My iPhone is 64GB and is full. I use Photos App on my Mac and iPad. Now my iPhone is full, what are my options?

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My iPhone is 64GB and is full. I use Photos App on my Mac and iPad. Now my iPhone is full, what are my options?

[form doesn't allow selecting 3 devices]

I just need to understand how people are using Photos when you have an iPhone an iPad and a Mac or just *multiple devices trying to best use Photos on iCloud*.

I did too much research (copied below) so to summarize: when I create two libraries on my Macbook for Photos App, how do I move photos from one library to the other. Or really just how to limit my iPhone so it's always sharing but not always maxing in GB size?

***BACKGROUND and RESEARCH***

I just need to understand how people are using Photos when you have an iPhone an iPad and a Mac or just *multiple devices trying to best use Photos on iCloud*.

I searched " having a 64GB iPhone and it's full because I use Photos on my Mac and iPad. iPhone is full."

Image Capture was always my go to for organizing photos (because the Finder). But then I got a new Mac, and an iPad to go with the rest of my Apple gear... went all iCloud. Was it a mistake to leave Dropbox?

My need: save everything somewhere that doesn't interfere with sizes of devices.

How do I move photos from one library to the next?

So how do I move photos from one library to another, as it implies is possible here: https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en#/pht6d60b524

Sort of helpful here: https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en#/pht211de786

But still how do we do this?

MacBook Pro 16″, 10.15

Posted on May 27, 2020 2:06 PM

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Answer 1

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markwmsn

Level 6

16,793 points

May 27, 2020 9:07 PM in response to huedoku

One approach people use is enabling the "Optimize iPhone Storage" option on their iPhones (or the corresponding option for iPads or Macs). That can help allow more photos to appear on the iPhone (or iPad or Mac) by reducing some to thumbnails and downloading the full resolution versions only when they are needed for enlarging, printing, or editing.

As for keeping two or more libraries and moving photos among them, the free option is to manually export a group of photos and metadata from one library to a temporary location, import them to the other library, then remove them from the first library and the temporary location. You would have to make a choice whether to export the original of each photo or the fully edited version.

If you can spend some money on the project, there are third-party Mac programs that can do the copying directly without needing the temporary location or as many steps. Some of them (such as PowerPhotos, the one I use) can even copy both the originals and the edits together.

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My iPhone is 64GB and is full. I use Photos App on my Mac and iPad. Now my iPhone is full, what are my options?

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