I want to keep all photos on my iPhone, but upload only select photos to iCloud instead of "upload all photos." Is this possible?

Question

Level 1

9 points

I want to keep all photos on my iPhone, but upload only select photos to iCloud instead of "upload all photos." Is this possible?

I have about 30,000 photos on my iPhone, but want to upload just about 3,000 of them but it appears I can only "upload all photos." It seems I should be able to select the photos and upload the selected photos to iCloud, but when I select photos the only options are air drop, message, and something else but not upload to iCloud.

iPhone 7, iOS 13

Posted on Nov 11, 2020 10:22 PM

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Answer 1

Siabh

Level 5

7,298 points

Nov 11, 2020 11:03 PM in response to ryoko257

ryoko257 wrote:

Axel and Siabh, thank you for your replies. That's not very user-friendly of Apple, is it? :)

There would be some users who want to upload only a selection of photos (not all) to iCloud. For them, this would certainly not be user-friendly.

For the vast majority of users though, an all or nothing approach is simple to understand and execute and at the same time probably easier to manage for Apple. I'm guessing for users and Apple alike, it becomes harder to keep track of which photos to upload or not, or which are already uploaded or not ... users, you see, will keep switching their selections ...

For your specific preference, uploading 3000 photos from 30,000 to iCloud, there is a kinda workaround involving iCloud Drive.

Turn OFF iCloud Photos ... so that no photos (at all from 30K) are being uploaded to iCloud.
Turn ON iCloud Drive. (iCloud Drive is a special folder on iCloud. You could create a sub-folder, called, say My iCloud Photos)
In the Photos app, goto your Library and select the photos (from the 3K) you want uploaded to iCloud. Bring up the share options ... and add them to your My iCloud Photos iCloud Drive Folder, using the option Save to Files.
When complete, you will have only 3K photos from your 30K, uploaded to iCloud (Drive). Even if you delete those 3K photos from your Photos Library, there will remain on iCloud Drive.

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Answer 2

LACAllen

Level 8

43,518 points

Nov 12, 2020 7:58 PM in response to Siabh

My iCloud Photos iCloud Drive Folder, using the option Save to Files1. .

When complete, you will have only 3K photos from your 30K, uploaded to iCloud (Drive). 1. Even if you delete those 3K photos from your Photos Library, there will remain on iCloud Drive.

While this is accurate, these photos are not visible in the Photos app.

They are on iCloud, but in a different location not accessible from the photos app. You will lose a fair number of photos app features, like editing and sharing in albums and organizing in albums.

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