How to delete photos from iPhone cloud. How to disable iCloud Photo Library and delete all photos from the cloud

Cloud iCloud storage is provided to all iPhone and iPad holders completely free of charge, but has a limited volume. Currently, you can store no more than 5 GB of information in the cloud.

How to delete photos from iCloud

When the iCloud media library on the device is activated, the automatic process of uploading data to the service begins. What ultimately leads to filling free space. Apple Company invites users to expand storage for additional fee, but this doesn’t always make sense. If the gadget does not have more than 5 GB of its memory, it will not be able to save more in the cloud, since all data is synchronized. If you remove images or video files from your device, they will automatically disappear from your library. The only way to fix the situation is to uninstall the files in the cloud. Despite the simplicity of the process, not all users know how to delete data from iCloud.

Removal steps

  1. Before you start cleaning the cloud, you should look at the photos in the “Photos” folder and select the ones you don’t need. It is they who, first of all, must be erased or transferred.

If the user does not want to lose pictures, he should save important ones to his personal PC using a USB cable.

  1. Decide on the deletion option: via iPhone and iPad, or computer.
  2. Carry out the uninstallation process.

To ensure that the storage memory does not become full at the wrong time, experts recommend cleaning the system more often.

Option 1: Delete via iPhone and iPad

So, how to delete a photo from Apple clouds through iPhone menu or iPad:

  1. Open the folder with photos.
  2. Select the photo you want to delete.
  3. Click on the icon with the image of a basket.
  4. Confirm action with command "Delete"


Upon completion, the pictures will be deleted both from the device and from cloud storage.

Option 2: removal via computer

For those who do not know how to delete photos from iCloud from the cloud via a computer, many recommendations have been written. The easiest way is to clear the storage on the official website icloud.com. Stages of work:

  1. Open the link in any browser.
  2. Enter personal Apple ID and password.
  3. Open section "Photo".
  4. Select an object.
  5. Press the button "Delete"


Deleted files do not disappear immediately, but are stored for some time in the " Recently Deleted" To clear it, you should mark all the pictures and select "Delete".

How to select multiple files to delete

If the user has already figured out how to delete photos from iCloud on iPhone, he may also find it useful to have a way to destroy more than one file at a time. To remove several images from storage at once, you need to:

  1. On iPhone or iPad, open a category "Moments" in the Photos folder. Then press the “Select” button and mark the desired pictures. Click "Delete"
  2. On your computer, go to the storage site, open the folder with photos and select the images with the mouse. Click on the icon " Trash can».

Is it possible to recover deleted photos?

Photos moved to the trash can are stored in the folder " Recently Deleted» within 30 days.

To restore files, just click on the appropriate command. The restored images will appear on all synced devices.

The tips described above will help iPhone owners and iPad can easily solve the question of how to delete photos from iCloud storage.

iCloud Photo Library - and synchronize it between devices. True, for this it is advisable to buy more space in iCloud, since the initial 5 GB is only enough for a person who does not know that he has a camera on his phone.

This scares off many people - after all, in our country, not everyone is ready to pay for cloud storage. , many saw in him excellent free alternative Apple service and decided to “defect”. Yes, and there may be other reasons for quitting using iCloud - for example, you suddenly switched from iPhone to Android.

Naturally, before deleting everything, it is advisable to save the photos back to your device. Naturally, for this, there must be enough space on the gadget to accommodate them. If so, then follow these instructions:

1. Go to “Settings”

3. There, find the “Photo” item

Be sure to connect Charger and check Wi-Fi - synchronization occurs only over the air and with sufficient battery charge. After the photos are returned to your phone, you can transfer them to your computer via USB, or upload them to Dropbox or any other necessary application.

Now you can disable the media library. So, in order to disable iCloud Photo Library:

1. Go to “Settings”

2. Go to the “iCloud” tab

3. There, find the “Photo” item

4. Turn off the switch next to iCloud Photo Library

After this, synchronization is disabled only on the device on which you performed the procedure described above. But even if you disable iCloud Photo Library on all devices, previously saved photos will still remain in the cloud. Not everyone likes to leave on the account private photos, so when changing the image storage service, it is better to delete them from the library.

