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How do you delete photos from your device and keep them in your iCloud?

My device is full, but I have 200gb of iCloud storage. How do I keep my backed up photos and data in my iCloud, but free up space in my device? (iPhone)

iPhone XS

Posted on Aug 1, 2020 11:39 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 2, 2020 12:35 AM

Motoriousmoe wrote:

My device is full, but I have 200gb of iCloud storage. How do I keep my backed up photos and data in my iCloud, but free up space in my device? (iPhone)

You don't.


iCloud Photos is a syncing service, not off device storage.


You can choose to optimize your library to save space on your device.


See >>> https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204264



4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 2, 2020 12:35 AM in response to Motoriousmoe

Motoriousmoe wrote:

My device is full, but I have 200gb of iCloud storage. How do I keep my backed up photos and data in my iCloud, but free up space in my device? (iPhone)

You don't.


iCloud Photos is a syncing service, not off device storage.


You can choose to optimize your library to save space on your device.


See >>> https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204264



Aug 2, 2020 2:32 PM in response to Motoriousmoe

Motoriousmoe wrote:

If I delete stuff off my iPhone will it still be in my iCloud?

Pretty sure I have answered this.


You asked if this was possible and I answered no. iCloud Photos is a syncing service.


Photos will be both in iCloud and on your device. They are kept in sync, so if you delete them your device, they are also deleted from iCloud and vice versa.


Using optimization can reduce the amount of storage needed on your device. The photos will still on both your device and iCloud, but the iCloud version will be full sized and the device's version will be smaller. Any deletions and edits will still be synced.


Delete from one deletes from the other.





How do you delete photos from your device and keep them in your iCloud?

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