Delete Photo Albums On An iPhone | Here is how [2026]

Logan Miller | May 26, 2026 • 7 min read

One of the most loyal Apple fans on earth. He loves to explore the rarely known tricks for iOS devices, helping his followers to increase the productivity of Apple devices in their daily life.

Catalog

Deleting an album on an iPhone is usually straightforward. It gets more confusing when the album is synced with iCloud, came from a computer, or belongs to Apple’s built-in system collections.

This guide shows the normal steps, explains why some albums refuse to disappear, and covers the fixes that usually resolve the problem.

  1. Go to the Photos app and tap Albums.
  2. Tap See All next to My Albums.
  3. Tap Edit at the top right corner
  4. Select the photo albums you want to delete by tapping the red circle in the top left corner of the albums.
  5. Tap Delete Album, then Done to complete the process.

Way 2 Disable iCloud Photo Syncing

One of the reasons your deleted albums keep resurfacing may be that you have enabled iCloud Photos meaning everything stays in sync. However, to successfully delete unwanted albums on an iPhone, you need to disable syncing temporarily.

The following is how:

  1. Open the Settings app and tap Photos.
  2. Turn off the iCloud Photos toggle.
    3. Turn off iCloud Photos

    Turn off iCloud Photos

  3. In the subsequent pop-up, tap Remove from iPhone to remove copies from your device or Download Photos & Videos to restore them.

Way 3 Delete Synced Albums on iPhone

If the album was synced from a computer, you usually cannot delete it directly on the iPhone. Apple treats those albums as part of the computer sync set, so you need to connect the device and remove the album from the sync settings there.

Steps:

  1. Connect your iPhone to a Mac or Windows computer. Go to Finder and select your iPhone from the menu if it's a Mac. For Windows computers, open iTunes, click the phone icon, then choose your device on the side menu.
  2. Switch to Photos, check Selected Albums, uncheck the albums you want to eliminate, and click Apply.
    3. How to remove synced photos from your iPhone

    How to remove synced photos from your iPhone

  3. Wait for the sync to finish, then reopen Photos on your iPhone and check whether the album has disappeared.

How To Delete Photos on Your iPhone

It’s possible to delete a single photo and video, multiple images, or even all items at once on your iPhone.

Steps to Delete a Single Photo

  1. Open the Photos app.
  2. Open the Library tab, tap All Photos and pick what you want to delete.
  3. Tap the Dustbin button, then Delete Photo.
    4. How to delete a single photo

    How to delete a single photo

Steps to Delete Multiple Photos

  1. Go to Photos.
  2. On the Library tab, tap All Photos, then Select.
  3. Check multiple photos or use your finger to select several.
  4. Tap the Trash button and confirm to delete the photos.
    5. How to delete multiple photos

    How to delete multiple photos

What to do if You Still Can’t Delete the Albums

You may have been deleting albums on your iPhone without success, much to your annoyance. However, all is not lost because you can still try the following measures to address the situation:

Restart the iPhone

A quick restart could be handy if a software issue hampers your efforts. Here’s how to go about it:

  1. Press and hold the power button on your device.
  2. Slide the power button appropriately to turn it off.
    3. Restart your iPhone

    Restart your iPhone

  3. Let the iPhone stay off for some time, then power it back on.

Update Software on the iPhone

If the delete option is greyed out, install the latest iOS update available for your device. Apple often fixes Photos and syncing bugs through software updates, so this step is worth checking before you reset anything else.

  1. Open Settings and tap General.
  2. Select Software Update.
    3. How to update your iPhone’s software

    How to update your iPhone’s software

  3. Tap Download and Install.

Can You Delete the Favorites Album From Your iPhone?

No. The Apple Photos app automatically transfers pictures designated as such to the Favorites album. While you can’t delete this album, you can empty it of any number of pictures by following the steps below:

  1. Open the Photos App, go to Albums, and tap Favorites.
  2. Tap on an image to open.
  3. Tap the blue heart to remove images.
    4. Deleting photos from the Favorites album

    Deleting photos from the Favorites album

Tip: The above action does not remove photos from All Photos. To remove a photo entirely from your Photo Library, you will need to tap the trash can.

Can You Delete People Albums on Your iPhone?

The people album is where iPhone’s facial recognition software categorizes pictures of different people and creates separate albums for each.

While these pictures will remain on your phone and you can still restore them, it is possible to permanently remove sets of pictures from your people album following the steps below:

  1. Go to the Photos app and go to the Album tab.
  2. Tap People in the People & Places section.
  3. Find the album you want to delete.
  4. Find and tap three blue dots at the top right corner.
    5. Tap the blue dots

    Tap the blue dots

  5. Select Remove (Person’s Name) from People.
  6. Next, tap Remove from People Album.

How to Delete Shared Albums on iPhone

Shared Albums works with iCloud Photos and lets you share pictures with other people. If you delete a shared album that you created, it disappears from your devices, from participants’ Shared Albums view, and from the web version of that shared album. Photos that someone already saved to their own library stay there.

Use these steps to delete a shared album on iPhone:

  1. Open the shared album.
  2. Go to the People tab on the toolbar.
  3. Tap Delete Shared Album.

How to Delete Empty Albums From iCloud

You can't delete empty albums from iCloud because they lack photos, so you cannot select them. You also cannot delete them by selecting the trash icon on iCloud with an empty album, as it will be dimmed.

The only way to delete empty albums is by opening the photo application, right-clicking it, and deleting the album.

How to Create a Photo Album on an iPhone

If you have thousands of images like most people, finding a particular one must often feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, by taking advantage of your iPhone's Photo app, you can efficiently manage them for easy traceability.

The following is how to go about it:

  1. Open the Photos app.
  2. Go to Albums on the bottom right corner and tap the plus icon on the top left corner of the next page.
  3. You can create a New Album or a New Shared Album.
    4. You can create a personal or shared album

    T You can create a personal or shared album

  4. Give your album a name and click the Save button.
  5. Select the photos you want to be included and click Done.

FAQs About Using iPhone Albums

The following are some of the frequently asked questions concerning using iPhone albums to organize photos:

Will the pictures in the album be deleted after deleting the album?

No, only the albums go, but the pictures remain on your device.

What if I accidentally delete all my photos?

You can easily access them in the Recent Deleted folder within thirty days. You can also never lose photos in your Favorite albums in this manner.

What if my iCloud storage is full?

You can choose to upgrade your iCloud plan, or clean up your iCloud drive to get more

Conclusion

To this end, you are now better equipped when it comes to deleting albums on your iPhone. We have discussed the albums you can and can't delete. In addition, you now know what to do when you can't delete an album.

I hope this article is helpful to you. You can also visit Mobitrix for more tips on using iPhones.