For this:

1. Go to “Settings”

2. Go to the “iCloud” tab

3. Click on “Storage”

5. Find iCloud Photo Library

6. Click “Disable and Delete” (Be careful, Apple does not ask for confirmation for this action)

Appearance iOS 8 was marked not only by graphic innovations, but also by new useful features. It is worth noting that among them only one function was related to photographs, but it became one of the most global. Photostream became a discovery for many users, and the free possibility of posting large quantity photographs and massive comments found their admirers. When using a photo stream, you cannot avoid problems: a confidential photo getting into it or an unsuccessful photo.

How to Delete a Photo from Photo Stream on iPhone:

1) You can delete the entire album at once by turning off the photo stream, since deletion is automatic when turned off. To do this, go to “Settings -> iCloud -> Photos” and turn off “My Photo Stream”;

2) For deleting single photos, everything is much simpler. Go to the Photos app, go to the My Photo Stream album, open it and simple choice mark the unnecessary ones, and then tap “Delete selected photos”;

3) For Mac computers there is special program– iPhoto. By launching it and connecting the device, you can delete any photos. For Windows: you can simply go to “iCloud -> Photos -> Photo Stream” and delete any photos;

4) Photos from Photo Stream are also deleted via the Apple TV set-top box. After connecting the set-top box and device, go to iCloud profile and use the remote control to select and delete photos;

5) As a last resort, you can wait automatic deletion photos (after 30 days) or exceed the limit of 1000 photos;

To delete various data from applications that support iCloud, just go to the desired program and select all the necessary elements. As a last resort, you can delete the application itself, but even this cannot completely remove all unnecessary information from your device. Cloudy Apple service, of course, is very convenient to use, but it has a habit of storing completely useless data that takes up extra space in your account.

Now we will look at a simple method that allows you to quickly and painlessly remove this kind data straight from your iPhone. First, go to the “Settings” of the gadget and scroll down a little to iCloud menu. Here we find the "Storage and copies" section, where backups all your devices registered with this Apple ID.

We wait a couple of seconds, and the “Documents and Data” block will appear under the names of the gadgets - this is what interests us. First, let's look at working with this section using the example of an application for viewing Keynote presentations from. The fact is that I deleted it from my smartphone a long time ago, but, as you can see, all the presentations were safely saved in iCloud. I don’t argue, in some sense this is convenient, but in in this case my goal is to free my “cloud” from unnecessary burden. Since these presentations are not of particular value to me, you can safely click “Edit” and delete all these documents. You can also perform a similar operation by swiping to the right.

So we have replenished the storage iCloud additional 135 megabytes of free space. Besides office applications, some iOS games are very fond of saving in the “cloud” - for example, Sprinkle. This application also does not live on mine iPhone already several months, but it occupies a treasured place in iCloud. Of course, the size of the program’s data is laughable, but some can win up to 100 megabytes with their saves. We delete it.

Why is this needed? It seems that such applications do not take up too much space. However, five programs with a data size of 30 megabytes each can already significantly reduce the capacity of your storage. Considering that most users prefer not to expand their space from the free five gigabytes, the count is clearly already going to megabytes.

Be careful!

Clearing iCloud information this way will remove it from all your devices. Specifically, once you delete documents from Pages, you won't be able to open them from your Mac. Therefore, carefully choose what information you can sacrifice and what information should also be saved in Dropbox for safety. Just in case.

In this article, we will tell you how to work with iCloud Photo Library, view and delete photos and videos located in iCloud, and also answer the most frequently asked questions about this feature.

In contact with

iCloud Photo Library provides iPhone and iPhone owners with iPad opportunity store photos and videos in cloud service iCloud and access them from mobile gadgets or computers (not to be confused with). Any changes to the library on one device are synchronized with other devices within the same account.

New photos and videos are uploaded to iCloud when the device is connected to the Internet (Wi-Fi or via cellular network). Speed ​​of adding photos and videos to everything connected devices depends on the speed of your Internet connection.

After connecting a media library instead of an album "Camera roll" album will appear "All photos" with the same functionality. This folder contains all photos and videos sorted by date added.

It is worth noting that in the settings of the Music application there is also iCloud Photo Library, which has nothing to do with iCloud Photo Library in iCloud settings for photo.

What devices does iCloud Photo Library work on?

  • On iPhone, iPad, iPod touch through the Photo application;
  • On Mac computers through the Photos application;
  • On Apple console TV;
  • On computers with Windows 7 and higher (application required);
  • On any device with an Internet browser installed via iCloud.com.

What file types does iCloud Photo Library support?

