How To Delete All Photos From Google Photos?

It’s not a straightforward process to delete all Google Photos at once as there is no Select All button available at the time of writing (maybe Google will manage to introduce it in the future).

According to a Google report, more than 28 billion new photos and videos are uploaded on Google Photos every single week. That’s a crazy number, isn’t it?

You can easily back up and share your photos using Google Photos. However, it also becomes more difficult to manage huge amounts of photos and videos in the Google Photos library especially when you want to delete them all at once for whatever reason.

Strictly speaking, there is no way to delete all photos from Google Photos at once. However, there are several ways to speed up the process so that you can delete all of your Google Photos quickly.

I’ll share some tricks as well to make the process of deleting photos easy and fast. Regardless of the platform you use, you can follow this guide.

How To Delete All The Photos From Google Photos?

Google has not yet introduced any method to quickly select and delete all Google photos however, there is a way to select multiple photos quickly and hence you can delete Google Photos at once.

Note: It’s important to mention that when you delete Google photos, they will also be deleted from your other synced devices as well. So, make sure you have a Backup of your data.

Now, we’ll go through this method according to different devices and you can follow the process according to your device.

Delete All Photos From Google Photos On Desktop

Removing all Google Photos on the desktop is easier as compared to other devices like Android and iPhone since the keyboard shortcut keys make the whole process pretty easy and straightforward.

So, you’re suggested to follow this method on your desktop device. The steps are the same whether you follow them on Windows, Chromebook, Mac, or Linux OS. You can use any web browser of your choice like Google Chrome.

Follow the given steps to delete all photos From google Photos on computer:

  1. Go to the Google Photos website and sign in with the same Google account you want to delete photos from:
Login to Google Photos account
  1. Select the first image by clicking on the white checkmark circle located at the top-left corner of the image. The image should be marked with a blue-circle checkmark:
Select the First Google Photo
  1. Now, scroll down not too fast until you reach the last image. You can use the mouse wheel or page down key from the keyboard for scrolling down. You must scroll down slowly so that the images can be properly loaded, otherwise, they will not be selected.

Note: If you have thousands of photos in Google Photos then, you should select them in sections i.e. select the first 500 photos then, another 500, and so on to avoid any issues.

  1. Now, hold the shift key from the keyboard and click on the last image in order to select all the images in between, and then, release the Shift key. As a result, every image will be selected automatically:

The images will only be selected while pressing the shift key if all the previous images have been loaded properly. With a fast internet connection, the photos will load quickly, allowing you to select a larger number of photos at once in the Google Photos library.

Select all Google Photos at once
  1. Once the images are selected, click on the bin icon 🗑, located at the upper right corner of the screen:
Delete selected Google Photos
  1. Finally, click on Move to bin to delete the selected photos:
Move photos to trash in Google photos

Common Problems While Selecting All Google Photos

Many users face the problem that other images are not automatically selected when they click on the last image. And, this happens with too many users even with me. But, why?

The problem occurs when you scroll down too fast, press the end key from the keyboard, or keep holding the page down key to quickly reach the last video or image. As a result, none of the photos will be selected, since the previous photos were not loaded properly.

When the previous photos are loaded properly, depending on your internet speed, select the last video or image while holding the Shift key from the keyboard, and now the photos in between should be selected. I personally have selected more than 2600 images at once using this same method.

So, you have to be patient while scrolling down. I know it’ll take time but there is no other way. Also, you should select images in groups instead of selecting them at once.

If the photos in between don’t turn blue then, select one photo after the already selected ones, and continue this process. You must have to press the shift keyboard key before selecting the last photo in order to select the photos in between.

In addition, some users report that they are only able to select images that are visible onscreen and can’t scroll down to select more images. This problem occurs when you hold the shift key while selecting the first photo.

You’ll not be able to scroll down until you release a shift key. You only need to press the shift when selecting the last video or photo.

