To delete screenshots on iPhone, open Photos, go to Collections, scroll down to Media Types and tap Screenshots. Tap Select, then Select All (or slide your finger across the ones you want), tap the Trash button and confirm. They move to Recently Deleted for 30 days, so to free the space now, open Recently Deleted under Utilities, tap Select, then Delete All.
That's the whole job if you want every screenshot gone. Most people don't, though. Somewhere in that pile is a boarding pass, a recipe, a wifi password, or a message you meant to keep. So below are the exact steps, the iCloud catch, a Shortcut that clears out old screenshots automatically, and how to rescue the good ones first.
Before you delete: two things to know
Deleting is shared across your devices. If iCloud Photos is on, deleting a screenshot on your iPhone deletes it on your iPad and Mac too. Apple's guide to deleting photos puts it plainly: it "gets deleted on all other devices where you're signed in with the same Apple Account." There's no "delete from this phone only" when iCloud Photos is on.
Deleting doesn't free space straight away. Deleted screenshots sit in Recently Deleted for 30 days, still taking up storage, and then they're removed permanently. That's a safety net, and it's also why your storage number doesn't move after a big cleanup.
How to find all your screenshots on iPhone
iPhone already sorts screenshots into their own album. You don't have to scroll your whole library.
On iOS 26:
- Open Photos.
- Tap Collections.
- Scroll down to Media Types and tap Screenshots.
On iOS 18: Photos is one long page. Scroll down past your library, tap Media Types, then tap Screenshots. Apple's screenshot guide describes this route.
On iOS 17 and earlier: tap the Albums tab, scroll down to Media Types and tap Screenshots.
If Media Types is missing on iOS 18, it may be hidden. Scroll to the bottom of Photos, tap Customize & Reorder, and turn Media Types back on.
One quirk: Photos only counts images you took with the screenshot buttons. A screenshot someone sent you, and you saved from Messages, usually lands in your library as a normal photo, not in this album.
How to delete all screenshots on iPhone at once
Once you're in the Screenshots album:
- Tap Select in the top corner.
- Tap Select All. If you only want some, tap them one by one, or touch one and slide your finger across the rest to select a whole run.
- Tap the Trash button.
- Confirm by tapping Delete.
If you have thousands, Select All is far faster than sliding. Give the phone a moment after tapping it. A big selection can take a few seconds to register.
Keep the important ones first
Before you hit Select All, spend two minutes rescuing what matters. Three easy ways:
- Favorite it. Tap the heart on any screenshot you want to keep. Favorites live in their own collection, and it's a clear signal to future you, and to the Shortcut below, not to delete it.
- Add it to an album. Make an album called "Keep" or "Tickets" and add screenshots to it. Careful, though: an album holds the same photo, not a copy. Deleting the screenshot from the Screenshots album deletes it from your albums too, so after adding, deselect those before you delete.
- Save the information, not the image. Most screenshots exist for one line of text: a code, an address, a name. Copy it into Notes and the picture can go. Here's how to search text in photos on iPhone when you're hunting for a specific one.
The cleanest version of this is to sort first and delete second. If you want a gentler, more lasting method, I walk through it in how to declutter your screenshots without deleting them.
Free up the space: empty Recently Deleted
This is the step most people miss, and it's the one that actually gives you storage back.
- Open Photos and tap Collections (on iOS 18, scroll down).
- Under Utilities, tap Recently Deleted.
- Tap View Album and unlock it with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.
- Tap Select, then tap the More button and choose Delete All. To keep some, tap them first, then choose Delete.
- Confirm with Delete from All Devices.
Once you delete from here, there's no undo. Apple's guide says it directly: "you can't get it back." So if you deleted in a hurry, scroll through first and use Recover on anything that shouldn't be there.
Recently Deleted asks for Face ID by default since iOS 16. If you'd rather it didn't, go to Settings → Apps → Photos and turn off Use Face ID. That also unlocks the Hidden album, so think twice.
