Can I delete videos on my phone after importing them to my MacBook?

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Can I delete videos on my phone after importing them to my MacBook?

Hi,

I recently took a lot of video, which in turn, ate up all of my storage on my iPhone. I figured that if I imported the videos to my Mac, I could delete the videos on my phone to regain some of my storage back, so I did import the videos into a new album in the Photos app on my Mac. However, now I'm wary to delete the videos on my phone, as I'm worried that it will in turn delete the videos on my Mac because my phone and laptop are synced with iCloud Photos (I think?), even though I imported the videos using a different method than iCloud Photos. Could anyone give me information about what would happen if I deleted the videos I imported to my Mac on my phone?

Thank you!

iPhone 6s Plus

Posted on Jul 12, 2019 2:33 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Jul 13, 2019 2:55 PM in response to rabbit_lover

Thanks for following up, rabbit_lover!

If iCloud Photos was not enabled when you imported your pictures, and is not enabled now, you should be able to delete the pictures from the phone without issue, as importing saves a copy directly onto the computer.

I can suggest taking a screenshot to see if it syncs to the Photos app on your Mac by itself. If so, iCloud Photos would be syncing changes. If not, you can safely delete items.

Enjoy your weekend!

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Answer 2

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

Jul 13, 2019 1:14 PM in response to rabbit_lover

Hi, rabbit_lover,

Thanks for stopping by the Apple Support Communities. I understand from your post that you'd like to delete some videos from your iPhone after importing them to your Mac, but are concerned you may lose them since you use iCloud Photos. I'm happy to help!

If you imported your videos to the Photos app, you can export them from Photos to your computer's desktop (or other location on your computer) to save them directly to your hard drive. You can also download pictures directly from icloud.com: Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud - Apple Support.

Have a wonderful day!

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Answer 3

rabbit_lover Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 13, 2019 2:36 PM in response to Leanne_68

Thank you! This was very helpful, but I have a follow-up question. So I checked my Mac, and though it seems that I had turned on iCloud Photos in the past, it's turned off now, and was presumably turned off when I imported the videos. Does this change anything and does it mean that I can delete the videos off of my iPhone, as I now have them imported in a separate album on my Mac?

Thank you!

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Answer 4

rabbit_lover Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 13, 2019 2:56 PM in response to raina_b22

Thank you! This is very helpful! I hope you enjoy your weekend as well!

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Can I delete videos on my phone after importing them to my MacBook?

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