icloud photo storage from iphone

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icloud photo storage from iphone

A few days ago, I opted to automatically upload and store photos in icloud (with the choice of optimising iphone storage). I then decided I preferred to just download all my photos onto a USB from my iphone (via my mac). When I went to do this, many of my photos were missing from my library (as they are now being stored on my icloud.

I then went back to my settings on my phone and un-clicked the option of automatically upload/store photos in icloud with the intention of then re-downloading all my original photos and videos onto my phone. I then get a message saying "Cannot download photos and videos - An additional 10.4GB is required to download your photos and videos to this iPhone. You can manage your storage in settings"

I do not understand how a few days ago my phone had enough storage to hold all my videos/photos and now I need an extra 10.4GB to re-download them??

PLease help, i really dont want to lose my photos

iPhone 6s, iOS 12

Posted on Jan 8, 2020 3:35 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

Jan 11, 2020 2:54 PM in response to marnie132

Hello marnie132 and welcome to Apple Support Communities.

I see you have a concern about photo data after enabling iCloud Photos.

Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

What you are describing sounds like iCloud Photos had not yet finished uploading when you changed the setting on the iPhone. Keep in mind that a Wi-Fi connection is required for both the initial upload of your library and for syncing. When you choose the option to optimize storage, full-resolution versions of your photos get uploaded to iCloud and then only lower-resolution versions are kept on the iPhone is order to save space. But the conversion on the iPhone will not happen until the upload has completed. Until that point, you still have full-resolution photos on the iPhone which take up substantially more space.

So what you have is an iPhone that still has all of that photo data on it and when that optimize setting is turned off, iCloud is going to try to download all of that full-resolution photo data back to your device. And that would explain why you are getting the "not enough space" error.

At this point, your best option will be to leave that setting on and allow the upload to complete. You may also want to consider enabling iCloud Photos on your Mac so that the library is consistent between devices. And, yes, you can download photos from the Mac to an external USB drive when that finishes.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that iCloud Photos is a syncing service that allows you to see all of your photos on all devices signed in to the same Apple ID with the service enabled. It is not designed to be nor meant to be used as an off-device storage solution.

Cheers.

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