iCloud full > can’t shrink the Purple Bar (Backups)

I was unable to post on my own thread so I’m started a

new one here.  My below response will

only be in context if you read my first post.

The below information is in reply to my first post here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251915488?page=1

Okay, so I it’s been 6 months with no answers so I went

to the Apple store in person and here is the fix.

[[[TL:DR version: Turn iCloud backup off.]]]

Let me explain.

The Technician explained that the items I have selected

in my first picture will be backed up no matter what as they are part of my Apple

account.  She said that when you get a

new phone, it’s part of the files that’s put on the new phone.  Contacts and app layout and such

automatically go over.

The problem lies in my fifth picture above where it shows the items that I’m

trying to put into my iCloud.  Notice

that I don’t have anything selected.

Stick with me on this.  Let’s say that I

select a few things that total 1 gig and Apple gives you 5 gigs for free. … I

should have 4 free gigs, right?  No.

She explained that information is selected without your control.  I’ll refer to this as “basic account data”.  My basic account data as of 03/06/2021 is

literally more than 5 gig’s so I can’t even backup a single kb right now.  This is data that I cannot see or adjust.

I asked the technician:

Q. You give me 5 gig’s, why can’t I just select one item (in the 5th

pic) to back up?

A. Apple backs up data automatically and that fills your

storage first, then you select items to back up.  You have not room.

Q. How do I fix this even though I’m trying to back up no more than 100mb into

a 5gb account?

A. You can’t.  Turn

off your iCloud backup. (at this time she just turned it off herself)

Q. So YOU can’t just delete whatever is in my storage and

then backup my phone with only the items I have selected (approx. 100mb).

A. No.

Q. Why give us the option to select things to back up if

it doesn’t matter?

A. (No answer that made sense in civilian language)

Please note that she was very nice and she also saw my disappointment

and did offer to have me speak to someone higher up.

So, what’s the conclusion here?

Well, have you noticed that the internet is littered with

iCloud storage issues?  It’s everywhere

and fixes generally only work for a limited time before we have to deal with it

again.  The answer is “they just want you

to purchase extra storage even if you want to back up less than 5gb”.

What am I doing?  Leaving my iCloud backup

turned off since she said so.  And then

HOPE that my next phone has my contacts even though I’m never backing it up … like

she said.

The answer is not appealing to continue a relationship with Apple.  And I’d expect that the many others sharing

my experience most likely feel the same way to some degree.

Thank you,

DrizztRahl