How to Delete a Picture in the Dropbox iPhone App

To delete a picture from the Dropbox app on your iPhone, tap the … (more options) icon next to the photo and tap Delete. This removes it from your Dropbox account, dropbox.com, and every linked device. To free up space on the phone only, turn off Make available offline and keep the file in Dropbox.

The steps follow Dropbox’s help article How to delete Dropbox files from a mobile device. Deleting a file in Dropbox doesn’t change your iPhone Photos library.

Before you delete: what actually happens

Deleting inside the Dropbox app is not the same as removing a photo from one device. Read these points first, because the first one surprises a lot of people.

• It deletes everywhere. Dropbox says a deleted file disappears from your folders on dropbox.com, in the desktop app and in the mobile app, and is removed from your other synced devices the next time Dropbox syncs.
• It is recoverable for a while. Dropbox moves the file into a deleted state instead of erasing it right away. You can restore it during your plan’s recovery period (30 days on the Basic, Plus and Family plans).
• Shared folders affect other people. If the picture is in a shared folder, Dropbox says deleting it removes it from that folder for everyone, not just you.
• You need to own the file. Dropbox says you can only delete files that you own. If someone shared a file with you and you made a copy, you can delete your copy but not their original.
• Your iPhone Photos library is separate. Deleting a picture in the Dropbox app removes the Dropbox copy only. The same photo stays in your iPhone’s Photos app.

How to delete a picture in the Dropbox iPhone app

1. Open the Dropbox app on your iPhone. If you are not signed in, sign in to the account that holds the picture.
2. Browse to the folder that contains the picture. Photos backed up automatically from your phone are usually in the Camera Uploads folder.
3. Tap the … (ellipsis, or more options) icon next to the picture’s name. A menu of actions for that file opens.
4. Tap Delete. If Dropbox asks you to confirm, tap Delete again.

The picture leaves your file list. Dropbox places it in Deleted files in your account, where it stays for your plan’s recovery period.

Delete a picture while you are looking at it

You do not have to go back to the file list. Dropbox says you can delete a single file while previewing it: tap the picture to open it, tap the … icon at the top right, and select Delete. This is the safer route when several photos have similar names, because you can see exactly which one you are removing.

How to delete several pictures at once

1. Open the folder that holds the pictures.
2. Tap the rectangle with a checkmark at the top right of the screen. This turns on selection mode.
3. Check each picture you want to delete.
4. Tap Delete at the bottom of the screen.

Every selected picture is removed from your Dropbox account and from the devices linked to it. Look over your selection before you tap Delete, since it is easy to check one photo too many on a small screen.

Delete a whole folder of pictures

To remove an entire folder, go to the screen that lists your files and folders, tap the … icon next to the folder name, and select Delete. Dropbox prompts you to confirm before the folder is deleted. Everything inside the folder goes with it, so open the folder first and check for anything you want to keep.

How to remove a picture from your iPhone but keep it in Dropbox

If your goal is to free up storage on the phone, you probably do not need to delete anything. Dropbox says its iPhone app only stores a local copy of a file when you have made that file available offline, which means it has been downloaded so you can open it without an internet connection. Offline files are marked with a small green offline icon in the file list.

1. Open the Dropbox app.
2. Tap the … icon next to the picture’s name.
3. Switch Make available offline to the off position.

The downloaded copy is removed from your phone, and the picture stays in your Dropbox account. Dropbox notes that tapping the highlighted offline icon while previewing a file also removes it from offline access. You can turn the setting back on at any time to download the picture again.

What you want	What to use	What happens to the picture
Remove it from Dropbox completely	… > Delete	Removed from your account and all linked devices; restorable during the recovery period
Free up space on the iPhone only	… > Make available offline off	Local copy removed; still in Dropbox
Erase it for good	Delete, then Permanently delete on dropbox.com	Generally cannot be restored

If you use the Dropbox app on an iPad

On an iPad, the buttons are in different places:

1. Open the Dropbox app and tap Files in the bottom left.
2. Tap the … icon next to the picture.
3. Tap Delete, then tap Delete again to confirm.

To delete several, tap the checkbox above the file list, check the pictures, and tap Delete.

Does deleting from Dropbox delete it from iPhone Photos?

Dropbox and the Photos app keep separate copies. Dropbox explains that, unlike iCloud Photos, deleting a photo on your iPhone won’t automatically delete it from your Dropbox account. That is why many people use camera uploads, the Dropbox feature that backs up your phone’s photos automatically, and then clear photos off the iPhone to save space.

It works the same way in the other direction. Deleting a picture in the Dropbox app doesn’t remove it from the Photos app, so if you want it gone from both places, delete it in Dropbox and then delete it in Photos as well. To set up automatic backups, see how to upload pictures from your iPhone to Dropbox, or read Dropbox’s guide on how to use camera uploads.

