How to Delete Google Photos Permanently

If you have Google Photos Backup ON, Even if you delete the photos on your phone gallery, you’ll still have a copy on your Google Photos, which can be seen using your Google account on any Mobile or PC. Now, this post helps you to delete a photo that you have on your Google Photos, how to delete multiple photos and taking one step ahead to see how to delete the Google Photos account.

Google Photos is a photo-sharing and storage platform developed by social media Google. It has been in public since May 2015. Google Photos gives users free, unlimited storage for photos up to 16 megapixels and videos up to 1080p resolution. Google Photos lets you delete photos from both the device and also from the Cloud Backup. Here’s how you do it.

Delete single Photo from Google Photos

These are the steps to delete a single photo in Google Photos App.

1. Open the Google Photos App and look for the single image that you would like to delete.
   
   
2. Tap on the image and you will see the image shown in the entire screen as you can see.
   
   
3. In the Image preview screen tap on the Bin icon at the bottom right corner of the screen as you can see in the image above.
   
4. Once tapping on that, since I’m using iOS, the operating system is asking for permission to delete the image from the Apple Photos App. Be aware that the original photo is deleted from the Phone’s storage once for all.
   
   
5. Once you delete the photo they will be a move to the bin. You could go to the Bin folder and delete them permanently.

This option is from the iOS platform. You can do this easily via the web too. Go to Photos.google.com, log in with the google account that the photo is backed up into. This would work only if the back up is done properly because the photos are actually in the devices and are synced directly to the Google Photos account.

Also: How to delete Facebook Photos

Delete Multiple Photos on Google Photos

These are the steps to delete All or multiple photos in Google Photos App. This is pretty much similar to how it works in deleting a single picture.

1. Instead of selecting a single image, you will select multiple photos. To select multiple images, while you are on the browse section in the Google Photos App.
   
   
2. Tap and hold on one image first and then once the blue tick appears on that image. This means that you are in select Mode. This could be confirmed by the number at the top of the screen (5 in the image above).
   
3. Once you are there, you could select all the photos you want to delete by tapping on them.
   
4. Once done, you could tap on the bin icon at the top right corner. This will make sure these photos are moved to the Bin.
   
5. If you want them permanently removed, you could go to the Trash/Bin and delete the photos permanently. As it implies, these changes are irreversible and you will never be able to recover the deleted photos.

How to Delete an Album on Google Photos

Some times it is better to delete an Album instead of selecting one by one. And Deleting Album on Google photos is not so hard.

1. Go to library.
2. Choose the album you want to delete.
3. Click on the three dots at the top right.
4. Now choose delete.

Delete Google Photos Account

Couple of things you need to do to get rid of the Google Photos Account. Google photos don’t have a separate account. Basically, as part of your google account, you are backing up your images into the account. It’s similar to iCloud Backup, where you have photos on your iCloud but free and more reliable.

Deleting images from Google Photos will indeed delete them from the device where you are doing it from and from also from the Google Cloud backups. This does not mean that you have deleted the Google Photos Account.

Also, stopping sync won’t delete your existing photos either.

The best way to stop yourself from adding pictures to the Google Photos is :

1. Delete all photos permanently from the Google Photos app. This will delete them from the device and from the Cloud backup. That said, it is odd that removing the Google Photos App does not stop it from syncing newly taken images.
2. So, next step is to stop syncing Google Photos backup. Once done, no new photos are added to the backup anymore.
3. Uninstall the Google Photos App. So, basically, no syncing, no photos and many more. Once you do all these things, it will be sure that your device or photos are no longer linked to the Google Account.

To Disable the Photos Sync, you could go to  Google Photos app on your iPhone or Disable the ‘Back up & sync‘ option in Google Photos settings that you could open from the Photos side bar.

Bonus: How to stop WhatsApp saving photos to gallery

How to turn off Backup

1. Open the Google Photos app in your device.
2. Sign in with your desired Google Account.
3. At the top right, tap your account profile photo to open the sidebar with settings.
4. Select Photos settings and then choose Back up & sync.
5. Tap “Back up & sync” off.

If you use an iOS device, you will see a message asking to allow the Google Photos app to access your photos.

1. Open the iOS settings app -> Choose Privacy and then choose Photos.
2. Turn on Google Photos in the list that appears. This will make sure Google Photos have access to your photos which is crucial for backup.

How to recover Deleted Google Photos

There is a step before where you can actually recover the photos before they vanish into the eher permanently. So, if you want to get a deleted photo(s) back, first of all go and see in the Trash if its still there. If your photo or video has already been backed up and you deleted it, it will remain in your Trash for 60 days.

1. On your computer, go to photos.google.com.
2. On the left side bar, open by clicking Trash .
3. Place your cursor over the photo or video you want to restore, then click Select .
4. At the top right, click Restore and then Restore again. That photo or video will be restored to your Google Photos Account and added back into any albums it was in. The photos will reflect on your device during the next sync whenever you have enabled in the settings or else you can force a backup too.

If you are not able to recover it

If a deleted photo or video isn’t in trash, you can’t restore it. You won’t be able to restore a photo if:

• The photos were moved it to Trash more than 60 days ago.
• The photos were moved it to trash, then emptied your trash and totally forgot it.
• The photos were permanently deleted from your trash.
• The photos were permanently deleted from your device’s Gallery app, without backing it up in advance.

But still there are other ways to recover photos and videos, give this a try!