Organizing your memories in the iPhone Photos app often means creating dozens of custom albums for specific vacations, events, or projects. However, once a project is finished or you no longer need a specific grouping of pictures, a cluttered Albums tab can make it difficult to find what you are looking for. Fortunately, deleting an album on iOS is a quick process, and more importantly, it does not permanently erase the photos stored inside it.
How to Delete a Custom Photo Album
You can delete any album that you have manually created.
- Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
- Tap the Albums tab at the bottom of the screen.
- Look at the top section labeled “My Albums.” In the top right corner of this section, tap the blue text that says See All.
- You will now see a grid of all your custom folders. In the top right corner of the screen, tap Edit.
- You will notice a small red circle with a minus sign (-) appear in the top left corner of every album you are allowed to delete.
- Tap the red minus circle on the album you want to remove.
- A confirmation menu will pop up at the bottom of the screen. Tap Delete Album in red text.
- Once you are finished deleting albums, tap Done in the top right corner to exit edit mode.
Will Deleting an Album Delete My Photos?
This is the most common concern, and the answer is No.
Albums on an iPhone do not act like physical folders on a computer hard drive. They are essentially just playlists or “tags” for your pictures. When you add a photo to an album, you are not moving the file; you are simply creating a shortcut to the original image stored in your main Library.
Therefore, when you tap “Delete Album,” iOS simply destroys the organizational grouping. Every single photo that was inside that album remains completely safe and untouched in your main Library tab (and the “Recents” folder). You will not lose any memories.
Why Can’t I Delete Certain Albums?
When you enter Edit mode, you will notice that some albums do not get a red minus sign. Apple prevents you from deleting system-generated and media-type albums because they are hardcoded into the operating system.
You cannot delete:
- Recents / Library: The master list of all your photos.
- Favorites: Photos marked with a heart.
- Hidden / Recently Deleted: System security folders.
- Media Types: The folders at the bottom of the screen that automatically sort your media by type, such as Videos, Selfies, Live Photos, Portrait, Panoramas, and Screenshots.