How to confirm the picture is gone

• In the Dropbox app, open the folder again. The picture should no longer be listed.
• On a computer, log in to dropbox.com and click Deleted files in the left sidebar. The picture should appear there.

How to get a deleted picture back

Dropbox keeps deleted files for a set recovery period that depends on your plan:

Dropbox plan	Standard recovery period
Basic, Plus and Family	30 days
Professional, Essentials, Standard and Business	180 days
Advanced, Business Plus, Enterprise and Education	365 days

Dropbox’s restore instructions use the website, so open a browser for this part:

1. Log in to dropbox.com.
2. Click Deleted files in the left sidebar.
3. Check the box next to each picture you want back.
4. Click Restore.

Dropbox restores files to the folder they were deleted from, and the picture shows up in the iPhone app again after it syncs. Full details are in How to recover deleted files or folders.

To undo a large batch of deletions at once, Dropbox Rewind can return a folder or your whole account to an earlier point. It comes with paid Dropbox plans and isn’t available in the mobile app.

How to permanently delete a picture

Warning: Dropbox says permanently deleted files and folders generally can’t be restored. Only do this for pictures you are sure you will never need.

The iPhone app handles the first half only. Dropbox’s instructions are to delete the picture in the mobile app, then finish on the website:

1. Delete the picture in the Dropbox app using the steps above.
2. Log in to dropbox.com in a browser.
3. Click Deleted files in the left sidebar.
4. Check the box next to the picture.
5. Click Permanently delete, then click Permanently delete again to confirm.

You do not need to do this to free up Dropbox storage. Dropbox states that deleted files don’t count against your storage quota, so permanently deleting them won’t free up more space. Permanent deletion is for privacy, not for space. Dropbox also notes that if other Dropbox users have their own copy of a file you permanently delete, their copies are not deleted.

Troubleshooting

There is no Delete option, or the picture will not delete

Check who owns the file. Dropbox says you can only delete files you own, and in shared folders, members with Can view access can’t delete files while members with Can edit access can. If the picture belongs to someone else, ask the owner to remove it. If your account is part of a Dropbox team, an admin may also have limited what members can delete permanently.

The picture still shows on my computer or another device

Deletions reach other devices when Dropbox syncs, so each device needs to be online with Dropbox running. Give it a moment, then check again. If you changed where Dropbox stores files on your PC and are not sure you are looking in the right place, see how to move the Dropbox folder location.

I can’t find the picture in Deleted files

Dropbox suggests four checks: confirm the deletion happened within your plan’s recovery period, use the filters on the Deleted files page, make sure you are signed in to the correct Dropbox account, and consider whether the picture was moved or renamed instead of deleted. From inside a folder on dropbox.com, you can also show that folder’s deleted files through Folder settings and Show deleted files.

My screen does not match these steps

Update the Dropbox app from the App Store and look again. The icons Dropbox describes are the … next to each file and the rectangle with a checkmark at the top right. If you are on an iPad, use the iPad steps above, because the buttons are in different places.

Frequently asked questions

Does deleting a picture in the Dropbox app delete it everywhere?

Yes, everywhere in Dropbox. Deleting a picture in the iPhone app removes it from your Dropbox account, from dropbox.com and from the computers and devices linked to that account once they sync. It stays restorable from Deleted files during your plan’s recovery period.

Will deleting pictures free up space in my Dropbox account?

Yes. Dropbox says deleted files don’t count against your storage quota, so a normal delete is enough. You do not have to permanently delete the pictures to get the space back.

Can I restore a deleted picture from the iPhone app?

Dropbox’s restore instructions use the Deleted files page on dropbox.com, which you can open in a browser. Dropbox also states that Rewind is not available from the mobile app. Use a computer if you can, since the page is easier to work with on a larger screen.

What happens if I delete a picture from a shared folder?

Dropbox says the file disappears from the shared folder for every member. A member with the right permissions can usually restore it from Deleted files during the recovery period, as long as the owner has not permanently deleted it.

Can I delete the Dropbox app instead?

Removing the app takes Dropbox off your iPhone, but it is not how you delete files; your pictures stay in your Dropbox account until you delete them there. If that is what you want, see how to delete apps on iPhone.

Next steps

Once your Dropbox is tidy, decide how new photos should arrive. If you’d rather not upload by hand, here’s how to back up your iPhone videos to Dropbox automatically. If automatic backups are filling your account instead, you can stop the iPhone Dropbox app from uploading pictures automatically. To keep the backups but protect your data plan, you can stop Dropbox from using cellular data for uploads on your iPhone.