Can I delete the photos off my iPhone without deleting from iCloud?

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.

dianese4445 Said:

"photos: Can I delete the photos off my iPhone without deleting from iCloud?"

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No. iCloud is a synchronizing service. There is currently no option for only deleting your photos that are on your iPhone, but keeping on iCloud.

Try Google Photos:

Using third-party software of sorts would be ideal for this. As an example you would need to start by uploading them manually to Google Photos. Next, delete them from iCloud. Finally, you would download them as desired to your iPhone, from Google Photos. You would be all set from there. Get it Here: Google Photos on the App Store - Apple

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Provide feedback to Apple on this:

1. Go here: Feedback - iPhone - Apple
2. Choose: "Feature Request" for "Feedback Type"
3. Proceed from there as necessary.

Do Your Part:

Apple wont get back to you directly, but the more they hear of this from their customers, then more they'll know what to include in future versions of iOS and macOS