was looking for. Let the force be with you.Cheers!

rn replied on

The software from this company is complete garbage. It did not work at all for deleting photos. This comment however is the real deal. It worked right away. Thanks buddy!

Yahya LA replied on

Thanks for these info, I want also share with you in the same domain how you can delete your iPhone photos by using Windows PCs, Mac, and your iPhone camera roll, also how to delete synced photos and more....
http://goo.gl/CCbM9V

Danu replied on

What do I do if Image Capture does not see the images on my iPhone? To clarify: Image Capture tells me that the iPhone 5 connected to my Mac has "0 images", but there are 259 photos still on my iPhone 5
Thanks

Anonymous replied on

Ive been trying to delete all my pictures from my iphone at once for do long but couldnt since i had saved them all from my iphone to my mac without checking off "delete after import" but mow after reading this and using image capture it worked!! thank you!! now i have 21,000 pictures less in my iPhone 6.

Asya Karapetyan replied on

Try interPhotos - an app to delete duplicate photos between iPhone and Mac - https://nektony.com/interphotos

Sam replied on

Try PhotoDelete App. Super easy and fast ways to delete photos. http://photodelete.com/iphone-photo-delete-app/

Jose replied on

why do iOS developers hate us so much?

Anonymous replied on

UTIFUL DOES NOT WORK

Marie replied on

To delete all photos on phone if you failed to click the 'delete all photos after download' box:
With your phone connected to a Mac, go to Image Capture. Go to Edit (top bar) and 'select all'. This selects all photos on your phone. Click on the red slashed circle (the delete button) near the lower left of the Image Capture screen. This will delete all photos from phone.