Deleting Photos App: Will hidden, deleted, and memories be permanently lost?

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Level 1

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Deleting Photos App: Will hidden, deleted, and memories be permanently lost?

Hey,

I wanted to delete my Photos App to make room for an Update.

I do have iCloud + on but the App still takes up about 10GB, which is why I temporarily wanted to delete it, however when deleting it, it said that my hidden folder, deleted folder and memories won’t be available.

Does that mean that these will be deleted forever and be gone once I reinstall Photos?

Because I can view those on my Mac aswell..

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Deleting the Photos App

iPhone 11, iOS 26

Posted on Oct 4, 2025 11:09 AM

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Answer 1

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Richard.Taylor

Level 6

16,927 points

Oct 4, 2025 12:13 PM in response to vini_neko

Memories are generated on the phone, so they aren't the same on every device. Deleted and Hidden are the same on all connected devices-- it's curious why that's a warning-- maybe it just because you can't see them.

The Photos app comes with the operating system-- it doesn't take up much room, but you don't delete it. The Photos Library has the pictures. If you delete all the pictures while connected to iCloud, they will be deleted at iCloud.com and on your Mac, as well.

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