Delete photos or recover deleted photos in Photos on Mac



When you delete Pictures and videos on Your Phone library, they are Quick transferred in the "Recently Deleted" file, where they remain for the number of days shown and are subsequently permanently deleted. You can restore items before that period has passed. If you've turned on “iCloud Photos,” you can restore iCloud photos and videos for 30 days before they are deleted from iCloud, Mac, and other devices using iCloud. If you don't use "iCloud Photos," deleted photos and videos are only deleted from your Mac. You can also manually delete items from your "Recently Deleted" album to immediately remove them from your computer and iCloud.


Tip: If you are deleting items to free up storage space, remember that you must also delete them from the "Recently Deleted" album so that they disappear from your computer.


Do one of the following:


Delete selected photos and videos in Days view: Tap Delete and click Delete. The selected items will be removed from the photo library and placed in the "Recently Deleted" album.

Delete photos and videos from an album, but not from the photo library: Press Delete. The selected items are removed from the album only and remain in the photo library.

Delete photos and videos from a smart album (for example, “Last Imported”, Favorites, or Videos): Press Command + Delete. The selected items will be removed from the photo library and placed in the "Recently Deleted" album.

Delete photos and videos, and then permanently remove them from the "Recently Deleted" album: Press Command + Delete, and then open the "Recently Deleted" album. Select the items you want to permanently delete, click Delete, and then click OK.


Restore recently deleted items

We can see recently deleted things and restore them back in the Phone Storage.

Select the items you want to restore.

Click Recover.