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How to Delete Live Photos on iPhone (And Whether You Should)

Live Photos are a great idea on paper — animated memories that come to life when you press and hold. In practice, they quietly eat through your storage at twice the rate of normal photos. Here is everything you need to know about managing, converting, and deleting them.

By DB Labs  ·  February 25, 2026  ·  7 min read

What Are Live Photos — and Why Do They Take Up So Much Storage?

Introduced with the iPhone 6s in 2015, Live Photos capture 1.5 seconds of video and audio before and after the moment you press the shutter button. What looks like a single photo is actually two files bundled together: a full-resolution JPEG still image and a short .MOV video clip.

That bundling is the source of the storage problem. A typical still photo shot on a modern iPhone takes up roughly 2 to 3 MB. A Live Photo of the same subject takes up 4 to 6 MB — sometimes more — because the device is storing both the JPEG and the video clip. At scale, across thousands of photos, this adds up fast.

Photo Type Average File Size Storage for 1,000 Photos
Still JPEG 2–3 MB ~2.5 GB
Live Photo 4–6 MB ~5 GB
Difference +2–3 MB per photo ~2.5 GB wasted

If you have 3,000 Live Photos on your iPhone — which is not uncommon for someone who has had the same phone for a few years — you could be carrying around 7 to 9 GB of extra data from video clips you rarely watch.

Quick stat: The average iPhone user has over 2,000 photos on their device. If even half are Live Photos, that is potentially 3 to 5 GB of storage that could be reclaimed without losing a single visible image.

Method 1: Convert Live Photos to Stills (Keep the Image, Lose the Video)

The least destructive approach is converting your Live Photos to still images. You keep the full-resolution JPEG — it looks identical in your library — but the video component is discarded. This is the best method when you want to preserve memories without the storage penalty.

  1. Open the Photos app and navigate to the Live Photo you want to convert.
  2. Tap Edit in the top-right corner.
  3. At the top of the edit screen, tap the Live Photo icon (it looks like a set of concentric rings with a dot in the center).
  4. The icon will appear crossed out or dimmed, indicating the Live component has been disabled.
  5. Tap Done to save the change.

The photo is now a still image. The change is saved back to your library and the .MOV video file is removed. Note that this action can be undone — if you go back into Edit, you can re-enable the Live component as long as you have not deleted the original.

Method 2: Turn Off Live Photo in the Camera App

The fastest way to stop accumulating new Live Photos is to turn the feature off in the Camera app. This does not affect existing Live Photos in your library, but it prevents any new ones from being created.

  1. Open the Camera app.
  2. Look for the Live Photo icon at the top of the screen — it is the set of concentric rings. When it is yellow or highlighted, Live Photo is active.
  3. Tap the icon to toggle it off. It will appear with a line through it when disabled.

Important: by default, this setting resets every time you close and reopen the Camera app. To make the change permanent, go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings and toggle on Live Photo. After that, the Camera will remember your preference between sessions.

Method 3: Delete Live Photos in Bulk with Swype Photo Cleaner

If you have hundreds or thousands of Live Photos to deal with, doing it one at a time in the native Photos app is impractical. Swype Photo Cleaner handles this with a dedicated Smart Groups feature that automatically surfaces your Live Photos as a distinct category.

Here is how to use it:

  1. Download Swype Photo Cleaner from the App Store.
  2. Grant photo library access when prompted (all processing happens on-device — nothing is uploaded).
  3. In the Smart Groups section, tap Live Photos to see your full library of Live Photos organized for review.
  4. Swipe left to delete individual photos or use the bulk-select mode to mark multiple Live Photos for deletion at once.
  5. Confirm your selections. Deleted photos go to Recently Deleted in Photos for 30 days before being permanently removed — so you have a safety net.

This approach is significantly faster than doing it manually, especially if you have not cleaned your library in a while.

