Q: I have my photos on iCloud on my iphone, iPad, and i mac. I'm running out of storage on my iphone.

If you are using iCloud Photo Library on the the phone (Settings > iCloud > Photos > iCloud Photo Library) do you also have "Optimize iPhone Storage" turned on (same Settings screen as above)?

If you have saved the photos (copy photos to the Photos Library) on your Mac Photos app, you can delete the photos you don't need on your iPhone.

suttonjc wrote:

 

Since the photos are on the cloud, they are on my Mac.  I was told that I would have to shut down icloud on my iphone and then delete the photos from the phone.  I think that means that I can no longer use the icloud for photos on my phone.  I like it when I take a photo on my phone, it automatically shows up on the ipad and Mac.  I guess I will be giving that up.   Does that sound right to you?

No.

If you have selected on your Mac: Photos > Settings > General > Importing > Copy items to the Photos Library.

It's fine to delete photos you don't need on your iPhone.

iCloud Photos is only a means to sync across all your devices, it's not meant as a storage.

For that, you've iCloud Photo Library.

The question is are you using iCloud Photos Library?

If so, read here: Get help with your iCloud Photo Library - Apple Support

suttonjc wrote:

 

I'm having difficulty understanding.  I appreciate your help.

When I take a photo with my iphone it always syncs into the iCloud Photo Library on the iphone, ipad and mac.

If I delete a photo on my iPhone, it's deleted on all devices.

Are you saying there's a way to delete on the iphone and still have the photos remain on the Mac.

 

When I tried going to settings>general> , I didn't see "importing" or "copy items to the photos library".

Then you have iCloud Photo Library on.

Read the link I've posted previously.

When I tried going to settings>general> , I didn't see "importing" or "copy items to the photos library".

Are you looking at Photos app menu on the Mac"

You're welcome.