How to delete original photos after importing them into a vault

Moving private photos into a vault feels like the end of the job. In most cases it is only the halfway point. Almost every vault app, including Velcrypt, copies what you import rather than moving it, so the photo you meant to protect is still sitting in your camera roll, unprotected, until you remove it.

Copy vs move: why vaults copy

Copying means the vault creates its own encrypted version of a photo while the original stays where it was. Moving would mean the original disappears from Photos as part of the import.

iOS strongly favours copying. Apps that read from your library through the system photo picker receive a copy of the image data and, in many cases, cannot delete anything from your library at all. Even apps with full library access must ask iOS for permission to delete, and iOS shows its own confirmation dialog. Copying is also the safer default: if an import fails halfway, nothing is lost.

The consequence is simple. Protecting a photo in a vault takes two steps: import it, then delete the original.

Step 1: check the copy first

Before deleting anything, open the vault and look at what you imported. View a few photos at full size and play each video to the end. Large videos in particular can take a moment to import, and if your library uses Optimize iPhone Storage with iCloud Photos, the original may have needed to download from iCloud first.

This check matters more than usual with vaults that keep data only on the device. If the vault copy is the only copy left, there is no other way back.

Step 2: delete the originals in Photos

1. Open Photos and tap Select.
2. Tap each photo and video you imported. You can drag a finger across thumbnails to select a row quickly.
3. Tap the trash button and confirm.

The items are not gone yet. They have moved to Recently Deleted, where they stay for about 30 days.

If you imported from the Hidden album, delete them from inside the Hidden album the same way.

Step 3: empty Recently Deleted

Recently Deleted is a safety net: an album that holds deleted photos and videos for roughly 30 days so you can restore mistakes. For privacy it is also a loophole, because anything in it can be restored by anyone who can open it.

1. In Photos, scroll down to Utilities and open Recently Deleted (iOS 18 and later). On iOS 16 and 17, it is at the bottom of the Albums tab. In iOS 26, look for Utilities in the collections view.
2. Authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Since iOS 16 this album is locked by default.
3. Tap Select, choose the items, and delete them. To clear everything at once, use the option to delete all; depending on your iOS version it appears directly after tapping Select or in the More (•••) menu.
4. Confirm. The items are now permanently removed from the Photos app.

Work in batches

If you are moving a large set of photos and videos, especially video, do it in rounds rather than all at once. Import one batch, check it, delete those originals, empty them from Recently Deleted, and then start the next. This has two benefits. Storage stays under control, because each batch’s duplicates are cleared before new ones are created. And it is much easier to keep track of which items you have already checked, so nothing is deleted before its copy has been confirmed.

A simple way to keep your place is to add each batch to a temporary album in Photos before importing it. After import, you select everything in that album, delete it, and then delete the empty album.

What iCloud Photos changes

iCloud Photos keeps one library in sync across your iPhone, iPad, Mac and iCloud.com. That cuts both ways:

Action on iPhone	Effect with iCloud Photos on
Delete a photo	Moves to Recently Deleted on every synced device
Empty Recently Deleted	Removed from iCloud and all devices
Restore from Recently Deleted on another device	Comes back everywhere
Import into a vault	No change in iCloud until you delete the original

While iCloud Photos is on, there is no way to delete a photo from just one device: a deletion is a deletion everywhere, which is exactly what you want here. For how iCloud stores your library, see are hidden photos saved to iCloud?.

If you use a Shared Library, a photo you contributed may be deletable by other participants or may need to be moved to your Personal Library first. Check which library it sits in before you delete.

Copies that deleting does not touch

Deleting from Photos cleans up your library. It does nothing about copies elsewhere:

• Chats. Photos sent or received in Messages, WhatsApp, Telegram and other apps live in those conversations and, often, on the other person’s phone.
• Shared albums. Each shared album holds its own copy for its subscribers. Delete the photo from the shared album itself.
• Other cloud apps. Google Photos, OneDrive, Dropbox and similar apps may have uploaded the photo automatically. Delete it there too, including from their own trash folders.
• Computer backups and imports. A Mac or PC you once imported photos to, or an older device backup, may still contain them.
• Duplicates. Screenshots, edited copies and duplicates are separate items. Check Utilities › Duplicates in iOS 16 and later.

For particularly sensitive images, the guide to storing intimate photos safely goes through these places with extra care.

Where Velcrypt fits

Velcrypt follows the copy model described above. When you import photos or videos, the vault encrypts its own copy with AES-256-GCM and leaves the original in Photos, so deleting the original and emptying Recently Deleted is up to you.

Before you do, weigh one limit honestly. Velcrypt’s vault data is stored only on your iPhone and is excluded from iCloud and computer backups. Once the originals are gone, the vault holds the only copy on that device. If you lose the phone or forget the pattern, those files cannot be recovered by you or by Velcrypt. An encrypted backup option is planned; until then, keep a separate copy of anything irreplaceable somewhere you trust.