Download on theApp Store

Method 4: Find and Delete Live Photos Using the Native Photos App

If you would rather not use a third-party app, the native Photos app does have a built-in way to browse all your Live Photos in one place — it is just not as fast for bulk cleanup.

  1. Open Photos and tap the Albums tab at the bottom.
  2. Scroll down to the Media Types section.
  3. Tap Live Photos to see every Live Photo in your library.
  4. Tap Select in the top-right corner, then tap each photo you want to delete (or tap and drag to select a range).
  5. Tap the trash icon to delete the selected photos.

You can also use the Memories feature to find Live Photos from specific time periods, which can help if you want to clean out Live Photos from a particular trip or event rather than everything at once.

Should You Delete Live Photos? Pros and Cons

The decision is not always obvious. Here is an honest breakdown:

Reasons to Delete (or Convert) Live Photos

  • Storage recovery: Converting or deleting Live Photos is one of the fastest ways to free up space on your iPhone without losing visible images.
  • Better performance: A leaner photo library loads faster in the Photos app and backs up more quickly to iCloud.
  • Reduced iCloud costs: Fewer gigabytes stored means you may be able to stay on a lower iCloud storage tier.
  • Simpler exports: Still images are universally compatible; Live Photos require specific apps or platforms to display correctly.

Reasons to Keep Live Photos

  • They capture moments stills cannot: A Live Photo of a child laughing, a pet moving, or waves crashing can feel far more alive than a frozen frame.
  • Apple features use them: Memories, Cinematic mode highlights, and certain widgets animate Live Photos automatically.
  • You can always convert later: Keeping the Live Photo preserves more data. You can always strip the video component later; you cannot add it back after deletion.
Recommendation: A practical middle ground is to convert low-value Live Photos (random snapshots, duplicates, test shots) to stills, while keeping Live Photos from meaningful events — vacations, birthdays, milestones — where the animation adds real value.

How to Make Still Photos the Default Going Forward

Once you have cleaned up your existing Live Photos, you can prevent the problem from building up again by setting still photos as the default in your Camera settings.

  1. Go to Settings on your iPhone.
  2. Scroll down and tap Camera.
  3. Tap Preserve Settings.
  4. Toggle on Live Photo — this tells the Camera app to remember that you turned Live Photo off, rather than resetting each session.
  5. Then open the Camera app, turn off Live Photo by tapping the icon at the top, and close the Camera. It will stay off going forward.

You can also address this from Settings > Camera > Formats, though Live Photo as a feature is separate from the file format (HEIF vs JPEG) settings. The Preserve Settings toggle is what locks in your Live Photo preference.

For more ways to get your photo library under control, see our full guide on managing burst photos on iPhone, and our overview of how to free up space from iPhone photos.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does deleting a Live Photo delete the still image too?
Yes. When you delete a Live Photo from your iPhone, both the still JPEG and the accompanying 1.5-second video clip are removed together. If you want to keep the still image but lose the video portion, convert the Live Photo to a still first using the Edit menu in Photos. After converting, the original Live Photo is replaced with a plain still, and you can manage it normally.
Can I turn off Live Photo for just one shot without changing the default?
Yes. In the Camera app, tap the Live Photo icon (the set of concentric rings at the top of the screen) to toggle it off for your next shot. The setting will revert back to on the next time you open the Camera app unless you have enabled the Preserve Settings option in Settings > Camera, which locks in your preference between sessions.
How do I find all Live Photos on my iPhone at once?
Open the Photos app and go to the Albums tab. Scroll down to the Media Types section and tap Live Photos. This will show every Live Photo in your library in one place. From here you can select and delete them, or use a third-party app like Swype Photo Cleaner to bulk-manage them more efficiently with Smart Groups.
Will converting a Live Photo to a still reduce the image quality?
No. Converting a Live Photo to a still image in the Photos app keeps the full-resolution JPEG exactly as it was captured. You are simply removing the attached video clip. The resulting still photo is identical in quality to what you would have gotten if you had shot it without Live Photo enabled. No recompression or downscaling occurs.