Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone Delete Photo Library without computer

A

Adebisi666

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2014
4
0
Hi,

I'm trying to help my mum with her iPhone, without any free storage left. Her Photo Library takes almost all her phones storage and after googling this all I can find is that you have to connect the phone to a computer and use iTunes to empty the library. The problem is that her computer is broken and I don't live nearby to help her with this.

So, the question is: Can she delete the Photo Library straight from the phone?? Or can I do it, for her, over the air, with iTunes??

Very thankfull over any help in this matter.
 
Unfortunately there's not a good way to prune the photo library from the iPhone itself. The other thing to consider is that if you delete the photo library then she will be deleting all of her pictures and videos. If she doesn't have a computer then are they saved anywhere else? Is she OK losing them?

If she's OK losing them, then she can always go in and manually delete photos and videos one at a time, but obviously that's not a very good solution as it could take quite a while if she has a lot. One thing she might want to do is concentrate on videos. Videos take up considerably more space than photos, so if she has a lot of videos, especially long ones, then she may be able to free up enough space by deleting a handful of videos.

If she's OK losing her entire photo library, then you could do the following: Backup the phone to iCloud, but turn off photos, so her photo library won't be backed up. Then wipe the phone and restore the backup. When it finishes restoring she will have all of her data back without the photo library. This is kind of a pain, but probably the easiest way to wipe the entire photo library without a computer. Again, though, she needs to be aware that she will lose all her photos and videos in the process.
 
BrettDS said:
Unfortunately there's not a good way to prune the photo library from the iPhone itself. The other thing to consider is that if you delete the photo library then she will be deleting all of her pictures and videos. If she doesn't have a computer then are they saved anywhere else? Is she OK losing them?

If she's OK losing them, then she can always go in and manually delete photos and videos one at a time, but obviously that's not a very good solution as it could take quite a while if she has a lot. One thing she might want to do is concentrate on videos. Videos take up considerably more space than photos, so if she has a lot of videos, especially long ones, then she may be able to free up enough space by deleting a handful of videos.

If she's OK losing her entire photo library, then you could do the following: Backup the phone to iCloud, but turn off photos, so her photo library won't be backed up. Then wipe the phone and restore the backup. When it finishes restoring she will have all of her data back without the photo library. This is kind of a pain, but probably the easiest way to wipe the entire photo library without a computer. Again, though, she needs to be aware that she will lose all her photos and videos in the process.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yeah, all her photos is backed-up (I did it the other day on my computer).

But the "solution" seems to be a hassle. Maybe I have to go up there to help her. Another question: she's thinking about upgrading to a iPhone 5s (she´s on 4s at the moment).

Will the photo library follow to the new phone?
 
As long as you don't delete the photos from the phone or exclude them from the backup, then they be transferred to the new phone when you restore the backup of the original phone to it. Photos are part of the backup.
 
BrettDS said:
As long as you don't delete the photos from the phone or exclude them from the backup, then they be transferred to the new phone when you restore the backup of the original phone to it. Photos are part of the backup.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

You keep saying that she can delete the pictures from the photo library (one by one), but I keep checking on my own phone and I can't seem to find that option. Exactly where do I go to see the photo library?
 
Go to the photos app, then the photos tab (or the camera roll if she's still on iOS 7). Then click on a photo to open it and hit the trash can, then do the same for the next picture.

Like I said, though, if you do go this route it makes sense to start with videos since they're much larger.
 
Since when do you have to delete one photo at a time? Any time I want to delete more than one I just touch Select in the top right and then touch every photo I want to get rid of, then touch the trash can. You can delete multiple photos this way.

Of course now they're all going to be in the deleted photos album and I guess (I haven't tried) you'll have to repeat the whole process. But still maybe a better option than having to do a restore, especially if the internet speed is low where you are.
 
Saffy66 said:
Since when do you have to delete one photo at a time? Any time I want to delete more than one I just touch Select in the top right and then touch every photo I want to get rid of, then touch the trash can. You can delete multiple photos this way.



Of course now they're all going to be in the deleted photos album and I guess (I haven't tried) you'll have to repeat the whole process. But still maybe a better option than having to do a restore, especially if the internet speed is low where you are.
Click to expand...


That's a good idea and might be a bit quicker than what I suggested. No need to worry about the recently deleted album in this case though because the OP is trying to free up space to install iOS 8. (Also, you can delete everything in the recently deleted album at once)
 
I'm trying to recreate the situation on my own phone and computer, but i can't seem to find the option to access the photo library in iTunes, where do I find it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back