You can deselect photos if anything goes wrong by pressing the Esc key on your keyboard or by clicking on the cross symbol (✖) located at the upper left corner of the screen:

Deselect Google Photos

It’ll take you more time to delete Google photos if you have thousands of images. I don’t know why Google is making this process hard.

Tips To Speed Up The Process

If your Google Photos account contains a huge amount of photos and videos then, it’s going to take a lot of time to delete them all. However, we can apply some tweaks to make this process faster.

If you zoom out of your page, more images will be displayed on your screen, so you will be able to select more photos at once. You can press CTRL and – (minus) keys together to zoom out the page.

Once you zoom out your web browser page, you can quickly select and delete images.

Furthermore, if you have a high GHz internet connection, you can increase the speed of your mouse scroll to take bigger jumps and select all the photos more quickly.

Empty Bin

When you delete photos or videos from Google Photos, they are moved to the Bin or trash, which is a temporary storage just like the Recycle Bin in Windows.

If you don’t restore your items from the Bin folder within 60 days in Google Photos, they are automatically deleted permanently. Then, you can’t retrieve them anymore.

Follow the given steps to delete photos from the Bin folder:

  1. Navigate to the Bin or Trash folder located on the left side of your screen:
Empty trash to permanently delete all photos from google photos
  1. Click on Empty Bin
  2. In the confirmation window, click on Empty Bin again.
  3. Now, your photos and videos have been permanently deleted.

Furthermore, it’ll erase all the synced photos from the phone gallery as well. In this way, you can delete Google Photos permanently at once on a desktop device.

Delete All Photos From Google Photos App on Mobile

Deleting images from the Google Photos app is more time-consuming than on the desktop, especially when you have thousands of photos in the Library since there is no Select All button in the app as well.

Google should be blamed for this. You should only follow this process on a mobile device if you have a small number of images, otherwise, it will take a significant amount of time.

It doesn’t matter if you use the Android app or the iPhone app to follow these steps, you’ll end up with the same results.

Follow the given procedure to delete all Google Photos on iPhone or Android devices:

  1. Launch the Google Photos app
  2. Long press the first photo without lifting your finger off the screen. The first image will be selected.
  3. Now, scroll down without lifting your finger to select other images. The photos will be selected as you scroll.

Note: If you lift your finger, you will not be able to select photos by scrolling down instead you can only select individual photos or select by date.

  1. After selecting the photos, tap on the Delete button > select Move to trash on the confirmation screen:
Delete all Google Photos on Mobile

After that, the images will be moved to the trash. In this way, you can get rid of all of your Google Photos. You can also open the Google Photos website on a mobile device as well.

Deleting the Google Photos may also delete them from iCloud as well. So, be careful about that.

Speed Up the Process

The only way to speed up the process of deleting images from the Google Photos app is to select photos or videos by date.

Tap on the grey circle with a checkmark next to a specific date in order to select images that were taken on a specific date:

Obviously, you’ll have to spend more time selecting all of them if you have a large number of photos and videos.

Empty Trash

To permanently delete Google Photos, you have to delete them from the Trash too.

Follow the given steps to empty trash on the Google Photos app:

  1. Open the Google Photos app
  2. Navigate to the Library > Trash:
Delete all Google Photos from trash
  1. Tap on three dots located at the upper right corner > select Empty trash:
Tap on Empty trash
  1. Finally, select Delete permanently on the confirmation screen:
Delete photos permanently from trash

All the photos have now gone for good. You can’t retrieve deleted photos back now.

Your photos saved in the gallery will also be deleted once you delete photos from Google Photos if you have synced your mobile device with the Google Photos app.

However, if you want to avoid this scenario, you need to turn off the backup and sync option from the Google Photos app manually.

Follow the given steps to disable the backup and sync feature:

  1. Open the Google Photos app
  2. Tap on your profile photo > then, Photos Settings:
Go to Photos Settings in Google Photos app
  1. Navigate to Back up & sync > disable this feature:
Disable Backup & Sync feature
  1. Your device will be un-synced.

