Importing creates a copy. Octoshield’s photo importer offers a separate choice to remove originals. Cleaner’s up swipe also queues the original for removal. Confirming that removal normally sends the original to Photos’ Recently Deleted album.
Think in copies, not moves
A picture can exist in Photos, a message, a cloud library, a shared album, and a vault simultaneously. Protecting one copy does not change access to the others. Identify which originals you still need before removing anything.
Wait for import to finish and open the image in the vault before approving source removal. The photo import flow asks whether to remove originals or keep them. Importing through Files leaves source documents untouched.
What the up swipe does
An up swipe in Cleaner asks the app to import a photo and add its source to the deletion queue. A completed import gives you a protected copy; the source still needs deletion approval. An import failure removes that picture from the pending deletion queue.
Wait for imports to finish before committing. Undoing a queue decision does not necessarily delete the vault copy. Check the vault and Photos separately when correcting a choice.
Removing originals is a separate choice
Photos normally retains deleted pictures in Recently Deleted for up to 30 days. Approving library deletion is not the same as immediately erasing every accessible copy.
With iCloud Photos on, deleting an original also affects the synced library on other devices. Shared albums, exports, and third-party backups need separate checks. Do not empty Recently Deleted until you have verified the copies you intend to keep and accepted that permanent removal cannot be undone.
A few related questions
01Why is the picture still in Photos after import?+
Import creates a separate vault copy. Keeping originals leaves the source in Photos; removal is a separate decision.
02Will deleting the original delete the vault copy?+
A completed import is stored separately. Deleting the Photos original does not delete that independent vault copy.
Sources & further reading
iOS menus can vary by version. Octoshield instructions describe the current local app implementation. Check the App Store listing for the version available to download.
