RollmarkHow to delete burst photos on iPhone and keep the best frame
Open Photos, go to Albums, Media Types, Bursts, and open a burst. Tap Select, mark the frames you want with the dots under the thumbnails, tap Done, and choose Keep Only Favorites. The other frames go to Recently Deleted. Each burst can hold dozens of frames, so this saves real space.
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What is a burst on iPhone?
A burst is a fast run of photos taken while you hold the shutter. Apple's camera captures about ten frames per second in burst mode, so a three-second hold produces roughly thirty photos. They are stored as one stack in your library with a single cover frame. That is useful for moving subjects such as a child on a slide or a dog catching a ball, and it is also the largest source of near-identical clutter on most phones.
Wikipedia's article on burst mode covers the idea in general. On an iPhone it shows up as a stack with a Burst label.
How do I take a burst on purpose?
On recent iPhones, slide the shutter button toward the left edge and hold it. A counter shows how many frames you have taken. On older models, press and hold the shutter itself. If you shot a burst without meaning to, that is why a single tap sometimes yields dozens of photos. The Camera settings let you switch the slide gesture to take QuickTake video instead, depending on your model, so check Settings, Camera if the behavior surprises you.
How do I keep the best frames and delete the rest?
Frames you do not pick are moved to Recently Deleted, where they stay for 30 days.
- Open Photos, tap Albums, scroll to Media Types and tap Bursts.
- Open a burst and tap Select at the bottom.
- Scroll through the frames. iOS suggests some with a gray dot beneath the thumbnail. Tap a thumbnail to place or remove a dot.
- Tap Done in the top right corner.
- Choose Keep Only N Favorites, where N is the number of dots, or Keep Everything.
- Repeat for the next burst.
How many frames should I keep?
One is usually enough. Two or three can be right if the action changes, such as a jump with a different pose at its peak. Keep a second frame only when it tells you something the first does not. A good test is to ask whether you could point out the difference without zooming in. If you cannot, the frames are the same photo.
| Situation | Frames to keep | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Posed group, everyone moves a little | 1 | Pick the frame with open eyes |
| Child running or jumping | 1 to 2 | One at the peak, one for the expression |
| Pet doing something quick | 1 to 3 | Motion changes the pose |
| Sports or a fast sequence | A few | The sequence itself can be the memory |
| Accidental burst | 0 or 1 | Delete the whole stack |
How much space do bursts take?
Each frame is a full photo, so a burst of thirty frames at 2.5 MB each is about 75 MB. Ten such bursts add up to nearly a gigabyte, and the numbers rise with higher-resolution cameras. The example figures are rough, but the lesson holds: a few hundred burst stacks can weigh as much as a few dozen minutes of video.
How do I delete a whole burst I do not want?
In the Bursts album, tap Select, tap the stacks you want to remove and press the trash. That deletes every frame in each stack, so make sure the whole stack is junk. If you are not sure, open one stack first and look. After the delete, the stacks wait in Recently Deleted for 30 days, as the guide on Recently Deleted on iPhone explains.
What about photos taken a second apart that are not bursts?
Retakes are common without burst mode: you tap the shutter three times at a dinner. Those are separate photos in the grid, and the Bursts album does not include them. They sit next to each other in date order, so a month-by-month pass catches them. Rollmark, an iPhone app in development, has a Pro pile named Seconds apart for photos taken within 3 seconds of each other in the same orientation. It groups them, and you pick. The app does not decide which one is best. See the sort piles page.
Can I recover a burst frame I removed?
For 30 days, yes. Open Recently Deleted under Utilities, tap the frame and choose Recover. It returns to the library, though it may no longer sit inside the burst stack. After 30 days iOS deletes the frame for good. If you are unsure about a series, keep a few more frames now and thin them next month.
A burst routine that takes five minutes
- Open the Bursts album once a month.
- Handle the newest stacks first, while you remember the moment.
- Keep the single best frame for most stacks.
- Delete accidental stacks whole.
- Look at Recently Deleted when you finish, to see the count.
Why does the cover frame sometimes miss the moment?
iOS picks a suggested frame by looking for sharpness and open eyes, and it does not always choose the one you would. The cover shown in the grid is a guess. Open the stack and compare a few neighbors. The best frame is often one or two before or after the cover, where the action peaks. A quick look takes ten seconds and avoids keeping the wrong frame.
Can I turn a burst frame into a separate photo?
Yes. When you choose Keep Only Favorites, each frame you marked becomes its own photo in the library, no longer part of a stack. You can then edit, share or favorite it like any other. Frames you did not mark are removed, so decide before you confirm.
Frequently asked questions
Where are my burst photos?
Open Photos, Albums, Media Types, Bursts. Every burst stack in your library is listed there.
How do I keep only one photo from a burst?
Open the burst, tap Select, mark the frame you want, tap Done and choose Keep Only 1 Favorite.
Why can't I delete burst photos?
Deleting from the main grid removes the whole stack. To remove individual frames, use Select inside the burst instead.
Do bursts take a lot of space?
Each frame is a full photo, so a burst of thirty frames takes about thirty photos' worth of storage.
How fast does the iPhone burst shoot?
About ten frames per second, according to Apple.