ICloud Photos

re: If I have more pictures than my phone can store would the cloud then act as more storage for my phone, so I wouldn’t need to delete them from my phone?

You can turn on iCloud Photos and also turn on the Optimize iPhone Storage option. See the following from Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

Save space on your device

iCloud Photos keeps all your photos and videos in their original, high-resolution version. You can save space on your device when you turn on Optimize Storage.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

1. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Choose Optimize [device] Storage.

If you turn on Optimize Storage, iCloud Photos automatically manages the size of your library on your device. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and space-saving versions are kept on your device. Your library is optimized only when you need space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them. You can use Optimize Storage on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.

Thanks so much for the clarification!!! Much appreciated! Apple needs to spell this out more carefully with the end user so they don’t unknowingly delete all of their photos!

Apple has updated their iCloud Photo documentation to make this clearer.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204264#edits

and https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT205856

No. 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 Photos 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.

I understand that. Your original post was "If I delete photos from my IPhone to free up storage space will they still be in my ICloud?"

My answer said (in summary) that it is not possible to delete the photos from your phone and keep them on iCloud.

If you want to do that, you need to look at 3rd party services such as Google Photos or Dropbox.

re: Thanks so much for the clarification!!! Much appreciated! Apple needs to spell this out more carefully with the end user so they don’t unknowingly delete all of their photos!

I agree that it could be much clearer. They have a number of options that go back years that add to confusion when it comes to photos.

I don’t want to delete my photos I want to keep them

re: Actually that was someone else that also had a similar question to my original post.

Got it. Thanks. I didn't notice.