Quick Answer
Photos deleted from an iPhone will also be deleted from iCloud Photos if you have iCloud Photos enabled. iCloud Photos automatically uploads and stores your photos and videos in the cloud, allowing you to access them on all your devices. Deleting a photo on one device deletes it everywhere. However, photos uploaded to My Photo Stream will not be deleted from iCloud immediately.
Detailed Answer
If you have enabled iCloud Photos on your iPhone, then your photos and videos are automatically uploaded and stored in iCloud. This allows you to access your photos from all your iOS devices and Mac computers that are signed in to the same iCloud account. It also saves storage space on your devices since your full photo library is stored in the cloud rather than locally on each device.
A key feature of iCloud Photos is that any changes you make to your photos or videos on one device will automatically sync across all your other devices. This includes deletions. So if you delete a photo or video from your iPhone’s Camera Roll while iCloud Photos is enabled, that photo will also be deleted from iCloud storage and all your other devices connected to the same iCloud account.
The main scenarios where deleting photos on your iPhone results in those photos being deleted from iCloud are:
- You delete photos directly from the Photos app on your iPhone
- You delete photos directly from the Camera Roll in the Photos app
- You enable the “Optimize iPhone Storage” setting which will automatically remove full resolution photos and videos from your iPhone if your local storage is full, while keeping smaller thumbnail versions. The full photos will be deleted from iCloud in this process.
So in summary, yes – any photos you delete on your iPhone will be deleted from iCloud Photos storage, as long as you have iCloud Photos enabled and set up on that device. The deletions will sync across all your other iCloud-connected devices and computers as well.
Exceptions – My Photo Stream
However, there is one exception to this. If you have My Photo Stream enabled (in addition to iCloud Photos), then photos you take on your iPhone will be added to your My Photo Stream and will persist there for 30 days even if you delete the photo from your iPhone and iCloud Photos.
My Photo Stream is designed more as a short-term staging area for your latest photos. Photos added to My Photo Stream will eventually age out after 30 days unless you save them to an album on a device or import them into your main iCloud Photos library.
So in summary:
- Photos deleted from your iPhone will be deleted from your iCloud Photos storage
- But photos deleted from your iPhone will still persist for up to 30 days in your My Photo Stream before being deleted
Will deleted photos still be in Recently Deleted?
If you have enabled the Recently Deleted feature in the Photos app, then deleted photos will be stored there for 30 days before being permanently removed. So if you delete a photo, you will still be able to recover it from Recently Deleted on your iPhone and any other devices for up to 30 days.
After 30 days, that photo will be permanently deleted from iCloud storage as well as any local storage.
So to summarize:
- Deleted photos go to Recently Deleted for 30 days
- After 30 days in Recently Deleted, photos are permanently deleted from all devices and iCloud
What if I disabled iCloud Photos?
If you turn off iCloud Photos on your iPhone so that it is no longer backing up your photos to the cloud, then deleting local photos on your iPhone will only affect the local photos on that device. Your existing iCloud Photos library will not be modified or deleted.
Disabling iCloud Photos turns off the syncing between your devices, so any deletions you make locally will only apply to that device. All your previously synced photos will continue to persist in your iCloud Photos library in the cloud.
You would need to manually delete photos from iCloud.com or another connected device to delete them from your iCloud Photos storage.
To summarize:
- Disabling iCloud Photos on your iPhone prevents deletions from syncing across devices
- Previously synced photos in your iCloud Photos library will persist after you disable iCloud Photos
- You need to manually delete photos from each device or iCloud.com to remove them from iCloud Photos
What gets deleted from iCloud when I delete photos from my iPhone?
Here’s a summary of what gets deleted from iCloud when you delete photos from your iPhone:
| Data | Deleted from iCloud? |
|---|---|
| Photos in My Photo Stream | No – Persists for 30 days |
| Photos in iCloud Photos library | Yes |
| Photo metadata (info, tags, albums, etc) | Yes |
| Edited versions of photos | Yes |
| Live Photos | Yes |
| Portrait mode photos | Yes |
| HEIC/HEIF photos | Yes |
So in summary, with the exception of My Photo Stream, any photos or photo data you delete locally on your iPhone will also be deleted from your iCloud Photos storage if you have iCloud Photos enabled.
Will deleted photos be removed from Shared Albums?
If you delete a photo that was included in any shared iCloud albums, the behavior depends on whether it was the original shared photo or a copy:
- If you delete the original shared photo from your library, it will be deleted from the shared album for everyone.
- If it’s just a copy of the shared photo that you’re deleting, and the original still exists in someone else’s library, then the photo will persist in the shared album.
So deleting the original shared asset will remove it from the album for all participants. But deleting just a copy of a shared photo that still exists in another library will not affect the shared album.
How can I recover deleted photos from iCloud?
If you’ve realized you’ve deleted some photos in error, there are a few options for trying to recover them:
- Recently Deleted – Check if the photos are still in the Recently Deleted album on any of your devices or iCloud.com. They will be stored there up to 30 days before being permanently deleted.
- Backups – If you have an iCloud backup, iTunes backup, or third party backup of your device from before the deletion, you may be able to restore the photos from this backup.
- iCloud.com – Log in to iCloud.com and see if any of the deleted photos still exist in the cloud. If you deleted them directly from your device, they may not appear here, but it’s worth checking.
- Other devices – The photos may still be stored locally on another one of your devices if iCloud Photos was not deleting them perfectly in sync across all devices.
- Apple Support – As a last resort, you can contact Apple Support and request assistance with recovering deleted photos. They have some additional tools at their disposal.
The sooner you check for recovery options after deletion, the better your chances are. Avoid taking any new photos or overwriting local storage space. The more you can limit device use and new data after the deletions, the better the chance of recovering them through available backups and caches.
How can I prevent accidental photo deletions in the future?
To avoid accidentally deleting important photos in the future, here are some helpful tips:
- Use the Favorites feature to mark your most important photos so they stand out
- Frequently backup your photos to an external hard drive or secondary cloud service
- Disable the “Optimize iPhone Storage” option if you don’t want local deletions to propagate to iCloud
- Turn on the Recently Deleted recovery album to have 30 days to undo any bad deletions
- Use third-party apps like 1SecondEveryday that makes it harder to bulk delete photos
- Review your photos periodically and consciously delete blurry ones or duplicates
Being proactive and deliberate about managing your photo library will help avoid regrets down the road. Additionally, always maintain good backups of your most treasured photos so that there are multiple copies that would have to be deleted before they’re truly gone for good.
Conclusion
In general, deleting photos from your iPhone will also delete them from iCloud Photos storage, with the main exception being the temporary My Photo Stream album. This ensures your photos stay in sync across all your devices connected to iCloud.
To avoid unwanted deletions, enable recovery options like Recently Deleted, maintain good backups, and be thoughtful about how you organize and manage your photo library. With some diligence, you can enjoy the convenience of cloud syncing without worrying about losing your precious photos and memories.