Deleting a large video should free up storage, but Apple Photos keeps deleted items for 30 days. If you’re hoping to reclaim that space immediately, you must also empty Recently Deleted.
The process takes less than a minute. Check the album carefully first, because permanent deletion can’t be undone. With iCloud Photos enabled, deletion also applies to your other synced devices.
Why Deleted Photos Still Use Storage
Photos and videos deleted from Apple Photos move to Recently Deleted instead of the Mac’s regular Trash. You can recover them during the 30-day retention period.
That safety net is useful when you delete the wrong photo. It’s less welcome when a 20 GB video project continues occupying your nearly full MacBook.
Deleting an item with Cmd + Delete doesn’t bypass Recently Deleted. You must empty the album or wait for Photos to remove the item automatically.
Empty Recently Deleted on a Mac
These steps apply to the Photos app on recent macOS versions:
- Open Photos.
- Select Recently Deleted in the sidebar. You may need to expand the sidebar or scroll down.
- Unlock the album with Touch ID or your Mac login password if prompted, then review the photos and videos. Photos shows how many days remain before each item is removed.
- Select individual items and click Delete, or click Delete All to clear the album.
- Confirm that you want to delete the items permanently.
Click Recover if you spot something you want to keep. The selected item returns to your Photos library.
Empty Recently Deleted on an iPhone or iPad
The current Photos app places this album under Collections rather than in a separate Albums tab.
- Open Photos and select Collections.
- Scroll down to Utilities.
- Tap Recently Deleted.
- Authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode when prompted.
- Tap Select.
- For specific items, select them and use More > Delete. To empty the album, leave individual items unselected; if you already selected photos, tap Cancel, then Select again. Choose More > Delete All.
- Review the confirmation, then choose Delete from All Devices or Delete Photos I Added, whichever applies to your library.
On an iPad, the names are the same, though the wider layout places some controls differently.
Apple’s guide to deleting photos on iPhone and iPad covers the recovery window and permanent deletion controls. The illustrations summarize the process; they are not device screenshots.
If Your Storage Doesn’t Increase
If you’ve been staring at the same storage figure after emptying the album, don’t panic. Try these checks in order.
Give macOS or iOS Time to Recalculate
Storage totals don’t always refresh immediately. Close Photos, wait a few minutes, and check again.
On a Mac, open System Settings > General > Storage. On an iPhone or iPad, open Settings > General > iPhone Storage or iPad Storage.
Keep Photos Without Filling Your Device
If you want to preserve your library, enable iCloud Photos and storage optimization. This keeps smaller device-sized versions locally while full-resolution originals remain in iCloud.
On a Mac, open Photos > Settings > iCloud, enable iCloud Photos, and select Optimize Mac Storage.
On an iPhone or iPad, open Settings > Apple Account > iCloud > Photos, enable syncing, and select Optimize iPhone Storage or Optimize iPad Storage. On iOS 27 or later, open iPhone Storage within these Photos settings to find the optimization control.
Optimization requires enough iCloud storage for your library. Apple’s free allocation fills quickly, so check the current iCloud+ plans before committing to a subscription.
An external drive is another solid choice for archived photo and video projects. Keep a second copy of anything important, and verify both copies before deleting the originals from Photos.
Emptying Recently Deleted is the fastest fix when deleted media still occupies storage. Storage optimization is a good option for ongoing space pressure, but it comes with a recurring iCloud cost.