How to Delete Pictures on an iPad

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: March 5, 2020 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to delete pictures from the Photos app on your iPad.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:
Using Your iPad

1
Open the Photos app. It's a white app with a multicolored flower icon.
2
Tap Albums at the bottom of the screen.
- If you don't see Albums, tap the "Back" link in the upper-left corner of the screen.
3
Tap Camera Roll. It's an album in the upper-left corner of the screen.
- If you've enabled iCloud Photo Library on your iPad, the album will be labeled All Photos.
4
Tap Select in the upper-right corner of the screen.
5
Tap the picture(s) you want to delete.
- If you want to delete every photo on your iPad, you can quickly select them all rather than tapping each individual picture.
6
Tap the trash can icon in the upper-left part of the screen.
7
Tap Delete [number] Photos. Doing so moves the selected pictures to the "Recently Deleted" folder on your iPad, where they will remain for 30 days before they're permanently deleted. To delete them immediately:
- Tap Albums in the upper-left corner.
- Tap Recently Deleted. It's an album with a gray trash can icon. Scroll down if you don't see it.
- Tap Select in the upper-right corner of the screen.
- Tap the picture(s) you want to delete or tap Delete All in the upper-left corner to permanently delete all the images in the "Recently Deleted" folder.
- Tap Delete in the upper-left part of the screen.
- Tap Delete [number] Photos. Doing so permanently deletes the pictures, and they will be removed from your iPad.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:
Using the Photos App on Windows 10 or Mac

1
Connect your iPad to your computer. Do so by plugging your Lightning or 30-pin connector end of the charging cable into your iPad and connecting the other end to a USB Port on your computer.
2
Open Photos on your computer. It's an app that resembles a multicolored flower on a white background.
3
Click the Photos tab. It's at the top of the Photos window, to the left of the Memories tab.
4
Click on the picture you want to delete.
- Ctrl+click (Windows) or ⌘+click (Mac) to select multiple pictures.
- Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or ⌘+A to select all photos.
5
Press the Delete key.
6
Click Delete [number] Photos. Doing so removes the photos from your computer's Photos app as well as from your iPad.^{[1]
X
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Community Q&A

Question

What can cause the total count to not go down after deleting photos?

Community Answer

Pictures automatically go into a recently delved folder, then are deleted permanently in 30 days. You can go to the folder and manually delete them immediately.
Question

How do I delete photos on my iPad but not my iPhone?

Community Answer

Turn the iCloud sharing settings off on your phone, and then delete one photo off your iPad as a tester. I think with the settings fixed you will find that photos aren't instantly deleted from both.
Question

How do I move photos from Dropbox to my photo album?

Community Answer

There should be a download option on the webpage. Find a file surfer app and use that to move the images from the download file to the pictures file.
Question

Can I delete all photos from my iPad at once?

Community Answer

It depends on what iPad you have. On most of them, you click on "select item," then go to "select all" and press "delete." That would delete all of them at once.
Question

How do I delete the pictures that are in albums?

Community Answer

Tap the select button then tap a picture and drag your finger from there to the last picture you want to be deleted. This will select them all, then press delete.
Question

When deleting photos, it say it's "restoring", so what do I do?

Community Answer

You must have made it recover the photos instead of deleting permanently. Make sure to click "delete permanently" not "recover".
Question

Where can I find the icon for my trash can?

Community Answer

You can find it on the albums, and click on recently deleted if you are using an iOS. Below iOS 9, you won't find your recently deleted files.
Question

How do I delete pictures on my iPad?

Community Answer

You would just click the trash button.
Question

How can I delete just a few photos from an album?

Community Answer

Press Select on the top right of the photo album screen and highlight the ones you'd like to delete by tapping them. Alternatively, click the photo itself and press the trash bin icon in red.
Question

How do I delete pictures on an old iPad without deleting them from my iPhone?

Community Answer

Unless your iPad and iPhone are connected or all of your photos are on iCloud or family sharing you should just be able to go to your photo album and delete as you normally would (click on bin in corner of photo to delete picture).

Warnings

Deleting a photo from your Photo Stream will also remove it from the Photo Stream on other devices such as an iPhone or Mac.

Thanks!
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References

↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206186

About This Article

Co-authored by:

wikiHow Staff Writer

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 1,463,050 times.

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Co-authors: 30

Updated: March 5, 2020

Views: 1,463,050

Categories: Featured Articles | Ipad

Article SummaryX

1. Open Photos on your iPad.
2. Tap Albums.
3. Tap Camera Roll or All Photos.
4. Tap Select.
5. Tap the picture(s) to delete.
6. Tap the trash can icon.
7. Tap Delete [number] Photos.

Did this summary help you?