Image Capture doesn't complete photo deletion on phone

This issue has created a lot of frustration, so I'm hoping someone here might have the answer. I'm using Image Capture to work with some photos on my iPhone. When I select one or more photos on the Image Capture screen and hit the "Delete" button, the photos disappear from the Image Capture screen but nothing happens on my phone. The photos don't delete. When I restart Image Capture, the supposedly deleted photos reappear!

I'm using an iPhone 11 running iOS 14.0.1. I'm connected to a 2018 Mac Mini running 10.15.7. I'm also having the same issue on a 2015 iMac running 10.15.7 and a similar problem on an equivalent photo management program on a Windows machine, so the problem must be in my phone.

I've tried USB-A and USB-C cables and all the available USB ports. I've erased the phone and set it up as a new machine. The issue occurred even on a newly installed operating system with no other programs. It's infuriating.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Jim

Solution 1:

I've had this issue before. Even though you may have "delete after import" ticked on, I have found that sometimes you can delete a stubborn image by just right-clicking on the offending (individual) image and selecting Delete. Hopefully you only have a few! Image Capture is notoriously buggy like this...