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icloud vs phone storage

Hi,

I bought an iPhone 11 that is 128GB but my icloud is telling me that its reach capacity at 50GB. I am being required to pay for more storage. I bought this phone so that I wouldn't have to do that anymore. Is there a way this can be explained to me and is icloud storage and iPhone storage the same? My phone isn't backing up.

iPhone 8 Plus, iOS 13

Posted on May 12, 2021 1:36 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 12, 2021 1:42 PM

They are not the same. For example, with photos you can have them only on your phone or you can turn on iCloud Photos and have them both on your phone and on iCloud and if your phone is low on space you can turn on the Optimize Storage option for photos and that will result in some or all of the photos on your phone being smaller space-saving versions while iCloud continues to store full sized originals. That is one way that you might be using more storage on iCloud than on your phone.

The following may also help: What's the difference between device storage and iCloud storage? - Apple Support and Manage your iCloud storage - Apple Support and Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 12, 2021 1:42 PM in response to Phuff32

They are not the same. For example, with photos you can have them only on your phone or you can turn on iCloud Photos and have them both on your phone and on iCloud and if your phone is low on space you can turn on the Optimize Storage option for photos and that will result in some or all of the photos on your phone being smaller space-saving versions while iCloud continues to store full sized originals. That is one way that you might be using more storage on iCloud than on your phone.

The following may also help: What's the difference between device storage and iCloud storage? - Apple Support and Manage your iCloud storage - Apple Support and Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

icloud vs phone storage

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