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Does Deleting Photos from Gallery Delete from Google Photos?

Does deleting photos from gallery delete from Google Photos? It depends on whether you backed them up to Google Photos and you can know more details in this post. Moreover, you can learn 3 ways to delete photos from your phone but not Google Photos here.

December 3, 2024

User Cases

 

If I remove a photo from my phone's gallery, will it also remove it from my Drive and Photos? I want to delete the photo from my phone but keep it saved in my Photos.

- Question from Google Community

 

 

My iPhone's photos are synchronized with the Google Photos app. Not on my iPhone, but from the Google Photos app, I want to delete a few pictures. I went to the Google Photos app, clicked on my photo, selected Google Photos settings, clicked Backup, and turned it off. At that point, I thought I could remove pictures from my Google Photos app without erasing them from my iPhone. I erased a few pictures, and my iPhone's photos also disappeared!

- Question from Apple Support Community

About Google Photos

Google Photos is a cloud-based service for managing and storing photos and videos. It provides you with a smooth method for organizing, backing up, and accessing media on multiple devices. It improves your memory management with its robust search and editing features.

Key Features:

  • Automatic Backup: Easily sync media between devices.
  • Smart Organization: AI-powered sorting by people, locations, and items.
  • Effective Search: Find images using keywords or visual cues.
  • Editing Tools: Use AI edits, built-in filters, and adjustments to improve photos.
  • Shared Albums: Work together to make sharing simple.
  • Memory Highlights: Automated collages and slideshows allow you to relive special moments.

Does Deleting Photos from Gallery Delete from Google Photos?

Do Photos Stay on Google Photos If Deleted from Gallery

A few variables determine whether removing images from the gallery on your device also removes them from Google Photos:

Status of the backup:

  • Photos Backed Up: Even if the images are removed from your device's gallery, they will still be in your Google Photos account if they were backed up to Google Photos before deletion. They are available on the Google Photos website or app.
  • Photos Not Backed Up: Removing images from your device's gallery will also delete them from Google Photos if they weren't backed up to Google Photos.

How to Delete Photos from Phone but not from Google Photos

After knowing the answer to “Does deleting photos from gallery delete from Google Photos”, you may want to take action. There are 3 effective ways to help you reach your goal – backing up photos to Google Photos in advance, utilizing the Free up space feature, and delete on Google Photos.

Way 1. Back up Photos to Google Photos before Deleting

As mentioned before, photos will not be deleted from Google Photos even if they are removed from your device if you backed them up to Google Photos. On Google Photos, you can choose to manually back up the photos you want to delete or enable the auto-backup function to backup all your device photos.

Step 1. Go to the Google Photos app on your phone.

Step 2. Select the photos you want to delete and click the Back up button.

Back up Photos from Gallery to Google Photos

Step 3. Open your gallery app and delete the photos you backed up. Then, when you back to Google Photos, you will find they are still on Google Photos.

Way 2. Utilize the Free up Space Feature on Google Photos

After enabling the Google Photos Backup on your phone, you can take advantage of the Free up space feature to delete the backed-up photos from your device but keep the copy on Google Photos.

Step 1. Go to the Google Photos app and click on your profile picture.

Step 2. Choose Free up space in the menu.

Step 3. Tap the Delete items or Free up button and confirm to delete them on your device.

Free up Device Space on Google Photos

Way 3. Use the Delete Device Original Feature on Google Photos

If you have backed up the photos you want to delete to Google Photos, you can choose to use the Delete device original feature on the Google Photos app to remove them from your device.

Step 1. Go to Google Photos and select the photos you want to select.

Step 2. Swipe the menu bar and choose Delete device original. Then, confirm to delete them. The photocopies are still on Google Photos and you can access them on the Google Photos website or app.

Click Delete Device Original

Further Reading: How to Delete Photos on Google Photos but not from Phone

In case you may also want to learn how to delete photos from Google Photos but not phone, this post will give you the solution to this issue. However, before deleting, make sure you have the photos on your device.

Step 1. Go to the Google Photos app and click on your profile picture.

Step 2. Click Google Photos settings, choose Backup, and toggle the button to disable the backup function.

Disable Google Photos Backup

Step 3. Open the Google Photos website and log in to your account.

Step 4. Delete the photos you want to remove from Google Photos.

If you delete photos from Google Photos because you want to use another cloud storage service for photo backup, you may need to move photos from Google Photos to another one. To easily transfer photos from one cloud to another, MultCloud is a good helper. It can automatically transfer photos from Google Photos to iCloud Photos, Flickr, OneDrive, etc. without downloading and uploading. Besides, it gives some options like auto-deleting the transferred photos in the source cloud.

Transfer Google Photos to iCloud Photos on MultCloud

Conclusion

Does deleting photos from gallery delete from Google Photos? If you backed up photos to Google Photos before, they can be also accessed on it even if you delete them in the gallery. If you want to delete photos from the gallery app without removing them from Google Photos, try the 3 ways above. Or, if you want to delete photos on Google Photos but not your device, there is a way. Too.

Moreover, if you plan to move photos from Google Photos to OneDrive, Dropbox, pCloud, or other clouds, you can try MultCloud. It offers various functions like Cloud Transfer, Cloud Sync, and Cloud Backup that can automate the migration process.

Quickly transfer, sync or backup files from one cloud to another.

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