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Why is my photo library stored on my macbook hard drive when I specifically use cloud storage for my photos?

I pay for cloud storage for my photo library specifically to free up space on my devices. I noticed today that my photo library is taking up 60GB of space on my macbook's hard-drive and I never opted-in to storing those photos on my hard drive. How do I clear this space without losing my photo library and how do I prevent this moving forward?

MacBook Air

Posted on Aug 29, 2019 2:09 PM

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Posted on Aug 29, 2019 2:21 PM

The iCloud Photos Library is NOT an off computer storage facility. It is a syncing service which keeps the online iCloud Photos Library exactly the same as the Photos libraries on any of your devices running Photos with the iCloud Photos Library enabled.


The following is from this Apple document: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

iCloud Photos automatically keeps every photo and video you take in iCloud, so you can access your library from any device, anytime you want. Any changes you make to your collection on one device, change on your other devices too.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 29, 2019 2:21 PM in response to Chelseanm

The iCloud Photos Library is NOT an off computer storage facility. It is a syncing service which keeps the online iCloud Photos Library exactly the same as the Photos libraries on any of your devices running Photos with the iCloud Photos Library enabled.


The following is from this Apple document: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

iCloud Photos automatically keeps every photo and video you take in iCloud, so you can access your library from any device, anytime you want. Any changes you make to your collection on one device, change on your other devices too.

Why is my photo library stored on my macbook hard drive when I specifically use cloud storage for my photos?

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