Q: iOS 9.2.1 Full Storage bug fix anyone ?!

Why not just re-sync your device with your iTunes Library. That way you can select exactly what photos you want on your device as well as what other media:

iTunes 12 for Mac: Sync iPod, iPhone, or iPad

or if your iTunes is on a Windows machine:

iTunes 12 for Windows: Sync iPod, iPhone, or iPad

I would recommend keeping iCloud Photo Library off on your device. Turning that on basically means that you want your device to look at and update the single place where all  of your photos are maintained in that environment - namely a single library in iCloud. If you delete a photo off of your phone, it deletes it off of iCloud. All photos in iCloud are accessible, and to the extent that memory permits it, kept and displayed on your device:

iCloud Photo Library FAQ - Apple Support

iCloud Photo Library Help - Apple Support

If you just continue to use Photo Stream, and import your photos to your computer, then you have complete control over what is and is not on your phone. If you are using a Mac, and are using either the Photos or iPhoto application, you can set up the app on the Mac to automatically import your new Photo Stream photos. You can also take advantage of iCloud Photo Sharing using any computer:

PHOTO IMPORT IOS TO MAC/PC

iCloud Photo Sharing FAQ - Apple Support

Cheers,

GB

Cheers,

GB

Thanks, GB: I wish I had had you advising me back in January, when my troubles started. I am a Windows user who owns an iPhone 5s with 32 GB--which SHOULD be plenty of memory, especially since I back them up to my laptop pretty regularly (using a Windows Photo app). I don't remember when I turned on iCloud Photo Library (now turned off), but it was a big mistake: all it did was delay the inevitable process of weeding through the photos. I like having SOME old photos on there, but I don't need all the group shot attempts or 10 pictures of the same sunrise, etc.

I probably should consider syncing both music and photos with iTunes? Historically, we had one laptop that several people were using for their iPods: in those days, syncing didn't make sense, since everyone had different musical tastes, AND we had a large music library (many albums from CDS rather than purchased from the store). So I got into the habit of manually managing music and videos. Now, all my kids except one have their own computers, so manually managing music isn't as needed? Syncing sure would have made the restore process either.

Right now, I don't have Photostream turned on for my phone. That's because I received an iPad as a gift in December. When I turned on Photostream, all the photos on my phone wound up on my iPad--which isn't a big deal right now, because it has a lot of memory. Now that I've deleted photos from my phone, turning on Photostream seems to put ALL the photos back on my phone. Here's my question, though: are those Photostream photos really ON my phone taking up space? Or are they simply in the Cloud somewhere?

In the end, maybe my problem wasn't a storage bug as much as a mismanagement of the iCloud Library?

Anyway, I'm getting there as far as reclaiming storage on my phone! And, that is really the goal, I guess.

Thanks for your assistance. You're helping me think through this Photo chaos.

OK, so since you are already familiar with importing your photos to your photo app on your Windows machine, then that is you primary method for archiving your photos to a safe place. Agreed - unless you want all of your photos accessible on all your devices at all times, you don't need iCloud Photo Library.

One clarification about syncing and importing.

Syncing is a process which the iTunes system uses to gather various media that you have purchased or that you have in libraries on your computer, and allows you through a user-friendly portal to select what things you want from those library to be on your device. The music that you sync is in the iTunes Library. The iTunes Library can have 5,000 songs, but you can select to only "sycn" 5 of them to your device if you wish. Similarly, the Photo Library (which is where you import all of your photos to when you hook up and do an import), may have 10,000 photos in it, going over many years, with multiple albums for each year that you have created in that Photo Library. iTunes provides you with a list of all of those Albums, or Years, or other groupings, and you can choose an album from 2003 to be on your phone as well as one from last Christmas, and that's all. This is all done by sycing.

On your device itself, some photos are kept locally - namely, your Camera Roll, and your Photo Stream. As you take photos the remain in your Camera Roll until you import those photos to your Photo Library via your photos app on your Windows machine. You can then elect to erase the Camera Roll photos, once you have verified they have imported successfully, or you can choose to keep them on your phone if you wish.

The Photo Stream is basically a service that streams any new photo taken by any device that is signed into the same iCloud account. It streams that photo between each device so they all can see what photos are being take by each device. Photo Stream Photos, by nature, are rather ephemeral. They stay in the cloud for the last 30 days or up to 1000 photos, whichever comes first. They are not permanent. They do take up some space on your device, but not as much as a regular photo.

So, the simplest approach by far, is to simply import your Photos on a regular basis, sync back what you want whenever you feel the urge, and use Photo Stream to keep a current set of photos on your camera.

Best of luck,

GB

Thanks, Gail! I decided to take the plunge and set up my music to sync to my iPhone. It was not as tedious as I'd feared! I've turned off iCloud Photo Library, and I'm working on deleting photos (that have already been imported).

The only problem that I've encountered with the syncing has to do with my recent, semi-forced upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1. (That happened on Saturday, after an annoying pop-up refused to go away.) I thought I'd prepared for the update well, BUT I failed to deauthorize my laptop first. After the upgrade, when my daughter and I were using Home Sharing, I received a notification that my laptop wasn't authorized. Huh? I've been using material that I purchased with my ID (TV shows, etc.) for a year now. Anyway, that's a different problem. I found an older laptop to deauthorize, but I don't think I should have had to reauthorize.

Anyway, your explanations were very helpful. Thanks!

You are most welcome, and YAY that things are on their way to being more manageable for you! Hope you were able to get around the de-authorize, authorize glitch easily. Worst case, you can always de-authorize all, then start over....

Thanks for posting back with your news, and best of luck!

GB