How to permanently and securely delete photos and files from the phone for Android and iPhone

How to permanently and securely delete photos and files from the mobile؟ When formatting your phone, deleting applications or deleting photos, do not actually delete the files. The files become in some kind of technological oblivion that can still be recovered. Why ? Because permanently deleting a file means you have to overwrite it, and that requires a process that uses more battery and more resources than the process used on many phones.

Of course, there are situations where you’d rather take the time to safely delete a file than risk the possibility of recovering personal data. For example, if you are selling your old phone, you definitely want to make sure that you get rid of all the data that was in it and it can never be recovered. In this case, it is safer to delete files permanently, and we will explain how to permanently and securely delete photos and files from mobile.

Programs to delete files and photos from the mobile permanently and safely

There are programs for Android Android and iPhone IOS that allow you to permanently delete any file through secure deletion techniques that prevent the recovery of deleted photos and files. My favorite file deletion software is Secure Delete, a very simple program that deletes any file in the phone’s internal memory or SD card. Without needing special permissions and also you do not need to root your device.

Another useful program is Secure Wipe, which erases all the free space on the phone; The empty space is where the leftovers of previously deleted files are stored and that’s why they can be restored.

How to permanently and securely delete photos and files from your mobile phone for Android

Install the secure delete app on your phone

Secure Delete is a completely free program that you can download and install from Google Play from here. It is compatible with Android 2.3 or more updated. (with almost all Android phones) and is less than a megabyte in size.

Choose the type of files to search

After downloading and installing the application, click on the application icon to open it. You will see a list of folders that are in your phone’s memory.

Before selecting files, select type of the file you are looking for. You can choose four different options: Photos, Downloads, Apps, or SD Card (External Card).

If you are going to delete photos, you can use the photo preview option to see the photo before you delete it.

Choose the files you want to delete

Check the boxes of the files you want to delete. You can sort the list by name or date using the buttons at the top of the screen.

Confirm secure file deletion

If you are sure you want to delete the files, click the green secure delete button for secure deletion. You will find it at the bottom of the application.

Before deleting files, you should confirm the operation by typing – yes – as a security measure to prevent files from being deleted by mistake.

After typing the word and pressing “OK”, “Secure Delete” will delete the files completely, permanently and safely. But remember that secure deletion is much slower than normal deletion: the more files you delete, the longer it takes to finish.

Once the deletion is complete, and only if you delete the photos, Secure Delete will remind you to delete the thumbnails of the photos which are usually in the thumbnails folder.

Safe Delete is ideal for permanently and securely deleting files or folders, but it is not good if you want to wipe the entire phone. If you are selling your phone to someone else, you must wipe all of its contents using Secure Wipe.

How to permanently and securely delete photos and files from the phone for the iPhone

Sometimes you need to permanently and securely delete all or a number of photos from your iPhone – maybe you transferred them to your computer or maybe you have a new phone and you need to erase all the data on that device etc.. no matter the reason We will explain how to delete all photos or a certain number, and then in the last section we will explain how to permanently and securely delete photos.

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How to delete all photos from iPhone

A program called Gemini Photos has a simple and cool feature that allows you to quickly delete all your photos completely without having to sync them to the cloud or your computer.

Here is how to delete all photos from your iPhone using an app:

• Download Gemini Photos from here.
• After installing the program, enter it.
• Click on the list icon in the upper right corner.
• Scroll down and tap Delete All Photos.
• Click on this option.

For more security, the program will ask you to confirm this action with your fingerprint or passcode depending on what you are using to protect your phone. After confirming the deletion, all the photos will be transfered to the “Recently Deleted” or “the Recycle Bin”, and to find out how to delete them permanently, go to the end of the article.

Gemini Photos offers additional features. It can help you clear redundant photos, blurry photos, old snapshots, and other useless photos. Now to find out how to permanently delete photos, go to the end of the article.

How to delete specific photos on iPhone

It is very easy to delete photos from iPhone, just follow these steps and then continue to delete photos completely in the next section:

• Go to the Photos app, the camera, or whatever app you can use.
• Click Select in the upper-right corner.
• Tap on each photo you want to delete (or tap and drag your finger to select multiple photos in a row).
• Click on the trash can icon in the lower right corner.
• Click Delete Photos in the confirmation window.

Now the photos and any albums you’ve deleted are transfered to Recently Deleted or the Recycle Bin. Now follow the method of permanently and securely deleting below.

How to permanently delete photos from iPhone

Now the way to permanently and securely delete forever. We have already mentioned that when you delete a photo on your iPhone it goes to “Recently Deleted” in case you don’t know, the photo you delete remains in “Recently Deleted” for about 30 days, so it can still be accessed and restored and still takes up space on the phone . To permanently remove the photos, you must delete them from the Recycle Bin or “Recently Deleted” follow the steps:

1. Enter the Photos app.
2. Click on the photo galleries from below.
3. Go to the Recently Deleted folder.
4. Click Select in the upper-right corner.
5. Tap Delete All in the lower left corner, or select a number of photos, then tap Delete.
6. Confirm the operation.

After confirming the process, all selected photos will be deleted forever.