The iCloud Photo Library is part of Apple’s iCloud service that provides a convenient way to save and manage photos and videos on all your devices. Once an Apple ID is created, an iCloud account is provided with 5GB of disk space for all possible purposes.
By modern standards, 5GB is not a very large amount of space, especially considering that not all of the data we store is actually necessary. As a rule, media files take the most iCloud storage space. In this article, we will describe all possible ways to remove photos from your iCloud Photo Library.
Rather than manually searching for unneeded files, we suggest using the free app for iOS, Phone Cleaner, or the free app for Mac, Duplicate File Finder. These apps allow you to organize your cloud media files and delete unnecessary duplicate photos in just a few clicks.
Contents:
1. How to delete photos from the iCloud Photo Library using an iPhone or iPad
2. How to delete photos from the iCloud Photo Library using a Mac
3. How to delete photos from the iCloud Photo Library through the browser
How to delete photos from iCloud Photo Library using an iPhone or iPad
When the iCloud Photos option is enabled on your device, all the changes you make in your Photos app are uploaded automatically to your iCloud storage. That is why removing media files from your Photos app will delete them from iCloud storage and from all your devices where iCloud Photos is enabled under the same Apple ID.
There are several possible ways to free up your iCloud Photo Library using iPhone or iPad. You can delete just unnecessary items or delete all your iCloud Photos content and disable the sync.
How to get rid of unneeded items from iCloud Photos using an iPhone or iPad
To delete unnecessary media files from your iCloud storage account, you should:
- Make sure that you have enabled the iCloud Photos option.
- Go to the app.
- Select at the bottom of the screen to view all your photos.
- one or more photos and videos.
- When you’ve selected all the unnecessary photos and videos press the icon.
- Tap items in the window that opens.
Once media files are deleted, they are kept in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days. After that, items would be permanently removed from all your devices where the iCloud Photos feature is enabled.
How to delete all your iCloud Photos using an iPhone or iPad
You can delete all your iCloud Photos and stop the synchronization to your iCloud account.
To manage this follow the steps below:
- Go to on your iPhone or iPad
- Tap on
- Select → .
- Before removing all the iCloud Photos content check the diagram which visually presents your iCloud storage sorted by content type. The yellow color indicates the space taken by photos.
- Tap on the button below the diagram and select the section
- Tap on the button.
You will then have 30 days to undo your actions. In exactly 30 days, the photos and videos stored in iCloud will be deleted and iCloud Photos will be turned off on all your devices.
How to delete unneeded photos from iCloud Photo Library using a Mac
You can take a look at this short video guide to learn how to delete unneeded or duplicate photos from your iCloud Photos in a matter of a few minutes.
Once you have enabled the iCloud Photo Library on your Mac, the Photos app provides you with your iCloud content. All the changes you make in your Photos app are automatically synced to your iCloud storage account.
To free up your iCloud Photo Library using Mac. You can delete just unnecessary items or delete all your iCloud Photos content and disable the sync.
How to get rid of unneeded items from iCloud Photos using a Mac
To remove unnecessary media files from your iCloud Photo Library, follow the steps below:
- Make sure that you have enabled the iCloud Photos option.
- Go to the app.
- In the Photos section, choose a photo for removal and select in the right-click menu (hold the key to select several files for removal).
All deleted files would be moved to the Recently Deleted folder where they will be kept for 30 days.
If you have faced the problem of similar photos filling up your iCloud storage space, we recommend using the special app, Duplicate File Finder. It is a perfect tool, developed to help you find and remove duplicates not only on a Mac, but also from any external storage source. You can read the complete guide on how to delete iCloud duplicate photos here.
How to delete all your iCloud Photos using a Mac
If you want to remove all the content from your iCloud Photo Library and disable the iCloud Photos synchronization option, complete these simple steps:
- Click on the and select .
- Select .
- At the bottom of the window check the diagram which represents your iCloud storage space usage. The yellow color indicates the space used by photos and videos.
- Click the button next to the diagram and select the section
- Click on the button
Thirty days after clicking this button, all items from your iCloud Photo Library will disappear and iCloud Photo synchronization will stop working on all your devices.
How to delete photos from the iCloud Photo Library through the browser
You can organize your iCloud media files using a web browser. So if for any reason you want to remove photos from your iCloud Photo Library, complete these steps:
- Open your web browser
- Head to icloud.com
- Log in with your Apple ID’s email address and password
- Click the icon. There you will see all the photos saved to your iCloud account.
- Hold the key and select unneeded files for removal.
- Click on the icon in the upper right corner.
All items will be moved to the Recently Deleted album on all your devices and will be saved there for the next 30 days.
Conclusion
The iCloud Photo Library is a unique, multifunctional form of cloud storage. While it may not always be as intuitive as we would expect, it is still very useful.
In this article, we have described how to remove unnecessary photos from the iCloud Photo Library and how to delete all photos from iCloud.
Don`t forget – if you want to save time, you can organize your cloud media files and delete duplicate photos with the free Phone Cleaner and Duplicate File Finder applications.
More about iCloud
How to access iCloud Photo Library
How to get rid of duplicate photos in iCloud
How to download photos from iCloud Photo Library
