Q: Deleting photos from iPhone but not iCloud

I have iPhoto on my iMac. I see the photos also in there. Is it possible that this is the permanent spot for pictures??

That's not true Larry.  I have icloud setup on my phone for photos and delete them from my iphone.  It does not delete the photo's from icloud when you do that.  Your photo's are safely secure in www.icloud.com.  In addition, I download pictures to my mac that's not using icloud.  It doesn't delete the pictures from there either (for obvious reasons.. it's not connected to icloud).  Just make sure your pictures are already imported to the cloud by logging into www.icloud.com before deleting to make sure.  I don't care what Apple's documentation or messages say.  Go ahead and test it yourself.  Apple's documentation ***** for icloud photo's.  A lot of the expert Apple users in the forums are just regurgitating Apple's help content.

The automatic backup to the icloud doesn't work as it's suppose to either.. I have lots of space on the cloud, but my device takes forever to upload pictures.  Awful!  The deleting function is awful too.  I am considering turning off icloud for the same reason as everyone else.  It's just not worth the hassle.  I'd rather download pictures to my mac and check the button to automatically delete photos (That's something you can't do when you iPhone is backed up to icloud). Apple's no longer the company that can legitimately say "It just works".. well... it doesn't work. 

I recommend users just store pictures on your imac with a timemachine connected.  Use the photo share feature instead of icloud.  No reason donating money to Apple for the icloud service until they improve it.  icloud should still be in the Beta stage.

Or maybe no one bothers to read answers

the very first answer covers exactly that

I am now uploading all photos from the iPhoto library to iCloud Photos.

Is this iCloud Photo Library? If so then on your IOS devices check to optimize photos for them and they will have smaller versions - but any change (edit, deletion, etc) made from any device will be reflected on all devices

 

LN

actually is is true if you are using iCLoud Photo Library which is the subject of this thread

You post is absolutely not correct and anyone following it will lose photos

And this is not as you arrogantly state simply

regurgitating Apple's help content.

It is a tested fact and is the way iCloud Photo Library works - your statement to the contrary is a great disservice to all users who might read this and believe your incorrect statements

LN

Sorry, this is for iPhone users.  Not sure what device you're using, but yes, when you delete your photos from your iPhone, it deletes them from iCloud also.  This defeats the purpose for cloud backup as it is just a 1:1 sync service.  I have 200GB of iCloud storage, but what good does that do because I don't have a 200GB iPhone?  I transfer all the photos from my iPhone to my PC at the end of every month then delete them from my phone to free up space.  When I do that, my iCloud photos disappear from iCloud.com.  Been doing this for 3 years.

I use OneDrive for all my photo backups which works exactly like a photo backup should.  It backs up not only on wifi, but on cellular service too so I know I'll never lose a photo.  Plus, it's 100% cloud-based, not device-based meaning the OneDrive app doesn't store anything local on my phone.

iCloud is the most asinine cloud storage service on the market today.

.

Thank you RoWa87 for offering a clear solution to this problem without the ugly and tiresome arrogance of a certain other poster.  Have a great day!

Larry I really think you're misunderstanding the "millions" who use iCloud. The vast majority of users want to take pictures on their phone and then have them stored to the cloud so that they can keep them forever and delete them off of their device when it gets full. What you're saying is that iCloud is designed for people who do not expect to keep their pictures for longer than it takes them to fill up their smallest device (after all, 50gb or even 200gb does me no good if I'm constrained by my smallest device - a 16gb iPhone). Because once my smallest device is full, then any other pictures I take and upload to iCloud cannot sync to that device. But you're claiming that the specific purpose of iCloud is that every device is synced to all of them and all changes are universal. That makes no sense.

Having said that, I accept that it's the user's responsibility to find a system that works. Caveat Emptor.

But I really do think that Apple is sort of out of touch with reality on this issue. If all of my devices aren't 200gb, then using iCloud as described is worthless.

Not at all - the vast majority want all of their photos available on all devices all the time  and iCloud Photo Library provides that to them - what you want is not provided by Apple but you can use man other services to do what you want

and of course even though you think (incorrectly) that you know what the vast majority of people want you do not even know how your devices work - ICPL provided for optimized photos on devices with limited storage so all photos fit every device  --  You are out of touch and apparently very proud of that

Enjoy your day

LN

I hope there will be an update that makes these options available!

There's no chance of that unless you tell Apple what missing features you'd like restored or new features added in Photos via https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html.

Got it. So if something works "as documented" then don't EVER complain or ask for more features, or EVER ask for help. LOL you are the coolest...

Of course you should not complain since you choose which software to use and which features to use - so if you pick the wrong ones you have only yourself to blame - as to requesting features of course you should (and I post that here thousands of times) but not here where it does nothing - you need to send the request to APple - http://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

Have a nice day

LN

Please don't be abusive. Calling people stupid is abusive.

Well maybe you are since that word has not been used here by anyone but you

have a nice day - and try to control your temper and stop calling people names - life will be better for you

LN

Sorry, Larry.  I surely don't know as much about photos and iCloud as most of the correspondents here do, so bear with the simplicity of my question.

I just bought an iPhone 6sPlus with 64 gb storage.  I previously had an iPhone 5s with 16 gb storage.and that  phone itself would  limit  how many photos it was able to store.  Ideally, I would like to carry about 500 current pictures on the iPhone of the 25,000 I have on my Mac.  I thought the new iPhone 6Splus would do the same as my 5s and automatically cut off photo storage when it reached 1,000. 

Can there not be a Photos setting on the iPhone that would allow the user to limit the photo storage on their device if that were their choice?  I have no problem with the large number of photos being on my other devices, so this would make sense for me.

Do you think I should have purchased the 6Splus with smaller storage?