How to mass delete photos on iOS after backing them up manually (no iCloud)?

I have an iPhone 11 Pro that I back-up regularly both to macOS and manually to windows (by copying the ###APPLE folders).

This phone is now full and I must delete older photos. Ideally I'd just delete the older ###APPLE folders but I believe this will mess the phone up.

I don't use iCloud since Google Photos is free and I also backup there for a worst case cloud scenario.

So how do I mass delete photos from the phone without messing it up to free up some space?

Solution 1:

On macOS, you can use ImageCapture to select as many photos on the iPhone as you want and delete them. You can also import these photos to macOS with ImageCapture. Using Image capture is good since it cleans up thumbnails, database entries as well as the full resolution images.

Accessing the exposed DCIM folder isn’t the same as actually deleting the referenced photos via USB and software Apple makes.

Solution 2:

This is simple:

1. Select all photos/videos.

2. Delete them.

Well, to elaborate:

1. Open Photos app and open the relevant album.

2. Tap on the Select button at the top right corner to enter selection mode.

3. Tap down to select an image. Now without lifting your finger, simply drag your finger in the direction of unselected images (i.e. towards the bottom of the grid of images). As your finger moves, the grid of images will automatically start scrolling, selecting the images encountered on the way. The further away you move your finger from the starting point, faster the selection will be.

4. You'll find that you have quickly selected all the images.

5. Hit the Delete icon at the bottom right.

6. Navigate back to the Albums screen and tap on the Recently Deleted item.

7. Tap on Select button at the top right.

8. Tap Delete All at the bottom left.

9. Voila! All the photos are now deleted. Here's a visual demonstration of the same:

   

10. You may of-course want to not delete all the photos, so you can stop midway to halt selection. Or tap on individual images to de-select them.

11. The above approach can help speed up the selection process.