IOS – How to delete empty DCIM folders from the iPhone

iosipadiphonephotos

I regularly transfer all photos from my iPhone to my Windows PC. However, I cannot delete subfolders of DCIM. So I'm getting a little collection of folders that I want to delete, but can't.

To be specific, I currently have zero photos on my camera roll, but this is what I'm seeing using File Explorer in Windows:

mtp://Kit's iPhone/Internal Storage/DCIM/807CIQGG
mtp://Kit's iPhone/Internal Storage/DCIM/850RTGCV
mtp://Kit's iPhone/Internal Storage/DCIM/879SQXPS
mtp://Kit's iPhone/Internal Storage/DCIM/924ZUYVS
mtp://Kit's iPhone/Internal Storage/DCIM/943YHDPL
mtp://Kit's iPhone/Internal Storage/DCIM/980HHNVQ

But I cannot delete any of them. File explorer says:

807CIQGG could not be deleted. The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected.

It hasn't stopped responding, and it hasn't been disconnected. I just can't delete these folders. I tried an alternative file explorer, Directory Opus. It says:

An error occurred deleting '924ZUYVS': Incorrect function. (1)

Is there any way to delete these rogue folders from the phone itself?

The same exact thing happens with my iPad. (Neither device is jailbroken.)

Best Answer

If your iDevice is jailbroken you can install iFile from Cydia in that device and then you will be able to access the file system directly.

In /var/mobile/Media/DCIM there are empty folders that you mentioned. You can delete them manually (rmdir empty_folder_name).

You can do this by accessing the file system of your iDevice via SSH also.