PhoneDiet

How to empty Recently Deleted on iPhone

Open Photos, scroll to Utilities and tap Recently Deleted. Unlock it with Face ID or your passcode, tap Select, then Delete All and confirm. Everything in the album is permanently removed and the space is released right away.

Using iOS's built-in tools

  1. Open Photos and scroll to Utilities.
  2. Tap Recently Deleted and unlock it.
  3. Tap Select, then Delete All, and confirm.

The faster way with PhoneDiet

  1. PhoneDiet never empties Recently Deleted for you, and iOS doesn't allow apps to.
  2. After each clean, the done screen shows how much moved there and these exact steps.

Once deleted from Recently Deleted, photos can't be recovered from your iPhone. Make sure you have backups of anything important.

Common questions

How long do photos stay in Recently Deleted?

Up to 30 days, then iOS removes them automatically.

Does emptying it delete photos from iCloud too?

If iCloud Photos is on, yes: the library is the same on all your devices.

Updated October 2026 for iOS 26. Menu names can differ slightly between iOS versions.