Utilities · Shotaway
How to delete screenshots in bulk on iPhone and Android
On iPhone, open Photos, go to Collections, then Media Types, then Screenshots, tap Select, then Select All, then the trash icon. On Android, use Files by Google's Clean tab or the Screenshots section in your photo app to select all and delete. Both keep deleted items in a trash folder for 30 days, so empty it to free the space.
Why screenshots pile up and why they are safe to clear
Screenshots are the one kind of photo almost nobody means to keep. Boarding passes, order confirmations, a recipe, a map, half a chat you meant to forward. Each one was useful for about a day, and each one is still in your library because deleting felt like a job for later. Unlike photos from the camera, screenshots contain no location data and are rarely the only copy of anything, since the app you took them from usually still has the original.
The other reason to clear them is that they are easy to find. Both major phone platforms sort screenshots into their own album or media type automatically, so you can review them as a group without touching the photos you care about. The steps below use those built in views.
Before you start, decide on your rule. Most people keep screenshots from the last week or two, since those may still be needed, and delete everything older. Files by Google, for example, treats screenshots older than four weeks as old and offers them for deletion in one card.
Delete all screenshots on iPhone
Open the Photos app. In current versions of iOS, tap the Collections tab, scroll to Media Types and tap Screenshots. This view contains every screenshot in your library and nothing else. Tap Select in the top corner, then Select All, then the trash icon and confirm.
Apple's support page describes the general method for any group of photos: tap Select, then tap multiple photos or slide your finger across them to select more than one, then tap the trash button and confirm. If you want to keep a few, deselect them by tapping after Select All, or slide across the ones you want to remove instead of selecting everything.
Deleting does not free space immediately. Apple states that deleted photos and videos stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days before they are permanently removed, and during that time they still count against storage. To clear them now, go to Collections, then Utilities, then Recently Deleted, tap Select, then Delete All, and confirm. If you use iCloud Photos, Apple notes that a photo deleted on one device is deleted on every device signed in with the same Apple Account, so there is no need to repeat the job on an iPad.
Delete all screenshots on Android
Android phones vary by manufacturer, but two tools cover almost all of them. The first is Files by Google. Google's help page gives the steps: open Files by Google, tap Menu then Clean, find the Old screenshots card, tap Select files, choose the files you want to remove, tap Move files to Trash at the bottom, and confirm. The card only offers screenshots created or received more than 4 weeks ago, which is a sensible default cut off.
The second is your photo gallery app. Google Photos groups screenshots as their own category in its library and storage management views, and the phone maker's gallery app usually has a Screenshots album under Albums. In either, open the screenshots view, use the select all option, and delete. If your gallery app lacks a select all button, a long press on the first item followed by dragging across the grid selects many at once.
Android also uses a trash. Google's help page states that photos and videos you delete from Google Photos stay in the trash for 30 days before they are permanently deleted, whether or not they were backed up on Android 11 and later, and that the space is only recovered when you empty the trash. Open the Library tab, tap Trash, then Empty trash to finish the job.
Review before you delete, not after
Select All is fast but blind. The screenshots you actually need, a parking receipt, a two factor backup code, a screenshot of a friend's address, look exactly like the ones you do not. If your screenshots number in the hundreds, a quick pass first is worth the time.
The efficient way to review is one decision per image with no navigation in between. Sort the screenshots by date, start from the oldest, and give each one a yes or no. Anything older than a month that you have not opened since is almost always a no. Anything with a code, an address or a document is a yes until you have saved it somewhere sensible.
Some apps are built for exactly this pass. Shotaway, for instance, reads only the Screenshots album, shows each screenshot as a card and lets you flick down to delete or left to keep, then deletes the whole batch at once after a single review screen. Whatever tool you use, the principle is the same: make the keep or delete decisions first, then run one bulk delete, then empty the trash.
Keep the ones that matter somewhere better
A screenshot is a poor archive. Text in it cannot be searched by most tools, the image is often cropped badly, and it will be lost in the next bulk clean. For anything you want to keep, move the information out of the screenshot before you delete it.
Receipts and confirmations belong in email, where they usually already are. Addresses belong in your contacts. Recipes and articles belong in a notes app or a read later list, pasted as text. Backup codes belong in your password manager, never in your photo library. Once the information is somewhere sensible, the screenshot has no job left.
Finally, stop the pile from growing back. If you take screenshots of the same kind of thing every week, look for the built in alternative: a boarding pass in a wallet app, a receipt forwarded to email, a saved link instead of a picture of a page. A monthly clear using the steps above then takes a minute rather than an afternoon.
Frequently asked questions
Where are all my screenshots on iPhone
In the Photos app under Collections, then Media Types, then Screenshots. In older versions of iOS it is the Screenshots album under Albums, then Media Types. Only screenshots appear there, so it is safe to select all.
Why did deleting screenshots not free up any space
Deleted items go to a trash folder for 30 days on both iPhone and Android and still count against storage until then. Open Recently Deleted on iPhone or Trash in your Android gallery and empty it.
Can I recover screenshots I deleted by mistake
Yes, within 30 days. On iPhone open Recently Deleted, select the items and tap Recover. In Google Photos open Trash, select the items and tap Restore. After 30 days they are gone.
Will deleting screenshots on my iPhone delete them on my iPad
If both devices use iCloud Photos with the same Apple Account, yes. Apple states that a photo deleted on one device is deleted on all other devices signed in with the same account.
Is there a way to delete only old screenshots
On Android, Files by Google's Clean tab offers screenshots older than 4 weeks as a single card. On iPhone, sort the Screenshots view by date and select from the oldest up to your cut off, or use a review app that shows them one at a time.