When you copy photos and videos to iCloud Photo Library, all content remains in the original resolution. The service supports the following file types: JPEG, RAW, PNG, GIF, TIFF, HEIF, HEVC, MP4, as well as special formats, available when shooting in the Camera app on iPhone: , slow motion or time-lapse video, and 4K video).

By default, all photos and videos are stored in iCloud in the form in which they were taken.

Go to menu "Settings" -> Apple ID [your name] -> iCloud -> "Photo" and set the iCloud Photo Library switch to Included.

On Mac open the application « System Settings» and go to the section iCloud. Click "Options" next to the word "Photo" and check the box iCloud Photo Library.


On Apple TV open the application "Settings" and follow the path « Accounts» -> iCloud -> iCloud Photo Library.

On a Windows computer install and run the application. Then click the button "Options" near the point "Photo", select iCloud Photo Library. Click the button "Ready" And "Apply".

What happens to My Photo Stream after I turn on iCloud Photo Library?

Images from the album will be added to this album "My photo stream". Photos that are not saved in the library will be deleted, and the folder itself will no longer be displayed. If the function is activated on your other device "My photo stream", but the media library is disabled, all new photos will be displayed in the photo stream.

Is it possible to delete photos and videos from iPhone or iPad but leave them in iCloud Photo Library?

All photos and videos stored in iCloud Photo Library, take up space in iCloud storage and on the device itself. Deleting a photo or video on one device will automatically delete it from all devices and on icloud.com.

At the same Apple time offers to increase storage in iCloud for an additional fee (the user is given 5 GB of space in the cloud for free). However, keep in mind that increasing your cloud storage only makes sense when your device's storage capacity exceeds your iCloud storage capacity. Otherwise, the device memory will always be full.

For example, if you use an iPhone with a 16 GB drive, a 64 GB iPad, and a purchased 50 GB plan in iCloud, 25 GB of which is occupied by photos and videos, then it is not practical to use iCloud Photo Library on your smartphone.

You can find the current prices for space in iCloud for Russian users.

In order to delete photos and videos from iPhone or iPad, but leave them in iCloud, you can use the service using an application or third-party alternative services, for example, or .

What does Optimize Storage do in iCloud Photo Library?

To save space on iOS devices and Mac computers, there is a function "Storage Optimization", which allows you to compress photos and videos stored on the device, while storing the original (full) versions of the files in iCloud Photo Library.

How to enable Storage Optimization

On iPhone, iPad or iPod touch on the way Settings -> Apple ID [Your name] -> iCloud -> Photo -> Storage optimization.

On Mac computer in the application "Photo" open Settings programs, go to section iCloud and select item .

Storage Optimization feature starts working only if there is not enough space on the device. If necessary, you can download original photos graphies and video recordings Wi-Fi networks or cellular network.

If the option is selected in the iCloud Music Library settings "Download originals", V cloud storage and the original photos and videos will be stored on the device in full resolution.

icloud.com has a Photos web app that lets you view and delete photos and videos stored on iCloud Photo Library.

A file deleted in Photos is also deleted from your media library on your devices and from the iCloud cloud. Within 30 days deleted photos and the videos are stored in a folder "Recently Deleted", so they can be restored if desired.

To check whether a photo or video has been sent to the cloud, launch the application "Photo", go to the Photos tab and scroll to the very bottom of the page.

If there is a shortage of space in iCloud photo and videos will not be uploaded to the cloud and synced between devices.

You can solve the problem in two ways: either buy more storage, or clean out the storage by deleting files that you don't need to keep on all iOS devices or in iCloud service.com. Remember that restore deleted photos or videos you won’t be able to, since they are not saved in the album "Recently Deleted".

If you want to disable iCloud Photo Library only on one iPhone device, iPad or iPod touch, open "Settings" -> Apple ID [username] -> iCloud -> "Photo" and turn off iCloud Photo Library.

On Mac login to the application "System Settings" and follow the path iCloud -> "Photo" -> "Options". Next, uncheck the option “ iCloud Photo Library».

On Apple TV: open the application "Settings" and follow the path "Accounts" -> iCloud. To turn off your media library, click "Choose" in section "Photos".

When the parameter is activated "Optimize storage" Not all original photos and videos may be saved on the device. To download original files to your iOS device, go to the section "Settings" -> Apple ID [username] -> iCloud -> "Photo" -> "Saving originals". On Mac, do the following actions: open the application "Photo" -> "Photo" -> "Settings" -> "Download originals on this Mac".