Gigback

Why deleted photos still take up space on your iPhone

By Filip Djordjevic, who makes Gigback · Updated

Short answer: Photos and videos you delete on iPhone move to the Recently Deleted album in Photos and stay there for 30 days, so your free space does not go up right away. To get it back now, open Recently Deleted and delete the items there. With iCloud Photos set to Optimize iPhone Storage, the full-resolution originals are in iCloud, so deleting frees little space on the iPhone.

Where do deleted photos go on iPhone?

They go to the Recently Deleted album in the Photos app. Apple keeps deleted photos and videos there for 30 days before removing them for good from your iPhone, from iCloud and from your other devices. Until then they are still on the iPhone, which is why deleting them does not free space right away.

The wait is deliberate. For those 30 days you can recover anything you deleted by mistake. Once an item leaves Recently Deleted, because the 30 days are up or because you removed it yourself, it cannot be brought back, and the space it used is free again.

To see where you stand, open Settings, tap General, then tap iPhone Storage. The available space is shown at the top of the screen.

How do you empty Recently Deleted on iPhone?

Delete the items from the Recently Deleted album itself. These are Apple’s steps:

  1. Open the Photos app, then tap Collections.
  2. Swipe up, then tap Recently Deleted under Utilities.
  3. Tap View Album, then unlock with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.
  4. Tap Select, then choose the photos and videos you want to remove. To clear the whole album instead, tap Cancel, then tap Select again.
  5. Tap the More button (three dots), then tap Delete, or Delete All.
  6. Tap Delete from All Devices or Delete Photos I Added to confirm.

This step cannot be undone. Anything you delete from Recently Deleted is gone for good, and with iCloud Photos it is gone from your other devices too.

Why it asks for Face ID. Recently Deleted and Hidden are locked by default. If you would rather Recently Deleted opened without that, go to Settings, tap Apps, tap Photos, then turn off Use Face ID (or Use Touch ID, or Use Passcode). That unlocks the Hidden album too.

Why does deleting free so little space with iCloud Photos?

Because with Optimize iPhone Storage on, the full-size photo is not on your iPhone in the first place. Apple stores the full-resolution originals in iCloud and keeps storage-saving versions on the iPhone, and the setting is on by default when you use iCloud Photos. Deleting such a photo frees its full size in iCloud, but on the iPhone it removes only the smaller version.

The two sides also get their space back at different times. Apple says items in Recently Deleted don’t count toward your iCloud storage, so iCloud has the space back as soon as you delete. The iPhone gets it back when the item leaves Recently Deleted.

With iCloud Photos, a deletion is never only local: deleting a photo on one device deletes it on every device signed in with the same Apple Account. If what you want is room on the iPhone rather than fewer photos, Apple’s tool for that is Optimize iPhone Storage. Open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, then tap Photos. In iOS 27 or later, also tap iPhone Storage. Make sure Optimize iPhone Storage is turned on.

If your iCloud storage is full. Apple says that when you exceed your iCloud storage limit, your iPhone removes photos and videos you delete immediately, and they won’t be available to recover from Recently Deleted. Back up anything you might want before you delete it.

What if your storage still looks full?

Check what is actually using it. In Settings, General, iPhone Storage, a list below the total shows your apps and the space each one uses, so you can see whether Photos is still the large one. Two situations in Photos can also keep space from coming back:

For other ways to make room, see How to free up iPhone storage when photos and videos fill it.

How Gigback handles this

Gigback adds a step before Recently Deleted; it does not replace it. Swiping a photo left moves it to Gigback’s review bin, and it stays in your library. You can look over the bin, largest first, and take back anything you want to keep. Nothing is deleted until you tap Delete and confirm in the dialog iOS shows, as it does in Photos. After that, the items wait in Recently Deleted for 30 days like any other deletion. The screen that follows says so and has a button that opens Photos, where Recently Deleted is emptied. Gigback’s Settings also shows how much of what you deleted in the last 30 days may still be in Recently Deleted.

Compression works the other way round at first: it uses space before it frees any. The smaller copy is saved to your library first and the original goes to the bin, so for a while both exist and free space goes down. It comes back once you delete the originals from the bin and Recently Deleted is emptied, and a finished bulk run tells you exactly that. Before a bulk run, Gigback checks that there is room for the copies, and it keeps checking as it goes. Bulk runs also skip originals stored only in iCloud and never download them: with Optimize iPhone Storage, compressing those would free little space on the iPhone. More in How to compress videos and photos on iPhone.

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