iPhone Photos and iCloud iOS 13

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David_1 Author

Level 1

7 points

iPhone Photos and iCloud iOS 13

Hello Friends,

Hope someone out there knows a bit about this topic. This scenario is based on my NOT having access to iTunes.

As much as I love my iOS devices, photos and iCloud syncing I am puzzled by.

If I have photos on my iPhone and sync to the iCloud, they are stored there and safe.

If I delete a photo from my iPhone, it will also be deleted from the iCloud. Fair enough...!

If I wish to delete 2 photos from my iPhone BUT retain them in the iCloud so they are not gone forever, I would first have to turn off my iCloud syncing on my iPhone, then delete the 2 photos.

Correct..?

Other than purchasing an iOS friendly storage (FLASH) drive, is this the only way I can reduce the amount of space my photos consume on my iPhone WITHOUT losing them (forever) on iCloud?

Thank you for your thoughts / idea’s. Much appreciated.

Posted on Nov 28, 2019 8:37 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

FoxFifth

Level 10

472,665 points

Nov 28, 2019 8:46 AM in response to David_1

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.

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Answer 2

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,984 points

Nov 28, 2019 8:51 AM in response to David_1

Another alternative, if you are not concerned with keeping the photos on the device is to import them to the computer for safe keeping, then removing them from the device to regain storage space. But as you have found, iCloud Photos is not for storage, it is for syncing across all of your devices to provide access to your photos on all devices.

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iPhone Photos and iCloud iOS 13

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