Please help me delete 3000 photos from my camera roll.

[Deletemyphotos]

I tried settings, manage (space or something) and i was able to swipe the camera roll and see a red delete button which i pressed and held my breath but... No... Still. Ipad refuses to let me delete all the photos.

I read that i should "sink my photos with an empty directory." Whatever that means. I do have a degree in computer science but i'm not able to understand this instruction??? So i painfully loaded itunes and clicked every button until i finally saw one that said sync.. Yeah!! I finally found it. Nope, this put MORE photos on my ipad (which btw can't even be deleted manually now.) so i'm back in itunes and all i want is access to files.

Please can one of you apple addicts who understands things like sync to a empty directory, give me some steps by steps that will equate to selecting the photo directory and hitting the delete key.

Super humongous thanks to anyone who will.

 

[giradman]

Hello & welcome to the forum! First, you might want to provide us some information, i.e. what iPad model are you using & which iOS version is installed?

Second, how did 3000 photos get onto you iPad in the first place? My assumption is that you likely synced to your computer w/ all folders selected - if so, please see the attached pic of my iPad cabled to iTunes - do the same, select your iPad (left sidebar), and then pick the Photos tab (top, far right) - unchecked all of the folders (I suspect you have all folders selected & checked) - do a re-sync and see what happens. I'll stop there & await your response - Dave
.

 

[Deletemyphotos]

No. They were taken on the ipad. They were not loaded from a computer in anyway. I saw that screen. It only shows photo on the computer and not the camera roll.
Model MC769C version 6.0.1

 

[giradman]

No. They were taken on the ipad. They were not loaded from a computer in anyway. I saw that screen. It only shows photo on the computer and not the camera roll.
Model MC769C version 6.0.1

Sorry, about the misunderstanding - of course, those photos loaded from your computer can still be removed from the iPad w/ the steps described in my previous post. NOW, as to the camera roll, these images can only be deleted from the Photo App on the iPad - now from what I googled on your model number, you have an iPad 2 running one of the previous early versions of iOS (current version is 7.04 which is on my computer) - are you using iCloud sync & Photo Stream? If so, then you'll need to address that issue first - check this DISCUSSION for a number of links that may be helpful - I would show you a screenshot of my Photo App but it is a newer version from 6.01, but typically the process to delete from Camera Roll is to press Select, then tap on the photos to be removed, and finally hit the Trash Can. If not already done, you might want to 'Force Close' the Photo App and if not helpful then 'Restart' or 'Reset' the iPad (directions below if not familiar w/ the process).

SO, give some of these suggestions a try - good luck. Dave

When an app (or several) are misbehaving, I usually go through the following steps:

1. Force Close - open the multi-tasking bar (double tap the 'home buttom' or use multi-gesturing and swipe up):
a. iOS 6.x - press & hold an app until all begin to 'jiggle'; find the offending app(s) and press the 'red circle w/ minus sign' - return to the home screen & try again.
b. iOS 7.x - find the offending app - then press and drag to the top of the screen - return to the home screen & try again.


2. Restart - press & hold the 'Sleep/Awake' (a.k.a. power) button until a red slider appears (may take a few seconds) - move the slider to turn off the iPad; then press & hold the same button until the Apple logo appears - wait for a restart.


3. Reset - press & hold the 'Power' and 'Home' buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears - this may take a longer time, so have patience; the iPad will 're-boot' - NOTE that none of these maneuvers will alter your apps, files, or settings.

 

[Deletemyphotos]

Thanks for your reply.
I'm not using "iCloud sync & Photo Stream" at least i hope i'm not. I don't like to use and want my photos in the cloud. I tried to make sure this option was not selected.
Second, i can touch select each of 3000 photos and delete them, but i assumed there was a sane way to delete them.
I tried to task the youngster who took the them, but apparently it much more fun to take photos than delete them.. So now i effectively have no space left on my ipad.
I can only assume this is apples way of ensuring not a user not delete the photo directory.

 

[giradman]

Thanks for your reply.
I'm not using "iCloud sync & Photo Stream" at least i hope i'm not. I don't like to use and want my photos in the cloud. I tried to make sure this option was not selected.
Second, i can touch select each of 3000 photos and delete them, but i assumed there was a sane way to delete them.
I tried to task the youngster who took the them, but apparently it much more fun to take photos than delete them.. So now i effectively have no space left on my ipad.
I can only assume this is apples way of ensuring not a user not delete the photo directory.

OK - now your situation is clearer to me, i.e. as in bold above, you can 'delete' the photos so the Photo App is working as advertised; your question is if you can 'batch' delete them ALL @ once - correct? Well, not in the iOS 7 version of the app, but you many want to check in Settings under the app's tab to see what options you may have w/ the older 6.x version - I cannot remember?

Not sure if you have a PC or a Mac - but I'm on a MBPro at the moment - I've attached my iPad 2 to the laptop and open 'Image Capture' on the computer (iPhoto and likely other programs would be an option) - see the attached image showing a portion of my 'Camera Roll' - multiple images can be easily selected (CMD-A would tagged all of them) - now if I have the box (see red arrow) ticked in the lower left corner, then all images in the camera roll would be copied to the computer and removed from the iPad; now there is a 'Delete' choice in the menu bar of Image Capture, but it is grayed out for some reason?

Now if you're on a PC - all that I can suggest is checking in Windows Explorer to see if your iPad appears when cabled; if so, then see what you can do to open its image files and possibly do a bulk deletion? Good luck - and let us know if you find an answer - this question has come up before. Dave
.

 

[dwr]

I have a similar problem on my iPad Air running iOS 7.04. I have 14000 (!) photos on it, loaded from iTunes and there is no storage left. I want to keep some photos but get rid of most of them. I have tried to fix it by syncing and selecting 2 folders to be synced (3000 photos). The syncing process goes all the way though to step 4 of 4 when I first get a message 'waiting for changes to be applied' and this runs indefinitely. Grateful for any help available: unsurprisingly the iPad is now so clogged up other apps (e.g. newspaper fall over frequently

 

[giradman]

I have a similar problem on my iPad Air running iOS 7.04. I have 14000 (!) photos on it, loaded from iTunes and there is no storage left. I want to keep some photos but get rid of most of them. I have tried to fix it by syncing and selecting 2 folders to be synced (3000 photos). The syncing process goes all the way though to step 4 of 4 when I first get a message 'waiting for changes to be applied' and this runs indefinitely. Grateful for any help available: unsurprisingly the iPad is now so clogged up other apps (e.g. newspaper fall over frequently

Below is the image I showed from my previous post in this thread - please review that discussion - and try another iPad sync, but this time uncheck all of the folders you DO NOT want on the iPad - typically these will be removed from your device but left on the computer - let us know if this helps? Dave
.