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User profile for user: lebrowne
lebrowne Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Want to delete photos from iPhone but keep them on iCloud & automatically upload new photos

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to free up space on my iPhone XR by deleting old photos/videos, but I want to keep them in my iCloud account. I read instructions to go into "Settings>Click on your name>iCloud>Photos>Turn off iCloud photos" but that will not automatically upload NEW photos I take. Is there a way to delete photos off your phone, keep them in iCloud AND continue to automatically upload new photos?


Thanks!

iPhone XR

Posted on Oct 27, 2019 9:04 AM

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User profile for user: FoxFifth
FoxFifth
User level: Level 10
469,437 points

Posted on Oct 27, 2019 11:18 AM

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: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264


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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User profile for user: FoxFifth
FoxFifth
User level: Level 10
469,437 points

Oct 27, 2019 11:18 AM in response to lebrowne

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: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264


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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Want to delete photos from iPhone but keep them on iCloud & automatically upload new photos

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