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Huawei

Huawei: Empty the Recycle Bin in Gallery

Deleted photos on a Huawei phone stay in Recently deleted for 30 days and still take up storage space in the meantime. If you want a clean overview right away instead of waiting for the automatic cleanup, you need to clear that folder manually.

3 min4 steps
VersionAndroid 10 · EMUI

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Step 1 of 4: Open the **Gallery app**

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Open the Gallery app

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Android 10 · EMUI
Empty the Recycle Bin in Gallery – EMUI: step 1 – Open the Gallery app
Open the Gallery app
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Huawei

Empty the Recycle Bin in Gallery auf Huawei

On Huawei phones, deleted photos and videos do not disappear right away. EMUI moves them into a Recently deleted folder inside the Gallery app, where they remain for 30 days before the system removes them automatically.

This buffer protects you from accidental deletions, but it also means the files still occupy storage space and clutter your overview until the countdown ends. If you have already checked the folder and are sure you no longer need those items, you can force the cleanup instead of waiting.

Menu path to empty the recycle bin

Open Open the Gallery appTap on Recently deletedTap on ClearConfirm with Clear.

This removes every item currently in that folder in one step. There is no per-photo selection needed if your goal is a full cleanup.

What happens after clearing

Once confirmed, the photos and videos are permanently gone and cannot be restored through the Gallery app anymore. Freed storage becomes available immediately, which helps if your phone is running low on space.

If you only want to remove a handful of items instead of everything, open Recently deleted, select the specific files, and delete those individually rather than using Clear.

Frequently asked questions

No. Once you confirm with Clear, the photos and videos are removed permanently and the Gallery app cannot restore them anymore.