How to remove or update listing photos on Zillow, Redfin and the MLS

Who can change the photos, and where

It depends on whether the home is for sale. Zillow and Redfin take listing photos from MLS feeds, and both send you back to the source while a listing is active.

Zillow: hide or remove photos of your home

You must claim the home first. Zillow's steps: sign in, go to the home's property page, open the More menu, click Claim ownership and answer a few questions to verify you own it. Zillow adds that you can't fully claim a home while it is actively listed by an agent.

1. Click your profile icon and choose Your Home, then click the tile for the home.
2. From the Owner View, click Edit Facts.
3. Click a photo and Remove Photo to take one out, or Delete all photos to remove them all.
4. Or check Hide photos displayed on your home's Zillow page to hide them without deleting.
5. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Two limits from Zillow's help pages. For some recently sold homes the screen only offers to hide all but the primary photo. And for some off-market homes Edit Facts is not available at all, because the data comes from the last for-sale listing; Zillow asks you to submit a support ticket in that case. When Zillow receives a past sale through the MLS's IDX feed, the primary photo from that feed "can only be updated by the listing agent in the MLS."

Redfin: hide listing photos

Redfin's version works on the website only; the help page says "this function is not available on the mobile app." Your Redfin account has to be verified and have a password set.

1. Log in at redfin.com and choose My homes from the menu under your name.
2. Select the home if you have claimed more than one.
3. Click Edit Photos and check Hide listing photos (Redfin may ask you to verify ownership here).
4. Confirm with Yes, Hide Photos, then click Save.

Redfin replaces the photos with a Google Street View image, but keeps the first photo (the "hero shot"), because it usually represents the home better than Street View. To remove that one as well, message Redfin's support. Removed photos can stay in Google and Bing image results until the search engines re-read the page. You can also upload up to 20 of your own photos of an off-market home, for example after a remodel.

Realtor.com, Homes.com and the MLS

Realtor.com. Its support site would not load for us, so this is second-hand. SmartMLS's help center says that to remove photos from Realtor.com, "the owner of the property must go on the realtor.com website and claim the property," and can request removal of the images during the claim; the MLS is not involved. Kim Komando's guide (February 2023) describes the same route: claim the home at realtor.com/myhome, verify ownership, then use the owner dashboard's remove-photos option.

Homes.com. We found no Homes.com help page describing an owner tool for photos. Ask the agent who listed the home to remove the photos at the MLS, and contact Homes.com directly.

The MLS. The MLS is where the photos started, but many MLSs will not delete them after the sale. SmartMLS says no one, "not even SmartMLS staff," can remove photos from a Closed, Expired or Canceled listing, and that removing photos from an active listing is only allowed to reflect a change of season, show improvements or swap in a better photo of the same view, with a $250 fine otherwise. It also stopped letting IDX websites show additional photos on permanently off-market listings from June 9, 2021. Your MLS's rules may differ; the listing agent can tell you. If privacy or safety is why you want the photos gone, see what listing photos can reveal and what to hide before the next shoot.

Updating photos on an active listing

Agents upload the new photos in the MLS and the portals pick them up from the feed. Expected delays from the portals' own pages:

• Zillow: "Updates made at the MLS source may take up to 24 hours to reflect on Zillow." If they still don't show after your agent updated them, contact Zillow support.
• Redfin: changes uploaded to the MLS show on Redfin "in about 30 minutes," though images "can sometimes take a little longer to import." After 24 hours, email Redfin support.
• Your MLS's syndication: Canopy MLS suggests a fix for photos that don't reach syndication or IDX sites: open Manage Photos and swap the positions of two similar photos once, which updates the listing's timestamp, then check again after about an hour. It also notes photos only go out if your syndication settings allow it.

Replacing the whole set is normal when the first photos were weak. The new photos should meet the portals' size rules (below) and, if they were edited, your MLS's rules on altered images; see MLS rules for AI photo editing and MLS photo rules by MLS.

Listing photos not showing on Zillow: the usual causes

1. The feed hasn't caught up. Allow up to 24 hours after the MLS update, Zillow says; feed photos appear "within 24 hours" once the source is fixed.
2. The photo was fixed in the wrong place. Photos that came through a feed "must be uploaded at the feed source instead of directly on Zillow." Ask the agent or listing service.
3. The file doesn't meet Zillow's rules. JPG, GIF, PNG or TIF; smaller than 50 MB (10 MB suggested); at least 330 × 220 pixels (1536 × 1152 suggested). Zillow says missing photos are "likely" a format or size problem. More in our photo size requirements guide.
4. Sideways or upside-down photos. Zillow blames missing or wrong EXIF orientation data. For-sale-by-owner listings can rotate a photo under Edit listing; feed photos have to be fixed at the source.
5. The home sold. For past sales Zillow shows aerial or Google Maps images for most homes by default, plus the primary photo from the MLS feed where it receives one. If you're after the photos from that sale, see finding old listing photos.
6. A rental's main photo moved. On Zillow Rental Manager listings, Zillow may pick a different primary photo that it expects to get more contacts.

Better photos instead of fewer

Most people asking how to change listing photos want better ones, not none. With the October app you walk the home once with an iPhone 12 or newer; it shows you where to stand, keeps the phone level and takes the pictures, and an AI image model draws the finished photos from that capture, which come back with an AI walkthrough video, usually within a few hours, for your agent to check and upload to the MLS. The photos get a daylight look and loose items are left out; the model is told to keep walls, floors, windows, fittings and the view. Because the photos are AI-generated, label them as AI-altered where your MLS requires. A place of up to 6 rooms is $49 for photos, $99 with a walkthrough and $199 with a 4K walkthrough; the first place is free. See pricing, what a photographer would charge in our real estate photography cost guide, and how the other phone apps compare in real estate photo apps compared.

Step by step

1. Check whether the home is listed

   If an agent has it listed, the photos can only be changed at the MLS. Ask the listing agent.

2. Claim the home

   On Zillow, open the property page, choose More, then Claim ownership and answer the questions. On Redfin, verify your account, set a password and claim the home under My homes.

3. Hide or remove the photos

   Zillow: Your Home, Edit Facts, then remove photos or check Hide photos, and Save Changes. Redfin (website only): Edit Photos, check Hide listing photos, confirm and Save.

4. Repeat on each site

   Hiding photos on one portal does not hide them elsewhere. Do the same on Realtor.com, and ask the listing agent about the MLS and Homes.com.

5. Wait, then contact support

   Allow up to 24 hours. If photos still show, use Zillow's or Redfin's support form; Redfin's support also removes the first photo it keeps.

Questions