How to Delete Google Photos?

To delete your photos from Google Photos, Follow the steps below.

  • Sign in with your google account after visiting the Google Photos library.
  • Select the photos that you want to delete, you can also select all photos in one go.
  • Click on Trash icon, located at the top right corner.
  • Your photos are now moved to trash, you can confirm by going to the trash folder, these photos remain in trash folder for 60 days.

Go through this guide and you'll find it useful, if you want to delete photos from device only, cloud only, want to retrieve deleted photos and most of all to maintain your online privacy.

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What Google can do with your photos?

You may have heard the term: If you’re not buying the product, then you are the product. While it feels amazing to use the intelligent apps on offer by Google for free, we shouldn’t forget that Google is a “search advertising” company.

This means that the service would look for ways that will allow it to help advertisers in the best possible manner and help them create personalized ads for their target audience.

All Google Products, including Google Photos, fall under Google Terms & Conditions. Accepting these terms and conditions means that the tech giant will have the right to “host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works, communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute” any content that is stored in its apps. This includes any data that you add in your Google Photos app.

Why would you want to delete Google Photos?

Google Photos is an amazing app. You get to enjoy unlimited storage capability, as well as a smooth layout, and cross-platform syncing. The search method within the app is just amazing. You can locate any photo in the app by searching for the right set of keywords. The photo recognition AI is the best in the world.

But while these features continue to amaze us, we should also know that the powerful AI within the system can recognize people in the photos and also the places you’ve been to. And Google will be able to keep a track of your location even when you turn off the device’s location settings thanks to this powerful AI. This information needs to be kept personal, but it’s obvious that Google doesn’t plan on keeping it personal.

If you want your personal life to remain personal, then it would be better to delete Google Photos altogether from your device!

How to delete google photos - Cloud only

To delete you photos from the cloud follow the steps below:

  1. Before deleting make sure the Backup is disabled. (Open Google Photo Apps on your Phone, Go to settings and Backup and sync).
  2. Go to Google Photos library and sign in with your Google account.
  3. Select all the photos you want to delete one by one or simply hold down SHIFT key and click on another picture to select a range.
  4. At the top right corner, click on the bin icon.
  5. Confirm the selected items are moved to trash from the albums and synced devices.

Note: After moving items to trash while the Backup and sync option is enable, those items appear on every device’s trash that syncs to your Google Photos library.

How to delete google photos - Device only

To delete you photos from particular device, follow the steps below:

  1. Open the Google Photos app on your phone.
  2. On top left corner click on the Menu icon and select Settings.
  3. Find Backup and Sync option.
  4. Turn on Backup and Sync option and let the photos to be synced, if you haven’t done it before.
  5. Once it is done switch Backup and Sync off again.
  6. Go back to your Settings and select Free up device and storage, it will delete the synced photos from your gallery, while the photos are still in the cloud.

How to permanently delete (or recover) photos from trash

After your successful deletion of photos from the Google Photos, your photos remains on trash folder for 60 days.
You can permanently delete them or recover them to do so just follow these steps

  1. Go to your Google Photos app and click on the Menu icon.
  2. Click on the Bin.
  3. Find the items to restore/ Delete.
  4. Select the items individually or alternatively click Select and Delete all.
  5. Or Click the restore icon in the top right corner.

Want to reclaim your online privacy? You might want to check below guides: