How to safely delete photos and videos from your iPhone after backing up to a PC

Last updated: 8 October 2026

1. Verify the copies

A copy that stopped part-way can look perfectly normal in a folder. Before deleting the only other copy:

• Count. The number of files on the PC should match what you selected.
• Open the big ones. Play the longest videos to the end. Truncated videos usually stop early or refuse to open.
• Check sizes. A video that is a few megabytes on the PC but several minutes long on the phone is not a full copy.
• Make a second copy on another drive or a backup service. One copy on one PC is not a backup.

2. Understand what iCloud Photos will do

If iCloud Photos is on (Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Photos), your iPhone, iCloud and every device signed in to the same Apple Account share one library. Deleting a photo on the iPhone deletes it everywhere. It is not “just from the phone”.

• If you want the photos kept in iCloud and just want space on the phone, use Optimize iPhone Storage instead of deleting.
• If you want to stop paying for iCloud space and keep your library on the PC instead, deleting is right; just be sure the PC copies are complete originals, not small previews. See photos stuck in iCloud.

3. Delete on the iPhone

1. Open the Photos app and tap Select.
2. Tap the photos and videos, or drag across a row to select many at once.
3. Tap the bin and confirm.

4. Empty Recently Deleted

Deleted items go to Recently Deleted and stay there for about 30 days, still using space. To get the space back now: in the Photos app, scroll down to Utilities (on older iOS versions, Albums), open Recently Deleted, unlock it, tap Select and delete everything.

Items you can't delete

Photos and videos that were put onto the iPhone by syncing from a computer with iTunes or Finder cannot be deleted on the phone or by any Windows app. Remove them the way they arrived: sync again with those albums unticked.

How PhotoFroggy handles deletion

PhotoFroggy is built around not losing anything:

• It only deletes an item from the iPhone after finding a file on your PC with the same name and exactly the same number of bytes. One byte short is not a copy.
• Items whose full original is only in iCloud can never count as backed up.
• It explains plainly what iCloud Photos will do before anything is removed.
• Anything that cannot be verified is left on the phone and listed, with the reason.