How to bulk delete photos on Android without tapping Allow every time
Short answer: since Android 11, an app can gather every photo you want gone and show the system confirmation once. An app that asks you to tap Allow for each photo is requesting deletions one at a time instead. Multi-select in your gallery app, or use a cleaner that batches a whole month, and you confirm exactly once.
Why apps ask for permission on every photo
Since Android 10, deleting photos another app created (including your camera) needs explicit confirmation from you. Photo access permission alone is no longer enough to delete.
Android 11 added a way to bundle many items into one confirmation. Some apps still delete photo by photo, and the system shows a prompt each time. That's where reviews like "No bulk delete possible at the end of one month. It asks for permission for each photo marked for deletion" come from.
The prompt is an Android safety feature no app can remove. What an app can do is reduce it to one prompt.
Bulk delete in your built-in gallery
You can do this without installing anything. Menu names vary slightly by phone.
- Open your Gallery (or Google Photos) app.
- Long-press one photo you want to delete to enter selection mode.
- Tap the others, or tap the circle next to a date header to select that whole day.
- Tap the trash (delete) icon and confirm once.
- Deleted photos can be restored from the trash for 30 days.
Why swiping is faster for hundreds of photos
Multi-select works for a few dozen photos, but when you're going through years of them, deciding what to keep takes most of the time. Seeing one photo large and swiping left or right is one gesture per decision, which is much faster.
When picking a swipe app, check two things: whether there's a swipe cap or an hours-long waiting timer, and whether the final delete is a single confirmation.
How Tidyroll does it
Tidyroll only marks photos while you swipe through a month. At the end it shows everything you marked in a grid, you tap any photo to keep it, and one Android system confirmation moves the rest to the trash. There are no swipe limits and no timers.
A month of photos, one confirmation
Get Tidyroll on Google Play