How can I delete more than one photo from my iPad?

My kids have learned how to take screen captures on the Apple iPad [ed note: hold down the top button and push the home button. Poof, you just took a screen capture] which means that I now have tons of them in my Saved Photos album. Not good. Is there a fast and easy way to delete multiple photos or pictures from my iPad?

Dave's Answer:

You're in luck, because apparently the folks at Apple have also had a similar experience because they do let you work with more than one photo at a time, though it's not particularly obvious how to do so when you're viewing an album. The good news, though, is that it also lets you easily collect up 3-4 photographs or pictures and email them to a friend, if you're so inclined.

First step is one that you have already figured out: tap on the "Photos" icon:

Before you get sidetracked with your amazing photographs and the albums and events you've sync'd up from your computer, let's stay focused. Or maybe that's just me. :-)

In the Albums view, notice that you have "Saved Photos" as an option. Choose it:

On the top right, there's a small box icon with an arrow bursting out of it:

Tap on that icon and you'll see the top bar change to indicate you can select more than one photo and take a group action with those selected, rather than tap to see a specific photograph:

Tap on a couple of photos that you want to delete. Each has a small checkmark added to its preview:

When you've selected those that you want to delete, simply tap on the "Delete" button on the top left and...

Are you suuuuurrrrreeee? If so, tap on "Delete Selected Photos" and they're gone. Unrecoverably gone. Voila!

Looking for iPad help? I know you are, and if you have specific questions about your iPad that we haven't covered, please do submit them into our queue.

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Categorized: Apple iPad Help (Article 9380, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: apple ipad, ipad photo album, photo management
Previous: How to connect your Apple iPad to MobileMe
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Reader Comments To Date: 19

Rich said, on April 14, 2010 4:14 PM:

Sorry - not on my iPad - there's "email" and "copy" but NO DELETE.
Mine's brand new - what are you using. Followed your directions to the letter.

Have to go back to iTunes "photo folder" - delete it there and re-sync.

Dave Taylor said, on April 14, 2010 5:45 PM:

Rich I can't believe we have different versions of the iPad operating system so have you compared what you see with one or two pics selected versus a dozen?

Ron Grandia said, on April 14, 2010 10:15 PM:

This solution only works for "saved photos." Does not work for the rest of the library.

Dave Taylor said, on April 14, 2010 10:58 PM:

Ah, you're right! The photos that you're syncing from your computer via iTunes you can't delete from the iPad: you can only delete them from either iTunes itself by changing your sync options or by tweaking your photo library within iPhoto/Aperture.

Lee said, on April 26, 2010 6:27 AM:

Muliple email addresses on iPad.
I share my iPad with my sister. If we add our 2 email addresses to the iPad, can we password protect so our emails are not read by each other

Afaq said, on May 6, 2010 7:31 PM:

During photo the screen says email copy but no delete button appears tell me how to correct rgds afaq

Kbg said, on June 15, 2010 11:49 PM:

How do I get rid of the 9000 pics I accidentally dl.d to the iPad without deleting the ones on the mac

deb colburn said, on June 29, 2010 7:35 AM:

i accidentally downloaded all my pics from my macbook pro onto my ipad and now my ipad freezes up when i try to do anything in photos.
HELP!!

Robert said, on July 5, 2010 2:52 PM:

The inability to easily delete photos that were transferred by sync from a PC is beyond belief stupid. It's too bad when Microsoft cares more than Apple because Apple is listening to their customers. How about when a button says "delete" that it works simply?

dale grassi said, on September 7, 2010 12:26 AM:

can you restore the ipad back to fact settings to get rid of your p[ctures

Vickie Prescott said, on November 27, 2010 9:51 PM:

Why are you able to delete your pics from Ipad? How did you upload your pics to Ipad?

chuck said, on December 21, 2010 2:05 PM:

I just bought a 32G iPad and can't seem to get any movies to import into iTunes. Most all are either MOVs or WMVs. Someone said I have to convert them. Yes? if so, how?

Chuck F. Alaska

Gene said, on March 26, 2011 4:28 AM:

For as long as people have been complaining about this inability to delete individual photos from the iPad, you would think that Apple would by now have sent out fix. A simple select and Delete button would fine.

P wilson said, on March 26, 2011 8:03 PM:

How do I remove a complete photo album from my ipad

Dave Taylor said, on March 27, 2011 8:57 AM:

"P", generally all the photo management is done within iTunes on the computer you use to sync with your iPad. Plug in the iPad, go to "Photos", and hopefully you'll see how to tweak it appropriately. I have a number of articles on this topic on the site too, search for 'ipad photos'

Rina said, on April 4, 2011 2:56 PM:

I have DELETE button- not working. But I don't have Saved Photo button. Pls help. I'm using IPad 1,os 4.2.

Sal said, on May 28, 2011 2:34 PM:

The delete button doesn't work!
APple should upgrade the software ASAP.

Sal

MelindaR said, on August 22, 2011 4:01 PM:

How can I delete pictures that I synced to my iPad??? I can't seem to do it from my iPad and can not figure out how to do it from iTunes. Please help......

Boris Chang said, on November 20, 2011 5:04 PM:

What if you have hundreds or thousands of saved photos? It would take hours and hours to delete them all using that method (select a few and press delete and confirm)????????

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

How can I delete more than one photo from my iPad?

Reader Comments To Date: 19

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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