How to delete screenshots on iPhone

Screenshots exist for a moment — a boarding pass, a Wi-Fi password, a screen you wanted to show someone — and then they sit in your library indefinitely, because deleting them was never part of the plan. Nobody takes a screenshot with the intention of keeping it forever.

Why they pile up faster than photos

A photo takes deliberate action: open the camera, frame it, tap the shutter. A screenshot takes two button presses from whatever you're already doing, which is why they accumulate without you noticing — a group chat argument you wanted to remember, a recipe, an Instagram post, an error message you meant to search later and never did.

Where they are

1. 1Open Photos.
2. 2On iOS 18 and later, tap Collections, then Media Types, then Screenshots. On iOS 16 and 17, tap Albums, then scroll to Media Types, then Screenshots.
3. 3Tap Select in the top right.
4. 4Tap and drag one finger across a row of thumbnails to select a whole block at once, or tap Select All.
5. 5Tap the trash icon, then confirm.

The drag-select is the part people miss. Tapping each thumbnail individually through a few hundred screenshots takes a long time; dragging a finger across the grid selects everything the finger passes over, so a whole screen's worth goes in one motion.

The handful worth keeping

Not every screenshot is disposable. Before you select all, it's worth a quick scroll for anything in these categories:

• Receipts and confirmations — proof of a purchase, refund or booking you might need later.
• Tickets and boarding passes without a saved PDF or wallet pass elsewhere.
• Codes — a warranty number, a licence key, a Wi-Fi password for a place you'll visit again.
• Screenshots of a conversation you specifically wanted as a record, not just something you meant to reply to.

Everything else in that album — the vast majority, in most libraries — is disposable. Once it's served its purpose, a screenshot has no ongoing value the way a photo does.

Why screenshots are a safer bulk delete than photos

A photo is evidence something happened — a place, a person, a moment you were physically present for. A screenshot is almost always evidence you were looking at a screen. That distinction is why clearing the Screenshots album rarely causes regret the way deleting real photos can: you're not choosing between memories, you're clearing out captured information that has usually already done its job.

Selecting the whole album and deleting is a reasonable default. If you're not sure, scroll once for the four categories above before you tap Select All — it takes under a minute for most libraries.

Deleted screenshots go to Recently Deleted for about 30 days like anything else, so this isn't a one-way door even if you change your mind about something.

If it's a recurring problem, not a one-off clear-out

Clearing the album once fixes today. It doesn't stop the next 200 from building up the same way. Slean has a screenshot filter for exactly this — screenshots are judged more strictly than photos when it looks for exact repeats, and the filter lets you review and clear the album from inside the same pass you use for the rest of your library.

Android keeps screenshots in a folder rather than a Media Types album, which changes how you get at them in bulk. Here is the Android version.