Deleting photos and videos
There are three ways to remove a photo, depending on how much you want gone.
| Action | What it does | Reversible? | Frees storage? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remove from album | Removes the item from one album only. It stays in your gallery. | Yes, just add it back to the album | No |
| Delete (move to Trash) | Removes the item from your gallery and all albums, on every device. It is kept in the Trash. | Yes, restore it from the Trash | Not until purged |
| Delete permanently | Erases the item from zeitkapsl's servers for good. | No | Yes |
Deleting never removes photos from your phone
zeitkapsl is a backup of your photos. Deleting a photo inside zeitkapsl never deletes it from your phone's camera roll or any other folder on your device. It only affects the encrypted copy stored in zeitkapsl.
Removing a photo from an album
Removing from an album only breaks the link between the photo and that album. The photo stays in your gallery and in any other albums it belongs to.
- Web: open the album, select one or more items (or open a single item), and use the Remove from album button.
- Android / iOS: open the album, select items and choose Remove from album .
Deleting a photo (moving it to the Trash)
Selecting Delete () moves the item to the Trash. It disappears from your gallery and from every album, and the change syncs to all your devices and to anyone the item was shared with.
Deleting does not immediately free up storage. The item still counts against your quota until it is permanently deleted (see below).
The Trash empties itself
Anything left in the Trash is permanently deleted automatically 60 days after you moved it there. Restore a photo before then if you want to keep it. This clean-up runs on the server, so it happens even if you never open the app.
Finding the Trash
You can find the Trash here:
- Web: reached from the menu on the search bar.
- Android / iOS: reached from the dropdown in the search box.
It is called Trash everywhere.
Inside the Trash the available actions change. The usual buttons (delete, hide, share, remove from album) are gone; a trashed item can only be restored or deleted permanently. This applies both when you open a single item and when you select several at once.
Restoring a photo
Open the Trash view, select the items you want back, and choose Restore (). They return to your gallery. If a photo has already left the Trash, see Getting a deleted photo back below.
Permanently deleting
Items in the Trash are removed permanently in two ways:
- Automatically, 60 days after an item was moved to the Trash (see above).
- Manually, by emptying the Trash or by permanently deleting selected items.
Permanent deletion cannot be undone and it erases the encrypted data from zeitkapsl's servers. Only after this step is the storage freed from your quota.
Emptying the Trash
Empty trash () permanently deletes everything currently in the Trash in one step. Because it cannot be undone, you are always asked to confirm first.
- Web: open the Trash and use the Empty trash button in the header. (It is disabled while you have items selected; deselect to empty everything, or use Delete permanently on the selection instead.)
- iOS: open the Trash and use the Empty Trash button in the search bar.
- Android: there is no one-tap empty button. Select the items (long-press to start selecting, then tap the rest) and choose Delete permanently.
To permanently delete only some items on any platform, select them in the Trash and choose Delete permanently rather than emptying the whole Trash.
Deleting an album
Deleting an album only removes the album itself as a container. The photos and videos it held remain in your gallery. To delete an album, open it and use the menu. See Creating albums and folders.
Getting a deleted photo back
There are two cases:
The photo is still in the Trash. Open the Trash and Restore it. It returns to your gallery.
The photo was already removed from the Trash, but is still on your device. By default zeitkapsl will not back it up again. It remembers what you deleted (a small record called a tombstone) so that photos you removed on purpose do not keep coming back on every backup scan. This memory is stored on your device and stays even after you log out. To deliberately back the photo up again, reinstall the app: a fresh install clears the tombstones, so the photos on your device are treated as new and backed up again.