How to Delete All Screenshots on iPhone at Once (and Keep the Ones You Need)
A boarding pass from last spring. A recipe you meant to cook. A chat you wanted to show someone, a map, a product you were comparing, forty screenshots of the same game score. Screenshots are taken in a second and forgotten in a minute, and after a year or two most iPhones hold thousands of them. They are rarely worth keeping, they bury the photos you care about, and together they can easily take up gigabytes, in iCloud as well as on the phone. The good news: iOS already sorts them into their own album, so deleting them all takes about a minute. This guide covers deleting every screenshot at once, keeping the handful that matter, and making sure new ones stop piling up.
The short version
- All at once: Photos, Collections, Media Types, Screenshots. Tap Select, then Select All, then Delete.
- Keep the few that matter first: tickets, receipts, codes, and addresses. Favorite them or save them elsewhere before the bulk delete.
- Finish the job: empty Recently Deleted, or the space comes back only after 30 days.
- Stop the pile: on iOS 26 and later, the full-screen preview has Copy and Delete for screenshots you only need for a moment.
- Screenshots, duplicates, and big videos together: Cleana collects each category on one home screen, on the device.
Why screenshots are worth a clean-up
A single screenshot is small, often somewhere between half a megabyte and a few megabytes on a modern iPhone. The problem is the number. Two thousand of them is several gigabytes, and with iCloud Photos turned on every one of them also counts against your iCloud storage. They clutter the library too: the recent photos grid, Memories, and search results are full of screens instead of people.
They are also the easiest thing in the library to delete, because very few of them are memories. Most were a way to hold on to something for a day.
Step 1: Save the few you actually need
Before you delete thousands, take two minutes to rescue the handful that still matter. Scroll the Screenshots album and look for:
- Tickets and QR codes for trips or events that have not happened yet.
- Receipts, order numbers, and confirmations you might need for a return or a warranty.
- Addresses, Wi-Fi passwords, and account details you did not write down anywhere else.
- Anything sentimental: a message thread, a first review, a funny exchange.
Move them out of the Screenshots group in whatever way suits you: save the important ones to Files, add them to a note, or put them in an album named "Keep". Any screenshot still in your library after the bulk delete step will be deleted with the rest, even if it is in an album, so saving them outside Photos is the safest route for anything you truly need.
Step 2: Delete every screenshot at once
Photos already keeps all screenshots together, so there is no need to scroll the whole library.
- Open Photos and go to Collections.
- Scroll to Media Types and open Screenshots.
- Tap Select at the top right, then Select All.
- Tap the Delete button and confirm.
Prefer to be choosier? Tap Select and drag a finger across a row and down the screen to select many at once, then lift and delete. It is the same drag-to-select that works anywhere in Photos; how to delete photos fast on iPhone has more ways to go through a library quickly.
The same Media Types list has Screen Recordings, which are far larger per item. A few forgotten recordings can outweigh every screenshot you own, so open that album while you are there.
Step 3: Empty Recently Deleted
Deleted screenshots move to Recently Deleted for 30 days, and until then they still take up space. When you are sure, open Photos, scroll to Utilities, open Recently Deleted, unlock it, tap Select, and choose Delete All. If the storage bar does not move straight away, does deleting photos free up iPhone storage explains why and how long it takes.
Step 4: Stop new screenshots piling up
Most screenshots are only needed for a few seconds: to send a snippet, to copy a code, to show someone a message. On iOS 26 and later, taking a screenshot opens a full-screen preview. Tap Done and you can choose where it goes, including Copy and Delete, which puts it on the clipboard to paste into a chat and never saves it to Photos. Delete Screenshot discards it entirely.
A few more habits help:
- Share straight from the preview instead of saving first and sending later.
- Use Notes for things you want to keep, such as a recipe or a set of instructions. A note is searchable; a screenshot among thousands is not.
- Do a monthly sweep of the Screenshots album. Two minutes a month is easier than an hour a year.
Screenshots, duplicates, and videos in one pass with Cleana
Screenshots are usually one of several things filling a library. The others are exact duplicates, near-identical shots, and big videos, and Photos keeps each of those in a different place, if it finds them at all. Cleana brings them together on one home screen: Screenshots, Duplicates, Similar Photos, and Organize Videos.
- Open Cleana and allow photo access. The scan runs on the iPhone; nothing is uploaded.
- Open Screenshots and select the ones to remove.
- Move on to Duplicates and Similar Photos, where each group marks the Best shot to keep.
- Finish with videos, sorted by size, largest first.
Deleted items go to Recently Deleted as usual, so every step can be undone for 30 days. More on the other categories in how to delete duplicate photos on iPhone and on the similar photos finder page.
Quick answers
How do I delete all screenshots on iPhone at once?
Open Photos, go to Collections, then Media Types, and open Screenshots. Tap Select, then Select All, then Delete. Empty Recently Deleted afterwards to get the space back straight away.
Where are screenshots on my iPhone?
In Photos, in the main library, and grouped in their own album under Collections, Media Types, Screenshots. Screen recordings have a separate album in the same list.
Does deleting screenshots free up storage?
Yes, once they leave Recently Deleted. Each one is small, but thousands add up to gigabytes, and with iCloud Photos on they free iCloud storage too.
Can I take a screenshot without saving it to Photos?
Yes, on iOS 26 and later. After taking it, tap Done in the full-screen preview and choose Copy and Delete to keep it only on the clipboard, or Delete Screenshot to discard it.
Will deleting screenshots on my iPhone delete them from iCloud?
Yes, if iCloud Photos is on, because the library is the same on every device. Save any screenshot you need outside Photos first.
How do I keep some screenshots and delete the rest?
Save the ones you need to Files or a note first, then delete the whole Screenshots album. Or tap Select and pick only the ones to remove.
A library of photos, not screens
Rescue the few that matter, delete the rest in one go, empty Recently Deleted, and let Copy and Delete keep the pile from coming back. Download Cleana, free to download and 100% offline, and clear screenshots, duplicates, and giant videos from one screen.