Photos Deleted, But Still No Storage Free: This iPhone Trick Solves the Problem in Seconds
Discover how to free up storage on your iPhone quickly by understanding the deleted photos mechanism and utilizing tips to manage your photo library effectively.
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Is your iPhone storage full? Then it might be time to back up some photos and videos externally and delete them from the device. However, the iPhone doesn't immediately free up the saved gigabytes. Here's why and how to change that.
In the past, many Android smartphones allowed for storage expansion via microSD cards – sometimes even by up to two terabytes. With the iPhone, this has never been possible, as Apple has not built a corresponding slot into any of its devices. Therefore, photography enthusiasts should opt for a model with larger storage when purchasing an iPhone. Easier said than done. After all, doubling the storage from 256 to 512 gigabytes on the iPhone 17 costs an additional 150 euros. If you don't want to spend that much money, you quickly reach your limits and may need to create space by deleting old photos and videos.
Deleted iPhone Photos Are Not Immediately Gone
It doesn't have to be a goodbye forever. The content can be temporarily stored on a computer and then moved to an external hard drive, SSD, or NAS before you hit the delete button. However, it may happen afterward that despite removing the backed-up clips, no additional iPhone storage is available. Was the cleanup effort in vain? Not at all. This is merely a safety mechanism.
Deleted photos and videos are not immediately gone from the iPhone. Instead, iOS moves them to a new folder within the Photos app. You can find it by tapping on Collections at the bottom of the app's navigation bar, scrolling to Other, and then tapping on Recently Deleted. Since the folder is secured, you must authenticate biometrically, either via Touch ID or Face ID, before gaining access. Alternatively, you can enter your passcode.
In that folder, as the name suggests, you will see all the images and videos deleted in the past few days. Below each item, you will see a time indication in days. This is essentially a countdown that shows when the iPhone will automatically and permanently remove the deleted content. This way, you have a safety net. If you accidentally deleted a photo, you can tap on it and then tap Recover. If you want all images to disappear irreversibly, tap Select in the top right corner and mark all images. Then tap Delete in the top left corner. After that, iOS will remove the images and clips from storage.
Bonus Tip: Find and Delete Duplicate Images
Perhaps it’s enough for you to delete duplicate images to free up storage. With iOS 16, Apple introduced indexing for the photo library. If the system finds duplicates among your photos, it will display them in the Photos app under Other as Duplicates. Additionally, you will find saved QR Codes, Receipts like cash register slips, or Documents under Other, which you might not want to keep permanently among family memories. You can also delete these quickly.
But don't forget to check the “Recently Deleted” folder afterward and completely remove the contents from the iPhone.
This article was originally published on June 5, 2026, but it still interests many of our readers. Therefore, we have updated it and made it available again.