If you have synced your Google account on multiple devices, you have to un-sync them all to avoid accidental data loss.

Now, you can easily free up your Google Photos storage without deleting photos or videos from your mobile device.

Things To Do Before Deleting All Google Photos

Google Photos holds and organize your memories. Your photos are important to you, that’s why it’s hard to throw them away. But if you have decided to delete all of your Google Photos, you must take some actions beforehand.

Before you start deleting your Google Photos, make sure you have a backup of all of your images and videos as a precaution against data loss. You can easily download your Google Photos data from google takeout.

You can then save it on your computer or in a cloud storage space like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive. Whether you consider your data to be important or not, it is always a good idea to have a backup.

Additionally, if you have shared your Google Photos data with someone, make sure to inform them that you are deleting it all as they’ll not be able to access that data once deleted.

Frequently Asked Questions

How To Delete All Photos From Google Photos Without Deleting From Phone?

To prevent photos from being deleted on your phone, you must disable the backup & sync feature in the Google Photos app before deleting all your Google Photos. To turn off this feature, open the Google Photos app > tap on your profile picture > Photos Settings > Back up & sync > turn off backup & sync. Now, your photos will no longer be deleted from your mobile phone’s gallery if you delete them from Google Photos.

To delete all photos from Google Photos, open the Google Photos website on any web browser, and log in with your Google account. Select the first image, scroll down slowly so that every image can load properly, and select the last image while holding the shift key from the keyboard. All the images in between will be selected.

Then, click on the trash icon to delete them. Now, go to the Bin folder and empty the bin to delete Google Photos permanently. That’s it.

How To Select All Photos in Google Photos?

Officially, there is no way to directly select all photos in Google Photos since there is no Select All option available. Despite this, it is still possible to select all the images. To select all Google Photos, select the first image by left-clicking on the white circle with the checkmark located at the top left corner of the image.

Then, scroll down not too fast until you reach the last image. Finally, hold the shift key and select the last photo. The images in between will be selected automatically. Make sure the previous photos are loaded properly before selecting the last one otherwise, the images will not be selected.

Does Deleting Google Photos Also Remove My Gallery Photos?

If you have enabled the backup & sync feature in the Google Photos app then, your mobile gallery photos will also be deleted upon deleting Google Photos. Otherwise, your phone photos will remain safe even if you delete all your Google Photos.

Can I Restore Deleted Google Photos?

When you delete any photo or video from Google Photos, they are not permanently deleted instead they are moved to the Bin or Trash folder for a specific period of time. If you’re a PC user, you already know this. Google provides a backup period of 60 days to restore your photos from bin folders. After 60 days, they will be permanently deleted, and cannot be recovered.

What’s The Reason For My Images Not Being Selected?

Your images are not being selected because the previous photos are not properly loaded. Make sure you have a stable internet connection so that the images can be loaded (at least partially). Also, scroll down slowly and select photos in groups to handle this situation.

Bottom Line

Google is offering 15 GB of free space that is shared among other Google services, such as Google Photos, Drive, and Gmail. As your data grows, you will eventually need to upgrade your storage limit. But, it’s not feasible for everyone.

You can, however, take a backup of your Google Photos and save them on your computer or in another cloud storage service. After that, delete all your photos and videos to free up Google Photos cloud storage.

In this way, you can make a room for your fresh data. Now that you know how to delete Google Photos in simple steps, you won’t have any trouble deleting your Google Photos.

If you think the process can be simplified further, please let us know in the comments. We’ll review it and update this guide with your useful information.

If you find this guide helpful, share it with others so that they can also get benefit from it.

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Muhammad Bilal
Muhammad Bilal

I'm Muhammad Bilal, founder of Tech Axen. Being a tech enthusiast, I enjoy sharing tech tips and tricks with others to assist them with their issues. For this purpose, I feed this blog with articles that provide useful information on technology.

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