[Full Guide] If I Delete Photos from Google Photos Will It Delete from My Phone?

Google Photos is an amazing application available on both iOS and Android devices. Its Backup and Sync feature allows easy backing up of all your device’s photos to the cloud. This thing not only saves a significant amount of storage space but also allows you to access media files anywhere on any device. However, one thing confusing is: if I delete photos from Google Photos will it delete from my phone? Here in this article, we’ll walk you through how to delete Google photos without deleting from phone! Before moving forward, let’s clear out some confusion relating to it.

What Happens When You Delete Photos from Google Photos?

Many users have the same question when using Google Photos: What Happens When You Delete Photos from Google Photos? In fact, there is no single situation, and the answer depends on whether or not you have Backup & Sync turned on. To make it clearer, let’s break it down into a few common scenarios:

Case 1. Delete Photos on Phone with Back Up & Sync Enabled

Whenever the Backup & Sync feature is enabled, and you delete any of the synced photos from the Google Photos app, it will be deleted from everywhere. In short, the photo will immediately be removed from Google Photos, Android Gallery, and File Manager applications.

Case 2. Delete Photos on Phone with Back Up & Sync Disabled

After syncing a photo, if you delete it while the Backup & Sync feature is turned off, the result will be the same as Case 1. The specific image will be deleted from your phone’s storage too. But if you had disabled the Backup & Sync feature recently, then the deleted photo will still be shown on another shared device. When you enable this feature again on the same device, the photo will be deleted from all the shared devices.

Case 3. Delete Photos on Website with Back Up & Sync Disabled

You can delete photos on the Google Photos website with the Back-Up & Sync feature disabled on your phone. By doing so, the images will get deleted instantly from the other synced device. As the Back-Up & Sync feature is disabled on your phone, the photo will continue to reside on your phone and will be visible in the File Manager app and Gallery. Later, if you enable the Back-Up & Sync feature on your phone, the image will reappear on the Google Photos website because its original file is still there on your phone.

If I Delete Photos from Google Photos Will It Delete from My Phone?

A Reddit user on r/googlephotos asked a common query:

• “I have an android phone and I am running out of google storage so i was going to delete photos off of google photos. i was wondering because i saw some other posts saying that if i delete them from google photos that they will get deleted from my phone’s gallery. is this true?” — A comment posted on r/googlephotos, wondering if deleting photos on Google Photos will delete them from a phone.

This question exactly reflects the confusion of many users. Combining the three cases in the previous article, we can conclude that the key to whether the deletion behavior will affect your phone’s photo albums lies in the settings of Backup & Sync and the method of deletion. Simply put:

• If Backup & Sync is turned on, photos will disappear when deleted from both the phone and the website.
• If Backup & Sync is turned off, local photos are usually preserved when deleted on the website side; however, once synchronization is turned back on, they may be deleted or overwritten by the sync again.

How to Delete Photos Only from Google Photos on Android

Deleting Google Photos without deleting from an Android phone is possible. To delete only the photos in the Google Photos cloud while keeping the local copy on your phone, you need to turn off the Backup & Sync feature first. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Open the Google Photos app on your Android phone and sign in to your account.

Step 2. Tap the Avatar/Personal icon in the upper right corner.

Step 3. Go to Settings > Backup and turn off the Backup & Sync option.

Step 4. Open your phone’s browser, visit the Google Photos website, and delete any photos or videos you don’t want to keep.

Step 5. Return to the Google Photos app on your phone. Restart the app. Then you can see that your cloud content has been deleted, but your local photos remain in Android Album/File Manager.

How to Delete Photos from Google Photos While Keeping on iPhone

For iPhone users, the key is also to turn off Backup & Sync first if you want to delete photos only from the cloud while keeping them locally. Follow these steps:

Step 1. Open the Google Photos app on your iPhone or iPad and log in with your Google account.

Step 2. Tap your Profile image > Google Photos Settings > Backup.

Step 3. Toggle off the Backup & Sync option.

Step 4. On a browser (iPhone or computer), go to the Google Photos website and log in.

Step 5. Select the photos you want to remove and delete them from Google Photos.

Step 6. Refresh or reopen the Google Photos app on your iPhone. You’ll notice the photos are deleted from the cloud, but the local copies remain safely stored in your iPhone Photos app.

How to Delete Google Photos Without Deleting from Phone [Android & iPhone]

Earlier, we described how Android and iPhone users can individually delete photos from Google Photos without deleting them from their devices. Now, let’s explore two more methods that are compatible with both Android and iPhone, offering greater flexibility regardless of the device you have.

