What is the fastest way to delete all photos on an iPhone?

Open Photos > Library, tap Select, then drag your finger across the grid to sweep whole rows at once. Confirm with the trash icon, then empty Recently Deleted to reclaim the space. On older iOS versions, selecting by day or using the Moments trick sweeps faster than tapping individual photos.

If I delete all photos on my iPhone, does iCloud lose them too?

Yes, if iCloud Photos is enabled. The deletion syncs to iCloud and every device on the same Apple ID. Back up anything you want to keep before wiping, and remember Recently Deleted gives you 30 days to change your mind.

How do I delete all photos except my favorites?

iOS has no built-in 'delete everything except favorites' switch. The practical route is to favorite the keepers first, then mass-delete everything else while skipping the Favorites album, using it as your checklist of what stays.

Will deleting all my photos make my iPhone faster?

Not directly. Freeing storage prevents the slowdowns that come when iOS runs out of working room, but a photo wipe alone won't change performance much unless storage was nearly full.

How to Delete All Photos on iPhone (Fast, and Without Regret)

Sometimes you just want a clean slate: sell the phone, start fresh, or nuke years of clutter in one go. Here’s how to delete all photos on your iPhone quickly, plus the version where you keep the shots that matter.

Before you wipe everything

Two things decide whether this ends well:

iCloud Photos users: deleting locally deletes everywhere (backup first if any doubt).
Favorites first: open Favorites and make sure everything you love is actually hearted, because once the wipe starts there’s no picking through.

Method 1: Sweep-select in Library

Open Photos > Library.
Tap Select.
Drag one finger across the grid; rows highlight as you sweep.
Tap the trash icon, confirm, then repeat until the library is empty.
Go to Albums > Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All to free the space immediately.

The sweep gesture is the fastest built-in way to select thousands of photos without tapping each one.

Method 2: Delete day by day

In Library, each day has its own Select button in the top-right corner. Tapping Select next to a date grabs that whole day’s set at once. This is tidier for partial wipes: clear specific months or trips rather than everything.

Method 3: The favorites-first reset

If your goal is a fresh start rather than total loss:

Spend a session hearting every photo worth keeping (or use an existing Favorites album).
Wipe the library with Method 1, but stop whenever you spot hearted photos and unselect them first.
What remains is a small library you actually chose.

This works best after a proper cleanup pass, because there’s far less to sort through.

Don’t forget the last step

Nothing is truly gone until Recently Deleted empties. Deleted photos sit there for up to 30 days still holding your storage hostage. Here’s how to clear Recently Deleted, including the checks to run before confirming.

When wiping isn’t really what you want

Full wipes usually come from feeling overwhelmed by volume. If that’s the real problem, consider the middle path: keep the memories, remove the repetition. Duplicates, burst frames and screenshots typically make up a third of a bloated library, and clearing those alone can free gigabytes (how to find them). A swipe-based tool like Odoa gets through thousands of photos quickly while keeping each decision yours.

The bottom line

Library > Select > sweep-drag deletes everything fast, and Recently Deleted must be emptied before the space returns. Protect favorites beforehand, back up if iCloud syncs your deletions, and consider trimming instead of nuking if overwhelm was the trigger.