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User profile for user: Mac on Andy
Mac on Andy Author
User level: Level 4
2,098 points

Photos app on iOS question

A few quick(ish) queries I hope someone can clear up.


  1. There doesn’t appear to be a way to view titles and descriptions for photos synced over from Photos on Mac, is that correct?
  2. If I turn on Photo Stream and/or iCloud Photos, there doesn’t seem to be a way to stop screenshots and images saved from the web from being included in the Photo Stream or iCloud Photos - is there a way to prevent this, or to filter them out afterwards?
  3. If I turn on iCloud Photos on my iPhone, what happens to photos I take on the iPhone. I understand if I delete them on the iPhone they also get deleted from the Cloud, as it syncs rather than back-ups. So, presumably my phone’s storage will get increasingly filled with photos/videos taken on the iPhone, and I won’t be able to delete any if I want them to remain in iCloud Photos? Or if I chose the optimise storage option, do the full size photos get replaced by optimised versions at some point?
  4. I noticed there was a setting to optimise storage on the iPhone - does anyone have any idea how much space the optimised photos take up on an iPhone. As a rough example my Photos library on my Mac is around 20GB in size, roughly how much space would this take up on the iPhone.


Thanks in advance for anyone’s help.

iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 12

Posted on Apr 27, 2019 2:06 PM

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User profile for user: markwmsn
markwmsn
User level: Level 6
15,635 points

Posted on Apr 28, 2019 9:21 PM

  1. That's true. Just one of the ways Photos on iOS is less capable that on macOS.
  2. No. If an image goes into the library, it is replicated everywhere. Photos on iOS doesn't have any user-defined filtering. (It does have a system-defined "Screenshots" album, but it apparently detects on iOS screenshots.)
  3. Yes, your phone will have all the photos you take on the phone, plus any you add through your Mac or any other device linked to the same iCloud Photo Library, less any you delete (which are deleted from all devices). The photos on the phone will become optimized if and when the system decides it needs the storage. (There are no controls or adjustments on this besides the on/off switch for optimization on each device.)
  4. People have reported a wide range of optimization ratios. Something in the range of 10:1 seems achievable, but some users report over 20:1. My phone shows close to 30:1, but a lot of my photos are taken on a standalone camera through a Mac and iCloud, so they are optimized when downloaded. Assuming your photos on the Mac are in full resolution and your iCloud Photo Library also takes up around 20GB, they might take 2GB or less when downloaded optimized to your phone. (No guarantees, though.)
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User profile for user: markwmsn
markwmsn
User level: Level 6
15,635 points

Apr 28, 2019 9:21 PM in response to Mac on Andy

  1. That's true. Just one of the ways Photos on iOS is less capable that on macOS.
  2. No. If an image goes into the library, it is replicated everywhere. Photos on iOS doesn't have any user-defined filtering. (It does have a system-defined "Screenshots" album, but it apparently detects on iOS screenshots.)
  3. Yes, your phone will have all the photos you take on the phone, plus any you add through your Mac or any other device linked to the same iCloud Photo Library, less any you delete (which are deleted from all devices). The photos on the phone will become optimized if and when the system decides it needs the storage. (There are no controls or adjustments on this besides the on/off switch for optimization on each device.)
  4. People have reported a wide range of optimization ratios. Something in the range of 10:1 seems achievable, but some users report over 20:1. My phone shows close to 30:1, but a lot of my photos are taken on a standalone camera through a Mac and iCloud, so they are optimized when downloaded. Assuming your photos on the Mac are in full resolution and your iCloud Photo Library also takes up around 20GB, they might take 2GB or less when downloaded optimized to your phone. (No guarantees, though.)
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Photos app on iOS question

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