How to delete unwanted albums on iPhone or iPad

by
iPhone photo library

You may have more than one picture you wish to delete, but they are all stored in a joint album in the Photos app. They may be albums of pictures you no longer need, unnecessary screenshots, or wallpapers that you no longer used.

Removing unwanted albums saves phone storage and makes the My Album list look more organized. We’ll show you how to delete unwanted photo albums on iPhone and iPad in a few simple tips. 

Deleting photo albums on the Photos app

Photo albums on an iPhone or iPad are important because you can add and organize photos in their respective categories. They also make it easy to delete multiple photo albums simultaneously and in seconds. In addition, some apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat automatically generate their albums when granted permission to your phone’s Photos app.

Too many photo albums may make your library appear cluttered and diminish the purpose of the photo album. Good thing you can delete the unwanted albums and still restore your photos and videos.

READ: iCloud Link photos not loading? Here’s the fix

Follow these steps to delete unnecessary albums stored in the Photos app on iOS devices.

  • Tap on the Photos app on your iOS device
  • Select Albums at the bottom navigation. All your albums will be displayed on the screen.
  • Tap on the See All button next to My Album at the top of the page. 
  • Select Edit at the upper right corner of the screen. Once you do so, the Album-editing mode is enabled, the same as the Home Screen editing feature. The Album-editing mode enables you to drag and drop albums while rearranging them. 
  • Tap on the red minus sign on the upper left corner of the album you want to delete.
  • A pop-up notification will appear. Tap on Delete Album to confirm the action. Note that you can delete any album except the Recent and Favorites albums. 
  • Tap on Done.

Once completed, you will see that the album(s) will not appear on the My Albums list. You can clean out other albums using the above steps.

How to delete photo albums on Mac

Deleting a photo album on the Photos app of Mac is easier than on an iPhone or iPad. Follow these steps:

  • First, launch the Photos app on your Mac.
  • Go to the sidebar and maximize the My Albums folder. When you open it, search for the folder you wish to delete and right-click on it. 
  • Click on the Delete Album option on the context menu.
  • A pop-up message will appear, prompting you for confirmation. 
  • Click on the Delete button. 

The selected album will be deleted from your iCloud Photo Library and all your iOS devices. The good news is that deleting an album does not delete the photos themselves. 

READ: How to turn a picture into an X-Ray on an iPhone

Points to remember

If your iPhone or iPad is synced to iCloud, the deleted album will be removed from all your iOS devices.

Furthermore, the images within the deleted album will display on other albums such as the Recent album or in your Photo Library.

Why can’t I delete photo albums on my iPhone or iPad?

If your Apple device is synced to iCloud or iTunes, you cannot delete the unwanted photo albums. Albums like screenshots or selfies created by the Photos app cannot be deleted. On the other hand, albums created by the plus button can be deleted.

If you want to delete an album synced to iCloud or iTunes, you should first connect your phone to a PC installed with the iTunes app. You can then delete them from there.

The bottom line

Your Photos app may have a lot of albums, especially from third-party apps such as Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter. So many albums may cause your photo Library to cluster and waste memory space. You can delete an album from your iPhone library through the above procedure.

READ: How to remove a Snapchat caption from photos or videos