Delete a screenshot the moment you take it
The easiest screenshot to clean up is the one you never keep. Right after you take one, a small thumbnail appears in the corner of the screen.
- Tap the thumbnail before it disappears.
- Use what you need: copy the text, mark it up, or share it.
- Tap Done, then choose Delete Screenshot.
It never reaches your library, so there's nothing to clear out later. This is perfect for the screenshot you only took to send to someone, or to read one code off. If you want the screenshot itself but not in Photos, the same Done menu offers Save to Files.
Delete old screenshots automatically with Shortcuts
If you take dozens of screenshots a week, a monthly cleanup is better than a yearly purge. The free Shortcuts app can do it.
Build the shortcut
- Open Shortcuts and tap + to create a new shortcut.
- Add the Find Photos action.
- Tap Add Filter, and set the first filter to Is a Screenshot.
- Add a second filter: Date Taken, is not in the last, 30 days.
- Add a third filter: Is Favorite, is false. This protects everything you've hearted.
- Add the Delete Photos action underneath.
- Name it "Clear old screenshots" and tap Done.
Run it once by hand. iOS asks you to confirm before it deletes anything, and shows how many photos it found, which is a good sanity check. If the number looks wrong, stop and adjust the filters.
Make it a monthly habit
You can schedule it from the Automation tab, but Photos will still ask you to approve the deletion. That's deliberate on Apple's part. In practice the best setup is a monthly reminder that runs the shortcut, so you approve one prompt and you're done.
Remember that these screenshots also go to Recently Deleted. The shortcut tidies your library, and the space comes back 30 days later on its own.
Why screenshots pile up in the first place
Deleting fixes the symptom. The reason most of us have thousands of screenshots is that a screenshot is the fastest "save" on the phone. One press saves anything from any app, and nobody has to decide where it goes.
That's also why the pile is hard to clear. Every screenshot was saved for a reason, and the reason isn't written down anywhere. I wrote about the psychology behind it in digital hoarding: the screenshot edition, and about a lighter system in how to organize screenshots on iPhone.
A rule that works for me: if a screenshot was for doing something (a code, a ticket, a map), it can go once it's done. If it was for remembering something (a quote, a recipe, an idea), it should live somewhere searchable, not in the camera roll.
Where Reminari fits
That second kind of screenshot is what I'm building Reminari for.
Reminari can add new screenshots automatically, or ask you first. It reads the text inside each one on your phone, keeps it in an encrypted library, and with optional cloud AI on, adds a short summary and files it into smart groups like Recipes or Travel. Later you can search by meaning, or ask "what was that pasta recipe with lemon?" and get it back.
Once a screenshot is in Reminari, you can delete it from Photos without losing what was in it. Reminari doesn't delete anything from your camera roll for you, and it doesn't free up iCloud storage on its own. That part is still the steps above.
Honest status: it's Android first, with the iPhone app in testing. You can join the early-access list.
On Android, by the way, screenshots usually live in a Screenshots album in Google Photos or your phone's Gallery, and Select works much the same way.
Frequently asked questions
How do I delete all screenshots on my iPhone at once?
Open Photos, go to Collections → Media Types → Screenshots, tap Select, then Select All, then the Trash button. Then open Recently Deleted under Utilities and choose Delete All to free the space immediately.
Why didn't deleting screenshots free up storage?
Deleted photos stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days before they're removed permanently, and they still use storage until then. Empty Recently Deleted to get the space back right away.
If I delete screenshots on my iPhone, are they deleted from iCloud?
Yes, if iCloud Photos is on. Deleting on one device deletes the screenshot on every device signed in with the same Apple Account. Recover it from Recently Deleted within 30 days if you change your mind.
Can I automatically delete old screenshots on iPhone?
Yes. In the Shortcuts app, use Find Photos with the filters Is a Screenshot and Date Taken is not in the last 30 days, then add Delete Photos. iOS asks you to confirm each time, so run it monthly rather than fully unattended.
