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How do i delete photos from iphone Xr and NOT from iCloud library/MacBook

How do i delete photos from iphone Xr and NOT from iCloud library/MacBook. Many of online posts are much older phones/OS.

iPhone XR, iOS 13

Posted on Jan 19, 2020 3:17 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 19, 2020 3:30 PM

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.


If you want to turn off iCloud Photos on your iPhone, see the "How do I turn off iCloud Photos on only one device?" section of Get help with iCloud Photos - Apple Support

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 19, 2020 3:30 PM in response to darai

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.


If you want to turn off iCloud Photos on your iPhone, see the "How do I turn off iCloud Photos on only one device?" section of Get help with iCloud Photos - Apple Support

How do i delete photos from iphone Xr and NOT from iCloud library/MacBook

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