How to free up the space your screenshots take
Once a screenshot is confirmed in iCloud, CloudShots can remove the original, either from Photos on iPhone and iPad or from the folder it imported on your Mac. It goes to Recently Deleted or the Trash, so it stays recoverable, and your CloudShots history keeps the screenshot either way. Clearing originals in bulk is a Pro feature; the Delete dialog can remove one on both plans. To delete many screenshots yourself, mark them while viewing each one and delete them together.
Clear the originals
- Import your existing screenshots first, and let them sync: how that works.
- Open Settings in CloudShots and wait for the upload counter to confirm everything is in iCloud.
- Tap Free Up Your Photos on iPhone or iPad, or Free Up Your Mac in the Mac settings.
- Read the green checkmark, which states how many screenshots are confirmed synced, then confirm the dialog.
- The originals move to Recently Deleted in Photos, where they sit for 30 days, or to the Trash on your Mac. The space comes back once you empty it.
What CloudShots will not remove
- Anything not yet confirmed in iCloud. A screenshot still uploading is never offered.
- A Mac capture that only synced down to your phone. It is never offered for deletion from your Photos library.
- Anything on your Mac outside the folder you granted, including CloudShots’ own captures, which it keeps for you.
- Your history. The screenshot stays in CloudShots and stays openable, searchable, editable, and shareable.
The limits
- Pro opens both bulk cleanups. Capture, import, sync, and search are free. A purchase changes what you can clear in bulk and how much of your history you can open.
- On iPhone and iPad it needs full access to Photos, since CloudShots cannot act on what it cannot see.
- Cleanup lives on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple Watch is read-only.
- The history size setting is a different thing, on both plans. Lowering it permanently deletes CloudShots’ own oldest screenshots on every device. CloudShots never deletes anything from your Photos library or your Mac’s screenshot folder on its own. Free Up Your Photos on iPhone and iPad, and Free Up Your Mac, remove synced originals only after you confirm. The Delete dialog on both plans also offers Move to Trash and Delete from Photos (Folder on Mac), your choice per deletion.
- Each screenshot shows a small mark: a copy is still in Photos or your watched folder, or it lives only in CloudShots. Once everything is in iCloud, a hint card offers Free Up.
- On iPhone and iPad, if you delete a screenshot from Photos, CloudShots offers to delete it from your library too. It never does so automatically.
- Pro also offers Optimize iCloud Storage: iCloud keeps a smaller copy of each screenshot (JPEG, about 2048 px) and removes the full-resolution original. It cannot be undone, and once an optimized screenshot is deleted from Photos, only the smaller copy remains.
Space back, nothing lost.
CloudShots offers a screenshot for removal only after it is confirmed in iCloud, and removal goes to Recently Deleted in Photos or the Trash on your Mac, so you can still get the file back.
No. The cleanup removes the original in Photos or in your Mac folder. The screenshot stays in your CloudShots history, and you can open, search, edit, and export it as before.
Bulk Free Up Your Photos and Free Up Your Mac are Pro features. On every plan, the Delete dialog offers Move to Trash and Delete from Photos (Folder on Mac) for a backed-up screenshot. Importing, syncing, and search are free.
On iPhone and iPad, tap Select while viewing a screenshot, swipe on and mark more, including from Search. Marks stay when you go back; delete them all from the grid bar, and Undo works. On Mac, press Space for Quick Look and ⌘S to mark, use ↑/↓ to go on, then press ⌫ in the panel. Or press ⌘A to select all, then ⌫.
As much as the originals took. Photos still holds them in Recently Deleted for 30 days, and your Mac still holds them in the Trash, so the space comes back once that is emptied.
No, and the difference matters. History size decides how many screenshots CloudShots keeps for itself, and lowering it permanently deletes its own oldest screenshots on every device. CloudShots never deletes anything from your Photos library or your Mac's screenshot folder on its own. Free Up Your Photos on iPhone and iPad, and Free Up Your Mac, remove synced originals only after you confirm. The Delete dialog on both plans also offers Move to Trash and Delete from Photos (Folder on Mac), your choice per deletion.
On iPhone and iPad, yes. Only your own edits change Photos, and Restore Original brings the original back.
More guides
- How to automatically sync screenshots between Mac, iPhone and iPadOne private screenshot history that syncs both ways through iCloud: Mac to iPhone and iPad, and back.
- How to find a screenshot by the text inside itSearch by the words you remember seeing, on any of your devices.
- CloudShots is an iCloud screenshot manager for Mac, iPhone and iPadWhat lives in your own iCloud, how the library limit works, and what stays private.
- One screenshot history for your Mac, iPhone and iPadOne searchable history of every screenshot from your Mac, iPhone and iPad, synced through your own iCloud. Find any shot and free up storage.
- How to pin a screenshot on screen on MacKeep a screenshot floating above your other windows on Mac with ⌘P. Pin up to 6, move and resize them, close with Esc.
- How to redact or blur text and faces in a screenshot on MacBlur, pixelate or cover text, faces and objects in a screenshot on Mac. Redaction in CloudShots is non-destructive: your original stays untouched.
- How to add a background, padding and shadow to a screenshot on MacExport a Mac screenshot with a background, padding, rounded corners and a shadow using Export with Frame in CloudShots. Copy, save or share the result.
- All guides
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