iCloud might not be a feature you think about very often, but its automatic backups of your most important data makes it an incredibly powerful tool.
If enabled, every photo and video you take on your iPhone or iPad is automatically copied to iCloud. Consequently, you might sometimes need to delete some of those images.
There are two ways to delete photos from your iCloud storage.
How to delete photos from iCloud using your iPhone or iPad
If you want to delete a single photo or a small selection of photos that are synced to iCloud from your device, you can do that easily using the Photos app. Note, however, that this will delete them from your device too.
Start the Photos app and find the photo you want to delete, then:
- To delete a single photo, tap and hold the image until the pop-up menu appears, then tap "Delete."
- To delete several photos at once, tap "Select" at the top right of the screen, then tap each photo you want to remove. When you're done, tap the trash can icon at the bottom-right of the screen.
As soon as you delete one or more photos, they'll also disappear from your other devices and the iCloud website.
How to delete photos from iCloud without removing them from your device
What if you want to delete photos from iCloud — just a few, or all of them — without also removing them from your iPhone or iPad?
If the iCloud Photos feature is turned on, you can't do this because everything stays in sync. But you can delete photos from iCloud without affecting your devices if you turn off iCloud Photos syncing.
1. Start the Settings app on one of your devices and tap "Photos."
2. Turn off "iCloud Photos" by swiping its button to the left.
3. Repeat this for any other iOS devices you have connected to that Apple ID account. Once iCloud Photos is turned off, each of your devices' photo collections will be managed individually.
4. Open iCloud.com in a browser and sign in with your Apple ID if needed.
5. Click "Photos" and do one of the following:
- To delete one or a small selection of photos, hold the Ctrl or Command key on your keyboard and then click each photo you want to select. Then click the trash can icon at the top-right of the page.
- To delete your entire iCloud photo collection, press Ctrl +A or Command + A on the keyboard, and then click the trash can icon.
Any selected images will be deleted from iCloud, but if you've turned off iCloud Photos, the photos on your other devices will remain intact.
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