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Bought 2TB of iCloud storage, photos won't sync within that extra storage to free space on iPad.

A while ago I bought 2TB of iCloud storage with the expectation that my photos would be able to directly upload to it, as that was the purpose of purchasing it. Yet the photo library somehow seems to exist outside of that additional iCloud storage space and is taking up a ridiculous amount of space on my iPad.


Is there a way to make the photos upload within that extra storage so they can be removed from my iPad in order to free iPad space? I have read each and every troubleshooting thread and none have addressed this specific issue, to my knowledge.


I'm currently using iOS 10.2 as I have no space to update.


Thanks!

iPad Air 2, iOS 10

Posted on Apr 15, 2019 9:54 PM

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Posted on Apr 16, 2019 9:23 AM

Do you have iCloud Photos and the Optimize Storage option in it turned on? iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.


Another way that photos may be on iCloud (if you don’t have iCloud Photo Library turned on) is via a backup of an iOS device. The only thing you can do with a backup is use it to restore a device or set up a new device. The contents of backups are not viewable at iCloud.com and if you delete a photo from a device it will not be included in future backups and will be lost.


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Apr 16, 2019 9:23 AM in response to cat-

Do you have iCloud Photos and the Optimize Storage option in it turned on? iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.


Another way that photos may be on iCloud (if you don’t have iCloud Photo Library turned on) is via a backup of an iOS device. The only thing you can do with a backup is use it to restore a device or set up a new device. The contents of backups are not viewable at iCloud.com and if you delete a photo from a device it will not be included in future backups and will be lost.


Bought 2TB of iCloud storage, photos won't sync within that extra storage to free space on iPad.

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