The fastest way to delete photos from Photos on your Mac
Open the Photos app, find the photo you want to remove, click it once to select it, then press Delete or Command-Delete. A dialog box appears asking if you want to move it to Recently Deleted. Click "Delete Photo" and it moves there. Photos stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days before the app removes them permanently — if you change your mind within that window, you can recover them.
If you want to delete multiple photos at once, click the first one, then hold Shift and click the last one in a series, or hold Command and click individual photos to select them scattered across your library. Once you have them selected, press Delete and confirm. This works the same way whether you are deleting one photo or fifty.
The Recently Deleted folder is not hidden — it appears in the sidebar of the Photos app on the left. You can open it anytime to see what you have deleted in the last month, recover photos by selecting them and clicking "Recover", or permanently delete everything in that folder by clicking "Empty" in the top right.
Key Takeaways
- Deleted photos move to Recently Deleted, not straight to nowhere, so you have 30 days to change your mind.
- You can delete one photo with a single keystroke (Delete or Command-Delete) or select multiple photos at once using Shift-click or Command-click.
- Recently Deleted is a folder you can see in the Photos app sidebar, and you can recover individual photos from it or empty the whole folder permanently.
- If you delete a photo that is stored in iCloud Photos, it deletes from all your devices that use the same iCloud account.
Deleting photos stored in iCloud Photos versus photos only on your Mac
The Photos app on your Mac can store photos two ways: in iCloud Photos (which syncs across all your Apple devices) or only on your Mac. When you delete a photo, the app removes it from whichever location it is stored in. If you use iCloud Photos and delete a photo on your Mac, it disappears from your iPhone, iPad, and any other Mac signed into the same iCloud account.
You can tell which storage method you are using by opening Photos, then going to Photos menu (top left) and clicking Preferences. Under the iCloud tab, if "iCloud Photos" is checked, your photos sync across devices. If it is unchecked, photos stay only on that Mac. This matters because deleting from a synced library is permanent across all your devices, while deleting from a Mac-only library only affects that one computer.
Recovering photos from Recently Deleted before they disappear permanently
Recently Deleted is a safety net that holds your photos for 30 days. During that time, you can open the Recently Deleted folder in the Photos app sidebar, select any photo you want back, and click "Recover". The photo returns to your main library in the same album it came from, or in the main Photos view if it was not in an album.
If you want to recover multiple photos, select them the same way you would delete them — Shift-click for a range, Command-click for individual ones scattered around. Then click "Recover" once and all of them return at the same time. You can do this as many times as you want within the 30-day window.
After 30 days, the Photos app automatically and permanently deletes everything in Recently Deleted. You cannot recover photos after that point. If you know you want to keep something, recover it before the 30 days are up.
Permanently deleting photos without the 30-day wait
If you want to delete a photo and have it gone when ready without waiting 30 days, go to Recently Deleted after you delete it, select the photo, and click "Delete" again. The app asks you to confirm that you want to permanently delete it. Click "Delete" in the confirmation dialog and it is gone for good — you cannot recover it after that.
You can also empty the entire Recently Deleted folder at once by opening it, clicking "Empty" in the top right corner, and confirming. This permanently deletes everything in that folder, so only do this if you are certain you do not want any of those photos back.
Deleting photos from albums without removing them from your library
If you have organized photos into albums, deleting a photo from an album does not delete the photo itself — it only removes it from that album. The photo stays in your main library. To delete a photo from an album without deleting it from your library, right-click the photo in the album and click "Remove from Album". The photo disappears from that album but remains in Photos.
This is useful if you want to clean up an album without losing the original photo. If you want to delete the photo entirely, you have to delete it from the main library, not just from the album.
What happens to photos you delete when you share them with others
If you have shared a photo with someone through iCloud Shared Albums or Messages, deleting it from your library does not remove it from their devices or from the shared album. They keep their copy. If you want to remove a photo from a shared album, you have to remove it from the album itself — right-click the photo in the shared album and click "Remove from Album". This removes it from the shared album but does not delete it from your library.
If you delete a photo that you have shared through a link (a feature in some versions of macOS), the link stops working, but anyone who downloaded the photo before you deleted it still has their copy.
Freeing up storage space by deleting photos
Deleting photos from your Mac frees up storage space, but only if you are not using iCloud Photos. If you use iCloud Photos, deleting a photo removes it from your Mac but it still counts against your iCloud storage limit because it stays in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Once the 30 days pass and the photo is permanently deleted, it no longer counts toward your storage.
If you want to free up space when ready and you are using iCloud Photos, delete the photo, then go to Recently Deleted and permanently delete it right away. This removes it from your iCloud storage when ready instead of waiting 30 days.
You can check how much storage you are using by opening System Settings, clicking your name at the top, then clicking iCloud. The storage meter shows how much space your photos are taking up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I undo a delete if I already emptied Recently Deleted?
No. Once you empty Recently Deleted or permanently delete a photo from that folder, it is gone. The Photos app does not have an undo button that works after you confirm a permanent deletion. Your only option at that point is to restore from a Time Machine backup if you have one set up on your Mac.
What if I delete a photo by accident and do not notice for weeks?
If it has been less than 30 days since you deleted it, go to Recently Deleted and recover it. If it has been more than 30 days, the photo is permanently gone from the Photos app. If you have a Time Machine backup, you may be able to restore it from there, but the Photos app itself cannot recover it.
Does deleting a photo from Photos also delete it from my Mac's hard drive?
Yes. When you delete a photo from the Photos app, it removes the file from your Mac. The Photos app manages the files, so deleting through the app deletes the actual file. If you want to keep the file but remove it from Photos, export it to a folder first, then delete it from the app.
If I delete a photo on my Mac, does it delete from my iPhone too?
Only if you use iCloud Photos. If iCloud Photos is turned on, deleting a photo on your Mac deletes it from your iPhone, iPad, and all other devices using the same iCloud account. If you do not use iCloud Photos, deleting on your Mac does not affect your iPhone.
Can I delete photos by date or by size instead of clicking each one?
The Photos app does not have a built-in filter to delete by date or file size. You can sort photos by date in the view options, then select multiple photos from the same date range using Shift-click or Command-click, and delete them together. For more advanced filtering, you would need to use a third-party tool or export your photos to a folder and manage them there.