Unlike iOS 7, the photos and videos deleted in iOS 8 are not permanently deleted when you delete them in the Photos app, instead they’re just marked for deletion, and are accessible in the Recently Deleted album on your iOS device for 30 days.
This gives users an option to recover photos or videos if they’ve accidentally deleted them, but it also means that these delete photos and videos will continue to take up space on your device for 30 days.
How to permanently delete photos and videos in iOS 8:
Follow these instructions to permanently delete photos and videos on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch in iOS 8 to free up space if you’re sure you don’t want them:
- Launch the Photos app from the Home screen.
- Tap on the Albums tab at the bottom right corner of the screen.
- You should see a new Recently Deleted album. Tap on it to open it.
- You will find all the recently deleted photos in this album along with the number of days remaining for the photos to be permanently deleted. By default, items are erased 30 days after being marked for deletion.
- Tap on the photo you want to delete permanently.
- Tap on Delete in the bottom left corner.
- It will show you a popup informing you that the photo will be deleted, and that the action cannot be undone. Tap on Delete Photo.
That’s it. The photo will be permanently deleted from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. You can permanently delete videos in the same way.
Let us know how it goes in the comments.
