How to clear iPhone storage after transferring photos to Google Photos?

I ran out of storage because i had 16GB oh photos in my photos app, so i deleted every photo and transefered it to my google photos thinking it would clear all the space on my iphone storage, but when i check it still says i have 16GB worth of photos in the photos app even though i have nothing in the photos app. How do i fix this?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Photos storage issue

iPhone 11, iOS 18

Posted on Dec 13, 2025 5:53 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 13, 2025 5:56 PM

When you delete photos, they go to the Recently Deleted album. This is to give you a chance to change your mind if you accidentally deleted them.


You don't recover storage until

  • 30 days pass, or
  • You delete the photos from the Recently Deleted album

at which point they become permanently deleted and you can't get them back.

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 13, 2025 5:56 PM in response to Daniel_flyin

When you delete photos, they go to the Recently Deleted album. This is to give you a chance to change your mind if you accidentally deleted them.


You don't recover storage until

  • 30 days pass, or
  • You delete the photos from the Recently Deleted album

at which point they become permanently deleted and you can't get them back.

How to clear iPhone storage after transferring photos to Google Photos?

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