Way 1. Disable Photos and Videos Permissions on Your Phone

When photos are saved on your phone rather than the SD card, disabling Photos and Videos permissions can help you delete them from Google Photos but not from your device. Just go to Settings > Find Apps > Google Photos > Tap Permissions > Photos and Videos, and set it to Don’t allow. Now, when you delete photos in Google Photos, they’ll be removed from the cloud but remain safely stored on your device.

Way 2. Move Photos to SD Card Before Deleting

Another option is to move your photos to an SD card, so Google Photos can’t access or sync them. After that, you can safely delete the cloud copies. Here’s how:

Step 1. Open the Google Photos app > Settings > Backup & Sync, and turn it off.

Step 2. Insert an SD card into your phone and move the photos you want to keep from internal storage to the SD card.

Step 3. Remove the SD card from your phone to physically isolate the photos to make sure Google Photos does not have storage permissions.

Step 4. Check the Google Photos website to manually delete them. Now your photos are deleted from Google Photos cloud but remain safely on your SD card.

How to Delete Photos Only from Google Photos on Computer

To delete photos and videos from Google Photos while retaining them on your computer, you can turn off Google Photos backup in the Drive for desktop app and then remove the photos directly from the Google Photos website. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Open a browser on your PC and go to the Google Photos website. Sign in with the Google Account that stores your photos.

Step 2. Click on “Settings” and disable the “Back Up & Sync” function on all the devices that are saving images to Google Photos. This is to make sure that photos are not re-uploaded to Google Photos after deletion.

Step 3. Find photos you have saved on Google Photos. Hover over the image/images that you wish to delete. Now, check the little tick icon on the top left corner of the media files. You can click on more than one image at a time.

Step 4. Click on the “Trash Bin” icon at the top right corner of the webpage. This will move all the photos to the Trash Bin. After 60 days, the images will be deleted permanently.

Bonus Tip: Transfer Photos to Computer via AnyTrans

If you’re worried that if I delete photos from Google Photos will it delete from my phone, the safest approach is first to transfer your photos to your computer. AnyTrans is an excellent choice. With this tool, you can easily transfer photos from Google Photos to your PC or Mac in just a few clicks, and then safely delete them from Google Photos to free up cloud space. AnyTrans supports iPhone, iPad, and Android data management, so you can keep all your content organized in one place. Its simple, intuitive interface ensures even beginners can back up and transfer files without hassle.

Main Features of AnyTrans:

• Organize and back up phone data, including photos, videos, contacts, and more.
• Transfer photos in bulk or selectively, with no compression or quality loss.
• Store your memories locally, ensuring they remain safe even if cloud services fail.
• Clean interface and step-by-step guide make the process seamless, even for beginners.

Here are the steps to transfer photos from a phone to a PC:

Step 1. Free download and launch AnyTrans. Launch it and connect your iPhone to the computer with its USB cable > Under Device Manager > Click Photos.

Step 2. Select the album with the photos you want to transfer. Click the Send to PC button to copy photos from iPhone to PC.

Step 3. When the transfer process is complete, photos will be safely saved on your computer. This way, even if you delete them from Google Photos, the copies remain secure and won’t disappear from your phone.

FAQs about Deleting Google Photos Without Deleting from Phone

Q1. If I delete photos from Google Photos will it delete from gallery?

Photos deleted from Google Photos will also be deleted from your phone’s gallery when Backup & Sync is turned on. If it’s turned off, your local photos will remain.

Q2. Why does Google Photos delete photos from my phone?

Google Photos deletes photos from my phone because it is a synchronization service. When you enable Backup & Sync, all changes are reflected both in the cloud and on your device, causing photos to be removed from your phone as well.

Q3. Does deleting from Google Photos delete from iCloud?

No. Google Photos and iCloud are independent platforms. Deleting a photo from Google Photos has no effect on iCloud storage or your iPhone’s Photos app.

The Bottom Line

With that, we conclude this guide on how to delete photos from Google Photos without deleting them from the phone! No matter which method you choose from the list above, it will indeed offer you seamless results when it comes to deleting photos from Google Photos without deleting them from your phone. For an extra layer of safety, we recommend using AnyTrans to transfer your photos to your computer and keep them forever. Try AnyTrans to get full control of your phone without worrying about sync or accidental deletion!