How to Clear the Photos App Library Easily

Easily clean up your photo library with this little everyday trick.

Admit it: your photo app is a mess. Of course, it is full of wonderful memories of all those years of walking, traveling and everyday life. But it’s also full of useless screenshots, duplicate photos, and embarrassing shots that make you wonder, “What was I thinking at the time?”Whether you have an iPhone or an Android device, if your photo library is a mess, know that you can clean it up easily, but not quickly.

Easily clean up your photo library

Part of the problem lies in the very setting of the situation. Most of us have photo libraries that are several years old or even decades old, with hundreds and thousands of pictures. It is impossible to scroll through everything in search of pictures that could be deleted, one per year. As such, we often find ourselves rediscovering them by looking at other photos. Sometimes a pleasant surprise, sometimes not.

Earlier this year, TikTok user kaylakerr_ shared a very simple little trick to deal with all this mess. It’s kind of a trick that makes us think, “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”You can (and should) start today.

First, open the photo app of your choice, open the search box and enter today’s date. The app will then show you all the photos taken on that day for all the years since you have the app. Now scroll through the pictures and delete the photos you don’t want to keep. Although there may be many photos, they will be much smaller and therefore more manageable than browsing through the entire library, making it much easier to work with.

with this little everyday trick

If you incorporate this trick into your daily life, you will be able to get rid of unwanted images and videos for a whole year. So, by March 10, 2024, you should be able to browse through your library and see only really interesting content – unless, of course, you have left unnecessary images behind.

Software developers are constantly adding solutions to their apps to make photo management easier. Most of them have a “Screenshots”folder, for example, so you don’t have to manually search for them in your entire library. And last year, Apple made it much easier to find and remove duplicate images in its Photos app.

It would be pretty funny if these developers added a similar feature right into their apps. Something “today”that will cycle through all the photos taken that day just to determine which ones to delete. Until then, searching with today’s date is the best solution, and it works great!