Accidentally saved a bunch of wallpapers on my iPhone and now my storage is full. How can I delete wallpapers to free up space? Need step-by-step guidance, please.
Sure thing! Deleting wallpapers on your iPhone to free up storage is a straightforward process. Here are the steps you need to follow:
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Open the Photos app:
- Launch the Photos app from your home screen.
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Navigate to your wallpapers:
- Tap on ‘Albums’ at the bottom, then scroll down to find the ‘Wallpapers’ album if you created one, or just find the wallpapers saved in your ‘All Photos’ album.
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Select the wallpapers:
- Tap ‘Select’ in the top right corner. Then, you can tap each wallpaper image you want to delete. If you want to delete multiple wallpapers quickly, you can drag your finger over the images to select them all at once.
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Delete the wallpapers:
- Once you’ve selected all the wallpapers you want to remove, tap the trash can icon at the bottom right corner. You’ll get a confirmation pop-up; tap ‘Delete # Photos’ where # is the number of images you’ve selected.
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Clear recently deleted items:
- The images you deleted will still be in your “Recently Deleted” album for 30 days. To completely free up space, go back to ‘Albums,’ scroll down to ‘Recently Deleted,’ tap ‘Select,’ and then ‘Delete All’ to purge them for good.
By following these steps, you should be able to free up quite a bit of space on your iPhone. Sometimes iPhones can have issues with storage even after deleting files because of cached data or other temp files. If you still experience issues, you might want to look into apps that clean up iPhone storage or consider backing up some of your files to iCloud or another cloud storage option.
You could also use a different approach to handle this without diving into the Photos app if that seems cumbersome. Try going through the Files app on your iPhone:
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Open the Files app:
- Launch the ‘Files’ app from your home screen.
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Navigate to the folder with your wallpapers:
- If your wallpapers were downloaded from the web or apps, they might be categorized under different folders like ‘Downloads’ or app-specific folders.
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Select the wallpapers:
- Tap ‘Select’ in the top right corner, then pick the wallpapers you want to delete. Unlike the Photos app, this might show some files that are not images, so look through carefully.
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Delete the wallpapers:
- Click on the trash can icon. Deleting here might remove them permanently depending on your settings, ensuring they don’t sit in a ‘recently deleted’ limbo.
Also, occasionally people forget, but check the ‘Settings’ app too for any system wallpapers that might have been downloaded:
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Navigate to Settings:
- Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Wallpaper’.
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Check for downloaded wallpapers:
- Some wallpapers might be downloaded via a third-party app or might be saved under the wallpaper section. Tap on a preview to see options.
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Delete stored wallpapers:
- If you uploaded custom wallpapers through settings, they might be stored there and can be deleted directly from within settings. This can sometimes be unique to custom wallpapers from Apple’s own store or app functionalities.
You’ve got a pretty good outline from sonhadordobosque. If you still run into storage issues, consider a broader cleanup. Sometimes iPhones cache a lot of data, and using a cleanup app like ‘Cleaner Pro’ could help identify files you might not realize are hogging space. Plus, if you really hit a wall, moving some stuff to iCloud helps too but watch out for connection issues making some files temporarily inaccessible.
Has anyone touchd on the option of managing your wallpapers through iTunes or Finder if you’re using a Mac? While the methods from @reveurdenuit and @sonhadordobosque are solid, an often overlooked approach is syncing your device and organizing your photo library where you can batch delete items efficiently. This could be particularly useful if you have a large number of wallpapers saved.
Here’s a quick rundown:
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Connect your iPhone to your computer:
- Use a USB cable to connect your iPhone and trust the device on both ends.
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Open iTunes or Finder:
- Open iTunes if you’re on Windows or an older Mac OS, or Finder on a more current Mac OS.
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Navigate to your device:
- Click on your device icon, and then move to the Photos tab.
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Sync Photos:
- Here, you can uncheck the albums or specific folders you want to remove. Doing this will remove synced photos from your iPhone without needing to handle them directly on the device.
Pros:
- Can handle large volumes of pictures swiftly.
- Great if you often sync photos from your computer anyway.
Cons:
- Requires access to a computer.
- Not as immediate as deleting directly from the phone.
Another consideration could be using a third-party app like ‘Gemini Photos.’ Apps like these are designed specifically to scour through your photo library, detect unnecessary copies, or suggest deletions:
Pros:
- Streamlined for photo management.
- Offers smart suggestions, making the process quicker.
Cons:
- Often not free, comes with a subscription model.
- Need app permissions which could be a privacy concern.
While these alternatives can be a bit less conventional compared to @sonhadordobosque and @reveurdenuit’s advice, they might suit your needs better depending on how you manage your data across devices or your comfort with third-party apps. Sometimes an extra step like using Finder or iTunes can pay off when you’re trying to accomplish a big cleanup task efficiently.