Q: Is it possible not to backup photos in an iPhone backup?

According to About backups in iCloud and iTunes - Apple Support, photos are not included in backups if they are already stored in iCloud, either in My Photo Stream or iCloud Photo Library.

Where are you getting the information that your backup size is that large? Backup sizes is typically much smaller than the storage used on your phone.

Since you do have 29 GB of photos, if you only have the 5 GB you get for free in iCloud, that could be why your backups are so large. If this is the case, then not all of your photos are in iCloud, and they will be included in iTunes backups. Unfortunately, iTunes does not let you choose what to include in backups. It's either everything or nothing and you don't have control over this.

Another thing to try is to make sure that you only have the backups you need. While in iTunes, in the menu bar, click on 'iTunes' and go to Preferences. In the window that comes up, go to the 'Devices' tab. In here, you should see your device backups and their dates. There should only be one backup per device you have synced with iTunes. If for some reason you have multiple, you can delete the oldest ones. If you have backups for devices you don't use anymore, feel free to delete those as well.

You mentioned some lock down on your phone that doesn't allow you to back up to iCloud? I don't understand what you mean by this, but it could have something to do with the large backup size, possibly because your phone can't properly communicate with iTunes that the photos are already stored in iCloud.

It is also possible that your backup is corrupt. You can try deleting it and then backing up your phone again and maybe it will be a smaller size.

Sorry OriginalName022

Just thought to chime in with my tuppence...

bruceava

iCloud is, as you know, not an off device storage - it is more for syncing and mirroring your device

Quickly reading through the thread - I see a couple of issues

1. Issues with connecting to iCloud due to work constraints

2. Syncing a large photo library which will continue to occupy space on your device

Consider this if possible

Import photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your computer - Apple Support

OR a cloud based Photo Storage such as Google Photos or Upthere

After reading through the posts on this thread some things are not clear to me. Do you have iCloud Photo Library enabled? If not you should see Camera Roll in the iPhone's Photos App. If so Camera Roll is included in backups by default regardless of the setting on iCloud > Photos. If you do have iCloud P.L. enabled then you would see All Photos, not Camera Roll, in Photos and they should not be included in backups.

The restrictions imposed your IT administrator may be the cause of this issue. I would check with him.

My guess is that the limited use of iCloud makes it impossible for your phone to communicate with iTunes that its photos are stored in iCloud, so iTunes assumes that they aren't and includes them in the backup.

This document About backups in iCloud and iTunes - Apple Support states that photos are not included in backups if they are stored in iCloud. Also brucenava's issue is that the backup size is rather large, not that the storage on the phone is. I do suspect that the work constraints are the cause of the issue.

OriginalName022 wrote:

 

I do suspect that the work constraints are the cause of the issue.

I do too....