I'm having a few issues with syncing pictures, which I haven't really nailed down enough to ask a question about exactly, but the rough version of it is that I think that my Mac running iPhoto has already downloaded most of my photos (but not any of my videos) using photostream before I get a chance to sync using a cable, and this results in the following behaviour:
- iPhoto finds a lot of duplicates when I choose the iPhone device and choose to sync
- iPhoto offers a chance to remove photos from your device that you just synced, but because it did not sync these particular photo duplicates over the cable because they already existed via photostream it does not offer to remove them
- So it keeps finding the duplicates on my phone, and I have no easy way of removing the photos en-masse.
Now, the above is just background really, but any thoughts of a workflow for Photostream and cable syncing in tandem would be appreciated.
The issue for which I am raising this question is to do with my camera roll, and how to empty it on my phone. I am aware that I can cable it up and use Image Capture to delete them all, but I was trying to find a more elegant solution. I am aware also that I can individually (or in chunks by tapping on each and every one) remove them directly, but that's dumb. So when I found this section in Settings > General > Usage > Photos and Camera I was pleased to see I could left swipe the items to delete the contents:
Yay! Well, sadly not, as it appears to do nothing at all. I have deleted the camera roll several times, and every time I go back it's right there, and indeed all my photos are still available. Is this supposed to work, am I doing something wrong, or have I got some weird issue because it works for you?
Using the same method to remove podcasts from within the podcasts app works fine.
Best Answer
Yes, iPhoto says there are duplicates because of the photo stream. But there IS a button to erase all remaining (not sychronized because of duplicates) photos from the iPhone directly within iPhoto after you did an import:
That does not solve your desire for an elegant wireless way. I simply think it's not possible to delete all photos at once directly from the iPhone (with built-in apps). Of course you could delete them by marking them one by one in the Photo apps using the "Edit"-Button.