Transferring photo from iPhone XS Max to Macbook

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OnceBitten

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#323070 21-Oct-2025 20:29

My Wifes iPhone XS Max is full and is getting a bit slow - she's got too much stuff on it, including over 2800 photos / videos

I've managed to download all the photos / videos onto our Macbook ok - but how do I delete them from the iPhone?

Can I just do it in 1 swoop or do I have to delete them individually?

I can't see anywhere under photos / settings on her phone how to delete them all.

if anyone knows how this can be done, please let me know

thanks in advance

Behodar

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#3427087 21-Oct-2025 20:42

I'm not aware of a "delete all" apart from when you do the copy to Mac (now that they're already there, you won't have the option).

What you can do, although it's not painless, is to open the Photos app on the phone and click "Select" up the top. Then drag from the first photo to the last one, and it'll select them all, although it'll take a while to scroll through them. It might be easier to delete them in batches rather than trying to get them all at once.

SpartanVXL

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#3427106 22-Oct-2025 00:32

I take it you don’t sync to icloud? If you do there is a setting to optimise local storage, it will remove the original photo/video and just keep a thumbnail until you view it again, only keeping originals of the most recently viewed media on the local device.

Aucklandjafa

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#3427107 22-Oct-2025 06:24

As above, you can sync your photos to iCloud, leaving thumbnails on the device - photos are then downloaded when you want to see them - frees up a lot of space.

OnceBitten

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#3427120 22-Oct-2025 08:42

SpartanVXL:

I take it you don’t sync to icloud? If you do there is a setting to optimise local storage, it will remove the original photo/video and just keep a thumbnail until you view it again, only keeping originals of the most recently viewed media on the local device.

thanks for that, but for about 18 months now we've been getting messages that our iCloud storage is full and they want us to pay $$ a month for more storage (Which we've not done)

I turned off the automatic backup to the cloud about a year ago from memory, so once I delete all the photos off her phone - I will sort out the iCloud issue so that both of our iPhones and iPads can backup ok.

Edited to add - I did highlight / tick some of her photos and pressed delete but the photos were still on the screen... they hadn't deleted at all, so I'm not sure why that is

Aucklandjafa

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#3427122 22-Oct-2025 08:46

Can I ask how much storage you have? If it’s 50gb, you can move to the 200gb for $5/month, and because it’s a family plan so you can have multiple accounts attached - works out cheaper than the 50gb plan.

OnceBitten

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#3427123 22-Oct-2025 08:52

Aucklandjafa:

Can I ask how much storage you have? If it’s 50gb, you can move to the 200gb for $5/month, and because it’s a family plan so you can have multiple accounts attached - works out cheaper than the 50gb plan.

To be honest - I don't know how much iCloud storage we have and I'm not even sure I'd know where to go to find out - I assume it would be on my phone settings?

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Aucklandjafa

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#3427149 22-Oct-2025 12:04

Yep. Settings: Apple account: iCloud - then click on manage plan under iCloud+ features….

OnceBitten

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#3451307 9-Jan-2026 13:56

Ok - so I've managed to get all the photos / videos from wifes phone onto the macbook, but when I highlight photos on her phone and click delete, the photos just stay there and don't move... I can't seem to delete / remove them

does anyone know how can I actually delete / remove the photos from her phone permanently? (iPhone XS)

thanks in advance

SpartanVXL

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#3451335 9-Jan-2026 17:29

OnceBitten:

Ok - so I've managed to get all the photos / videos from wifes phone onto the macbook, but when I highlight photos on her phone and click delete, the photos just stay there and don't move... I can't seem to delete / remove them

does anyone know how can I actually delete / remove the photos from her phone permanently? (iPhone XS)

thanks in advance

Binning them puts them in a hidden folder called Deleted, go into it and ‘delete’ then one more time. It will warn you that this time its permanent.

Be very sure that you don’t have any sync going on, if you used Photos on the Mac and signed in with same account you could accidentally deleted them permanently across devices.

OnceBitten

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#3451403 9-Jan-2026 20:46

SpartanVXL:

Binning them puts them in a hidden folder called Deleted, go into it and ‘delete’ then one more time. It will warn you that this time its permanent.

Be very sure that you don’t have any sync going on, if you used Photos on the Mac and signed in with same account you could accidentally deleted them permanently across devices.

Ok thanks, but when I select photos and click delete, they stay in the photos folder - they don't disappear, so how do I know if they've gone elsewhere if they are still visable / showing on the screen in the photos folder?.

if there is a hidden 'deleted' folder - where do I find it and how can I delete what's in there?

I don't sync hers (or my) phone that often at all, and when I transferred the photos from her phone to the MacBook I set up a new folder under photos called 'photos from XS phone' (something like that) and all her photos / videos are there, so they shouldn't delete if I do a sync?

SpartanVXL

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#3451411 9-Jan-2026 23:56

Is the phone completely out of space? What happens is it moves(copies?) to that hidden folder and needs free space to do so. Delete some other files/apps/messages and see if that works.

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OnceBitten

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#3452198 12-Jan-2026 12:14

SpartanVXL:

Is the phone completely out of space? What happens is it moves(copies?) to that hidden folder and needs free space to do so. Delete some other files/apps/messages and see if that works.

Yes her phone is 64gb and she has used about 63gb

many of her apps won't work now like Uber.... because presumably she needs space to use them?

I'll have another look at her phone tonight and see if I can delete some photos / videos

I'll ask her to delete some apps / messages if she can

She is going to get a newer phone, but I've told her to sort out her phone now, because if she gets a newer iPhone and transfers everything over, it will just transfer all the photos / videos over that she doesn't need